When you are looking at Journal Articles there are some clues that will help you decide if the article is or isn't an empirical study.
1. Does it review other studies that have been published ?
If yes, is that all the evidence that is used to reach the conclusion presented?
If yes, this is a review article and NOT an empirical study
If no, go to further questions.
2. Does the article use data from another source, e.g. Statistics Canada or other researchers, and analyze that data?
If yes, was other data gathered after the analysis was done?
If no, this is a meta-analysis and is not usually considered an empirical study.
If yes, go to further questions.
3. Does the article have the following sections:
Objectives/Theory - is there a statement of what the authors wanted to investigate or find out?
Methodology - was a study done? If yes:
Does the article include the number (e.g. n=240) and type of population studied (e.g. rats in a maze, military personnel returning from overseas)
Are terms such as: case study, survey, observation, questionnaire, assessment used?
Were those studied in matched groups or randomly selected?
Was there a double blind process? (Assignment to groups or treatments is not known to those doing the study or administering the treatment.)
Results - does it analyze results found in a study, through observation or by experiment.
Conclusion - a bringing together of the results to form a logical conclusion. This may be that the treatment or intervention failed or that the premise of the study was correct.
If you have said yes to most of the above, this is an empirical study.