Chapter 1
Humans who take part in a research study.
Who are
Participants
A firsthand report of observations or research results written by the individual(s) who actually conducted the research and made the observations.
What is
Primary Source
A procedure for indirectly measuring and defining a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly. Specifies a measurement procedure for measuring an external, observable behavior and uses the resulting measurements as a definition and a measurement of the hypothetical construct.
What is
Operational Definition
A statement that provides a tentative description or explanation for the relationship between variables.
What is
Hypothesis
A hypothesis for which all of the variables, events, and individuals are real and can be defined and observed.
What is
Testable Hypothesis
Repetition of a research study with the same basic procedures used in the original study. The intent is to test the validity of the original study.
Replication
The process of gaining a general familiarity with the current research conducted in a subject area, and finding small set of journal articles that serve as the basis for a research idea and provide the justification or foundation for new research.
Literature Search
When measuring shoe size and IQ for a group of third graders, one would expect this type of relationship.
Zero Correlation, No Consistent Relationship
A relationship in which two variables or measurements tend to change together in the same direction.
What is
Positive Relationship, Positive Correlation
A research study in which both the researcher and the participants are unaware of the predicted outcome for any specific participant.
Double-Blind
The use of a general statement as the basis for reaching a conclusion about specific examples.
What is
Deduction, or Deductive Reasoning
Terms used to identify and describe the variables in a study. Subject words are used to direct a search in a database.
Subject Words, Key Words
The degree of stability or consistency of measurements. If the same individuals are measured under the same conditions, this measurement procedure will produce identical measurements.
What is
Reliability
Characteristics or conditions that change or have different values for different individuals.
Variables
The use of a relatively small set of specific observations as the basis for forming a general statement about a larger set of possible observations.
What is
Induction
A method of acquiring knowledge in which observations and direct sensory experience are used to obtain knowledge.
What is
Empirical Method, or Empiricism
A hypothesis that can be demonstrated to be false. That is the hypothesis allows the possibility that the outcome will differ from the prediction.
What is
Refutable Hypothesis
This type of scale represents qualitative differences in the variable being measured. The categories have different names but are not related to each other in any systematic way.
What is
Nominal
The set of categories used for classification of individuals. There are four types: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval, and Ratio.
What are
Scales of Measurement
Research studies that are intended to answer practical questions or solve practical problems.
Applied Research
A variant of the method of authority in which people have unquestioning trust in the authority figure and, therefore accept information from the authority without doubt or challenge
What is
Method of Faith
A description or summary of another person's work, written by someone who did not participate in the research or observations discussed.
What is
Secondary Source
A term used for a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly but is useful for describing and explaining behavior.
What is
Construct
A hypothesis for which all variables, events, and individuals are real and can be defined and observed.
What is
Testable Hypothesis
The degree to which the measurement process measures the variable it claims to measure.
What is
Validity