One of my teachers, Rabbi Dr. Yosef Tabory, encapsulates the difference between academic and traditionalist forms of study with a single word: Context. Traditionalist Torah study analyzes the words of Torah scholars over the ages without regard to external factors aside from considering whether they were Rishonim or Acharonim. (Note: An exception seems to be made for the Moreh, which is often disregarded on the grounds that it was written "for kiruv" etc.)