Exploring the web and investigating vocabulary for the TOEIC

A student who took the TOEIC had a question about word choice on the test. The test seemed to equate the words "explore" and "investigate". " I thought the words "explore" and "investigate" have subtle differences in nuance," she said. She's right. Take a look at these definitions from Dictionary.com.

explore
1. to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery: to explore the island.
2. to look into closely; scrutinize; examine: Let us explore the possibilities for improvement.

investigate
1. to examine, study, or inquire into systematically; search or examine into the particulars of; examine in detail.
2. to search out and examine the particulars of in an attempt to learn the facts about something hidden, unique, or complex, esp. in an attempt to find a motive , cause, or culprit: The police are investigating the murder.

Investigating is more concerned with the details of something, while exploration has a broader feeling. Following the example from explore above:

• Let's explore the possibilities for improvement. Once we choose a few, let's investigate how our solutions could be implemented. = We'll look at a broad range of ideas first, and then we'll examine the particulars of a few of them.
  

She asked how the words could be applied to "the world of science". I would say you can explore the world of science, but personally I'd never say "our investigation of the world of science revealed the following information." That's because "the world of science" is too broad. An investigation is looking for a particular answer in the details of something. Google proves that most others wouldn't either. A favorite way for me to check this kind of thing is googling with quotation marks around something and seeing how many results show up.

• Results 1 - 10 of about 47,700 for "investigate the field".
• Results 1 - 10 of about 1,350,000 for "explore the field".

Those 47,700 cases and the fact that the definitions for both words include "examine" point to why the authors of the TOEIC might have equated the words.

Since I don't know the exact question from the test, I can't be sure, but there's one more point to be careful about in our investigation. There is a common collocation in English like this:

• field investigation: 現地調査、野外査察、野外調査、野外研究 (definition from SpaceAlc)
• Results 1 - 10 of about 873,000 for "field investigation".

｛げんち ちょうさ｝｛やがい ささつ｝｛やがい ちHere's an example from the web:

• "The Ministry of Defense will conduct the following field investigation for the purpose of gathering technical and specialized information necessary to conduct reviews on bases of operation for vessels and patrol aircraft as well as operational guidelines when an order for maritime security operations is issued." http://www.mod.go.jp/e/pressrele/2009/090205.html

"Field exploration" is a much less common expression, often used to describe searching for oil.

• field exploration 現場調査 (definition from SpaceAlc)
• Results 1 - 10 of about 141,000 for "field exploration"

This might show some of the imperfection of the TOEIC. Still, I think it's a relatively useful way to measure your English against a relatively fixed target. No tool is perfect.