Glossary of Key Concepts PDF

Glossary of Some Key Concepts Anonymity -- the process of concealing the identity of participants in all documents resulting from the research; the promise that even the researcher will not be able to identify by whom responses are made Basic research -- research undertaken purely to understand pr...

Glossary of Some Key Concepts Anonymity -- the process of concealing the identity of participants in all documents resulting from the research; the promise that even the researcher will not be able to identify by whom responses are made Basic research -- research undertaken purely to understand processes and their outcomes, predominately in universities as a result of an academic agenda, for which the key consumer is the academic community (contrast with applied research) Continuous data -- data whose values can theoretically take any value (sometimes within a restricted range) provided they can be measured with sufficient accuracy (e.g., weight, age) Construct validity -- extent to which your indicators actually measure the presence of those constructs that you intended them to measure Content validity -- agreement that the content of your indicators accurately reflects the content of the construct it was intended to measure as described in the operational definition Convenience sampling -- non-probability sampling procedure in which cases are selected only on the basis of availability Convergent validity -- the overlap (or correlation) between two different scales that have been used to measure the same construct Correlation -- the extent to which two variables covary (i.e., are related( to each other Covert research -- research undertaken where those being researched are not aware of this fact Criteria for determining causality -- (1) variables are correlated, (2) the change in the causal variable precedes the change in the outcome variable, (3) all plausible alternative explanations are ruled out (e.g., extraneous influences, confounds) Criterion-related validity -- the extent to which a predictor is related (e.g., correlated) to the outcome it was designed to predict (also called predictive validity) Cronbach's alpha -- statistic used to measure the consistency of responses across a set of questions (scale items) designed together to measure a particular concept (scale). It consists of an alpha coefficient with a value between 0 and 1. Values of.7 or above suggest that the questions in the scale are measuring the same construct. Deductive approach to research -- approach to theory development involving the testing of a theoretical proposition by the employment of a research strategy specifically designed for the purpose of its testing (contrast with inductive approach) Divergent validity -- the absence of overlap (or correlation) between different scales used to measure theoretically distinct constructs Effect size -- a measure of the practical significance of the statistical relationship between variables External validity -- the extent to which the research results from a particular study are generalizable to other relevant contexts (see generalizability) Generalizability -- the extent to which the findings of a research study are applicable to other settings (see external validity) Hypothesis -- testable statement that there is an association, difference, or relationship between two or more variables Inductive approach to research -- approach to theory development involving the development of a theory as a result of the observation of empirical data (contrast with deductive approach) Internal validity -- extent to which cause-and-effect relationships identified in a study can be attributed to the interventions rather than any other factor Interval data -- numerical data for which the difference or "interval" between any two data values for a particular variable are equidistant (e.g., 5-point rating scale) Likert-style rating question -- rating question that allows the respondent to indicate how strongly he or she agrees or disagrees with a statement Method -- the techniques and procedures used to obtain and analyze research data, including for example questionnaires, observation, interviews, and statistical and non-statistical techniques. Negative correlation -- relationship between two variables for which, as the values of one variable increase, the values of the other variable decrease Non-probability sampling -- selection of sampling techniques in which the chance or probability of each case being selected is not known Non-response bias -- bias in findings caused by respondent refusing to take part in the research or answer a question Null hypothesis -- testable statement stating that there is no association, difference, or relationship between two or more variables Numerical data -- data whose values can be measured numerically as quantities Population -- the complete set of cases or group members Positive correlation -- relationship between two variables for which, as the value of one variable increases, the values of the other variable also increase Probability sampling -- selection of sampling techniques in which the chance, or probability, of each case being selected from the population is known and is not zero Purposive sampling -- non-probability sampling procedure in which the judgment of the researcher is used to select the cases that make up the sample; this can be done on the basis of extreme cases, heterogeneity (maximum variation), homogeneity (maximum similarity), critical cases, theoretical cases, or typical cases Questionnaire -- general term including all data collection techniques in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order Quota sampling -- non-probability sampling procedure that ensures that the sample represents certain characteristics of the population chosen by the researcher Ranking question -- closed question in which the respondent is offered a list of items and instructed to place them in rank order Rating question -- closed question in which a scaling device is used to record the respondent's response (e.g., Likert scale) Ratio data -- numerical data with intervals and a true zero point (e.g., counts) Reliability -- the extent to which data collection technique or techniques will yield consistency in scores, and the resulting scores are free from random error Representative sample -- sample that represents the population from which it was drawn Research question -- the key question that the research process will address, or one of the key questions it will address; the research question is generally the precursor of research objectives Respondent -- the person who answers the questions usually on a questionnaire (aka: participant) Response rate -- the total number of responses divided by the total number in the sample after ineligible respondents have been excluded Sample -- subgroup or part of a larger population Sampling frame -- the complete list of all the cases in the population, from which the probability sample is drawn Scale -- measure of a concept, such as customer loyalty or organizational commitment, created by combining scores on a number of rating questions Scale item -- rating question used in combination with other rating questions to create a scale Secondary data -- data that were originally collected for some other purpose; they can be further analyzed to provide additional or different knowledge, interpretations, or conclusions (contrast with primary data) Simple random sampling -- probability sampling procedure that ensures each case in the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample Snowball sampling -- non-probability sampling procedure in which subsequent respondents are obtained from information provided by initial respondents Socially desirable response -- answer given by a respondent due to his or her desire, either conscious or unconscious, to gain prestige or appear in a different social role Statistical inference -- the process of coming to conclusions about the population on the basis of data describing a sample drawn from that population Statistical significance -- the likelihood of the pattern that is observed (or one more extreme) occurring by chance alone, if there really was no difference in the population from where the sample was drawn Stratified random sampling -- probability sampling procedure in which the population is divided into two or more relevant strata and a random sample is drawn from each of the strata Subject or participant bias -- bias that may occur when research subjects are giving inaccurate responses in order to distort the results of the research Survey -- research strategy that involves the structured collection of data from a sizeable population Target population -- complete set of cases or group members that is the actual focus of the research inquiry, and from which a sample may be drawn Theory -- formulation regarding the cause and effect relationships between two or more variables, which may or may not have been tested Type I error -- the error of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is actually true. In other words, it is the error of concluding that there is a statistically significant effect, when in reality, there is not Type II error -- the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is actually false. In other words, it is the error of concluding that there is no statistically significant effect, when in reality, there is one Validity -- the extent to which the scores from a data collection method accurately measure what they were intended to measure; the extent to which conclusions about research findings reflect reality