Answer:
deductive reasoning
Step-by-step explanation:
Deductive reasoning implies going from a body of theory down to measure observations in the empirical level. It is going top down with prior knowledge of tendencies, perspectives, theory and then using logic to see how well the cases fit to this schemes.
A conclusion is formulated based always on the premises the theory states, and are general statements that will follow making something true or false.
It is one of the main approaches to conducting research, often contrasted to intuitive or inductive reasoning.