Measurement & Scale
A scale with ranked categories but unequal intervals
Ordinal
A worldview focused on participant meanings and social construction of reality
Constructivism
Required written agreement ensuring participant rights and understanding
Informed Consent
A statement predicting the relationship between variables
Hypothesis
A scholarly source that is peer evaluated for quality
Peer‑reviewed Article
A scale with categories only—no ranking
A worldview emphasizing objectivity, theory testing, and reductionism
Post‑positivism
Board that protects the rights and welfare of human subjects
IRB
An abstract explanation that organizes concepts and predicts phenomena
Theory
A summary and synthesis of prior research.
Literature Review
A numeric scale with equal intervals but no true zero
Interval
A study method combining qualitative and quantitative approaches
Mixed Methods
Principles guiding responsible and respectful research behavior
Ethics
A property that varies and can be measured
Variable
A diagram showing relationships among major concepts
Visual Literature Map
A numeric scale with equal intervals and a true zero
Ratio
A mixed‑methods design starting with qualitative data then testing with quantitative
Exploratory Design
How consistent a measurement instrument is
Reliability
Turning concepts into measurable indicators
Operationalization
A survey scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree
Likert Scale
How truthfully a measure represents the construct
Validity
Clarifying what a concept means theoretically
Conceptualization