Research Foundations
A systematic process used to generate new knowledge and test hypotheses.
What is research?
The variable that is manipulated in an experiment.
What is the independent variable?
A sampling technique in which each person in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
What is simple random sampling?
A controlled trial where participants are randomly assigned to groups.
What is a randomized controlled trial (RCT)?
A qualitative approach that explores group interactions discussing a shared topic.
What is a focus group?
The principle that participants' identities and data must be protected.
What is confidentiality?
A proposed explanation that can be tested through investigation.
What is a hypothesis?
A measure that produces consistent results over time.
What is reliability?
The number of people who actually agree to participate out of those invited.
What is the response rate?
A p-value smaller than .05 typically indicates this.
What is statistical significance?
The process of the researcher examining their own assumptions and biases.
What is reflexivity?
The document ensuring participants understand risks and voluntarily agree to take part.
What is informed consent?
The group to which the researcher wants to generalize results.
What is the population?
The outcome variable that is measured.
What is the dependent variable?
A sample that does not represent the population.
What is sampling bias?
The likelihood that a study will detect an effect when an effect actually exists.
What is statistical power?
Comparing multiple data sources to strengthen trustworthiness.
What is triangulation?
The concept that study findings can be generalized to other populations.
What is external validity?
A study design where the researcher manipulates an independent variable.
What is an experimental design?
The extent to which a measurement tool measures what it claims to measure.
What is validity?
Using existing participants to recruit additional participants.
What is snowball sampling?
A research design that collects data at one point in time.
What is a cross-sectional study?
A qualitative method where themes are extracted from raw textual data.
What is thematic analysis?
A threat to validity that occurs when participants drop out of the study unevenly across groups.
What is differential attrition?
A study that seeks to understand lived experience through rich description.
What is phenomenology?
A variable that unintentionally influences study results.
What is a confounding variable?
A sampling method used when participants are selected because they meet specific criteria.
What is purposive sampling?
A statistic used to determine the strength and direction of a linear relationship.
What is a correlation coefficient?
A method that studies culture through immersion and observation.
What is ethnography?
The principle that requires researchers to minimize harm.
What is nonmaleficence?