Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
fact-finding \fact-finding\ adj. designed to find information or ascertain facts; as, a fact-finding committee.
Syn: investigative, investigatory.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
a. Designed to determine factual information; investigative n. The determination of factual information
WordNet
adj. designed to find information or ascertain facts; "a fact-finding committee"; "investigative reporting" [syn: investigative, investigatory]
Wikipedia
Fact-finding is the job of a person or group of persons in a judicial or administrative proceeding that has or have the responsibility of determining the facts relevant to decide a controversy. The term trier of fact generally denotes the same function. The process is an extremely important part of the communication process.
Usage examples of "fact-finding".
Rather like reading the Times and having the text abruptly turn to Joycean dream-gabble between one line and the next, so that a straightforward dreary account of the latest Presidential fact-finding commission’s finding of futile facts has metamorphosed into a foggy impenetrable report on old Earwicker’s borborygmi.
We regret that the preliminary diplomatic and fact-finding mission to the globe-frogs' homeworld of Cridi also failed to materialize, but it is now too late either for regrets or a hasty dispatch of seasoned ambassadors.