| A | B |
|---|
| qualitative methods | a research approach emphasizing non-numerical and interpretive analysis of social events or phenomena |
| quantitative methods | a research approach emphasizing collective of numercial data and statistical analysis of a proposed hypothesis |
| epistemology | branch of philosophy that addresses the nature of knowledge and how one comes to know |
| positivism | theory that knowledge is based on natural phenomena as verified by empirical (i.e., observation) sciences |
| naturalism | theory that scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena (includes good and bad events) |
| ethnography | a systematic recording of human cultures |
| holistic | philosophical approach concerned with the complete system or relationship rather than analysis of the component parts |
| triangulation | use of multiple strategies or methods to strengthen credibility of findings related to the phenomena being studied |
| heuristic design | strategy that involves complete immersion of the investigator into the phenomenon of interest and self-reflection of the investigator's personal experiences |
| Likert scale | used in surveys or questionnaires; based on a 5 or 7 point scale to indicate the subject's level of positive or negative response to an item |
| ontology | a philosophical term referring to a person's view or definition of reality |
| survey | nonexperimental design used to measure primarily characterisitics of a population |
| attention factor | phenomenon in whichresearch subjects mayexperience change simply from the act of participating in a research project |
| close-ended questions | data gathering strategy in whichthe participant must choose from a prescribed set of answers |
| open-ended questions | a form of asking questions in which the particpants formulate their answers |
| pluralism | a central characteristic of naturalistic inquiry that suggests there are multiple realities that can only be understood with the natural context ofhuman experience and behavior |
| probe | a neutral statement used to encourage the participant to elaborate or provide additional information |
| external validity | capacity to generalize findings and develop inferences from the sample to the study population |
| internal validity | ability of the research design to answer the research question accurately |
| phenomenological inquiry | focuses on the experience of an event for a particular people |
