| A | B |
|---|
| DATA | facts, observations (a plural word) |
| CASE STUDY | an intensive study of one individual subject; often used by clinicians |
| SURVEY | a research technique in which several quantifiable variables are measured; data may be obtained from archives, questionnaires or field counts |
| DEPENDENT | variable which is the effect, outcome, response |
| INDEPENDENT | variable which is manipulated in an experiment; a potential cause of behavior |
| SAMPLE | those subjects actually observed; this should be representative of the population |
| STIMULI | environmental changes which can influence behavior; these are independent variables; (the term is plural) |
| PLACEBO | a fake treatment which the patient may believe in |
| HYPOTHESIS | a prediction made at the beginning of research |
| INTROSPECTION | research in which the observer is the observed |
| EXPERIMENT | research which manipulates an independent variable; capable of identifying cause and effect relations |
| VARIABLE | an empirical measure which can change from person to person or time to time |
| CONSTANT | an empirical measure which does not change from person to person, time to time, group to group |
| SUBJECT | a person or animal from whom data are obtained |
| RESPONSE | what a person or animal does when stimulated |
| POPULATION | the entire class of subjects |
| OPERATIONAL MEANING | how a variable is actually measured |
| ETHICS OF RESEARCH | minimization of risk, informed consent, preservation of anoymity |
| ZERO | coefficient which indicates no relationship between the variables |
| WEAK | a low correlation, r between 0 and .20 |
| STRONG | a high correlation, r between .6 and 1.00 |
| POSITIVE | a correlation which is a direct relationship between the variables |
| NEGATIVE | a correlation which is an inverse relationship between the variables |
| EXCELLENT SIGNIFICANCE | p < .001 |
| GOOD SIGNIFICANCE | p < .01 |
| FAIR SIGNIFICANCE | p < .05 |
| NOT SIGNIFICANT | p > .10 |
| RELIABLE | a test which measures consistently |
| VALID | a test which measures what it is supposed to measure |
| NULL HYPOTHESIS | the conclusion that we have not really proved anything |
| COHORT | people born during the same time period |
| CORRELATION | association between two variables |
| CROSS SECTIONAL | research comparing different cohorts |
| LONGITUDINAL | research on a single cohort over a long time |
| QUALITATIVE | interviews, focus groups, case studies & ethnographies |
| QUANTITATIVE | research (surveys & experiments) requiring inferential statistics |
