Research Terms Flashcards
(38 cards)
Acculturation
Refers to the process of adapting to another culture, particularly in reference to blending in
with the majority population [e.g., an immigrant adopting American customs]. However, acculturation also
implies that both cultures add something to one another, but still remain distinct groups unto themselves.
Accuracy
A term used in survey research to refer to the match between the target population and the
sample.
Affective Measures
Procedures or devices used to obtain quantified descriptions of an individual’s feelings, emotional states, or dispositions.
Aggregate
A total created from smaller units. For instance, the population of a county is an aggregate of the populations of the cities, rural areas, etc. that comprise the county. As a verb, it refers to total data from smaller units into a large unit.
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
A statistical test showing the effects of an “independent variable” on a “dependent variable” ; a technique to determine whether there are “statistically significant” differences of “means” between two or more groups.
Anecdotal evidence
What people say about something; not proven by hard (experimental) research.
Anonymity
A research condition in which no one, including the researcher, knows the identities of research participants.
Applied Research
A kind of study that tries to make sense of the real world and to change what people do in the real world.
Assessment
A test or other way of measuring something, such as a person’s mental health or goals or needs; often the first test in a series of tests, or a test given before treatment starts.
Attrition
The “drop-out” rate among people who are being studied. People may quit because they want to, or they may not be able to stay in the study group (because of illness, lack of time, moving to another city, etc.), or they may not fit into the study anymore (if they get a job or marry, for example, in a study about single people who are not working).
Axiology
The study of the nature, types, and criteria of values and of value judgements especially in ethics.
Baseline
A control measurement carried out before an experimental treatment.
Behaviorism
School of psychological thought concerned with the observable, tangible, objective facts of behavior, rather that with subjective phenomena such as thoughts, emotions, or impulses. Contemporary behaviorism also emphasizes the study of mental states such as feelings and fantasies to the extent that they can be directly observed and measured.
Beliefs
Ideas, doctrines, tenets, etc. that are accepted as true on grounds which are not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.
Benchmark
A standard, test, or point of reference (often a number).
Benchmarking
Systematically measuring and comparing the operations and outcomes of organizations, systems, processes etc., against agreed upon “best-in-class” frames of reference.
Bias
Something that may lead a researcher to wrong conclusions; for example, mistakes or problems in how the study is planned, or how the information is gathered or looked at. If two different interviewers had different styles that caused people with the same thoughts to give different answers, but the answers were all put together in one pool, there would be a bias. It is impossible to conduct completely bias-free research. Also, a loss of balance and accuracy in the use of research methods. It can appear in research via the sampling frame, random sampling, or non-response. It can also occur at other stages in research, such as while interviewing, in the design of questions, or in the way data are analyzed and presented. Bias means that the research findings will not be representative of, or generalizable to, a wider population.
Bivariate analysis
The study of two things (amounts, values, “variables”) and how they are connected.
Case study method
The close study of one person, group, process, event etc. (most often one person). The one chosen (for example, Lauren Slater, who takes Prozac) is seen as like others in a larger group (for example, the larger group of all people taking Prozac) who are not being studied.
Categorical Variable
A piece of information that can be put in a single category, instead of being given a number: for example, the information about whether a person owns a car or about whether the person belongs to a certain race can be put in the category of “yes” or the category of “no.”
Casual Hypothesis
A statement hypothesizing that the independent variable affects the dependent variable in some way.
Casual Relationship
The relationship established that shows that an independent variable, and nothing else, cause a change in a dependent variable. It also establishes how much of a change is shown in the dependent variable.
Causality
The link between causes and their effects. For example, smoking (the cause) leads to lung cancer (the effect) and studying how often this happens and why would be studying causality. In most research about how people behave, causality can’t be proven, and ideas are tested by whether things (“variables,” amounts) change together.
Central Tendency
Any way of describing or characterizing typical, average, or common values in some distribution. Measures of central tendency are mean, median, and mode.
