na-adjective
Used in medical, research, or analytical contexts to describe looking back at past events or data. Often seen in phrases like 後方視的研究 (retrospective study).
この研究は後方視的なデータ分析に基づいている。
This research is based on a retrospective data analysis.
回顧的 also means retrospective but is more common in general or literary contexts, while 後方視的 is strongly associated with technical fields like medicine.
Compound of 後方 (rear, backward) + 視 (look, view) + 的 (-like, -ive). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the term is used in modern technical Japanese.