| A | B |
|---|
| action research | research conducted by teachers or principals to deal with problems and opportunities as they arise; this is less formal than applied research (page 18) |
| anonymity | when the identity of the research subjects is not known even to the investigator; some research sites may require this as an ethical guideline (page 21) |
| applied research | research which is conducted for practical purposes, such as developing better assessments or interventions (page 16-17) |
| basic research | research which is conducted primarily to develop or test a theory rather than develop better assessments or interventions (page 16) |
| case | one particular subject (participant) being studied in this sample; a case study is an in-depth study of one person |
| causal - comparative | a research technique in which the investigator identifies groupings after the outcomes, rather than randomly assigning the subjects to different treatment groups; this method is more vulnerable (compared to the experiment) to post facto fallacies and spurious correlations due to confounding variables (pages 10-11) |
| confidentiality | when the investigator takes measures to assure that no one else will be able to infer the identity of individual research subjects (page 21) |
| constant | a quantitative measure that does not change; usually this is attained by sampling in such a way that only students of a certain gender, geographical location, grade level or achievement level are included into the sample |
| correlation | the association between two variables, which does not necessarily imply that one variable caused the other (page 9-10) |
| data (plural form of datum) | the facts, information, observations actually made in our original research |
| deception | intentionally misleading a research participant as to the purpose or the conditions of the research; deception is unethical if it leads to risk to the subjects or interferes with informed consent (page 22) |
| dependent variable | a variable which is the result or outcome (e.g., test scores, levels of adjustment, attitudes) rather than a background factor of the subjects or something manipulated by the experimenter (page 10) |
| empirical | science's method of gaining knowledge by the objective measurement of reality (page 5) |
| ethics | the conduct of research involves ethical guidelines such as avoidance of harm to the subjects, informed consent, and confidentiality (pages 19-22) |
| evaluation research | research intended to provide data as to the quality, value or effectiveness of a specific product, program or policy. (page 17) |
| experiment | a research technique in which an independent variable is manipulated (e.g., groups are randomly assigned and given different treatments); the experiment is usually the best technique for identifying causal relationships (pages 11-12) |
| FERPA | Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: 1974 legislation, also known as the Buckley Admendment which requires that external researchers need written permission to gain access to individual student records (pages 21-22) |
| grouping variable | an independent variable which defines the subjects' different groups; these could be experimental and control (in a formal experiment) or background factors used in a causal-comparative study (page 10) |
| HSRC | Human Subjects Review Committee, a committee in a school or other research site charged with the responsibility of reviewing proposals for research, and having the ability to reject those proposals which are unethical (pages 20,22) |
| hypothesis | a specific prediction made at the beginning of research; assuming a certain theory, what empirical results do we expect to obtain from this research? Hypotheses (plural) may be generated by qualitative research, but then must be tested by quantitative research (page 5) |
| independent variable | this could be any variable which could potentially explain the dependent variable; some researchers prefer a narrow definition (i.e., only those variables manipulated by an experimenter), while other researchers would include any background factor that might influence the outcomes, while still others would use the term to describe any variable used to predict the outcome (page 11) |
| inductive reasoning | reasoning based upon the empirical observation of a limited number of cases, followed by the generalization of rules and theories; inductive reasoning is the method of science (page 4) |
| informed consent | the ethical principle that research subjects must, of their own free free, consent to participate after they have been given complete information about the potential risks; children and those of diminished mental capacity are not capable of giving informed consent (so parents, guardians, or conservators must do so) (pages 21-22) |
| IRB | Internal Review Board, a committee in a school or other research site charged with reviewing proposals for research, and having the ability to reject those proposals which are unethical (pages 20,22) |
| negative correlation | an inverse correlation in which someone who scores high on one variable tends to score low on the other variable; to say that a correlation is negative should not imply that it, or either of the two variables involved, are bad (page 10) |
| N | N: the number of participants (i.e., the sample size) |
| participant | one particular person (subject, case) |
| positive correlation | a direct correlation in which someone who scores high on one variable tends to score high on the other variable, while someone who scores low on one variable tends to score low on the other; to say that a correlation is positive should not imply that it, or either of the two variables involved, are good (page 10) |
| qualitative research | research in which the collected data are visual and/or narrative (i.e., the subjects' own words); the context must be clarified in order to understand the data; qualitative research does not test hypotheses, but can serve to generate, refine or explain them (page 7-9) |
| quantitative research | research in which the collected data are numeric (i.e., capable of being measured on a nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio scale); usually, contexts are carefully controlled and sample sizes must be larger than in qualitative research; this method comes from the natural sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry) and assumes that reality is more stable, uniform, and coherent (page 7-8) |
| science | a method of gaining knowledge based upon empiricism, the objective and precise measurement of reality; the steps usually include a definition of the problem, formulation of hypotheses, collection of empirical data, reporting of the data, and a discussion of the implications of the data; science cannot answer questions about values, ethics, or theology (page 5) |
| single case experiment | an experiment done on just one subject (page 12) |
| subject | one participant in the sample |
| survey | a quantitative research technique in which variables are measured (rather than manipulated) usually with a questionnaire; the kinds of questions asked in interviews are open-ended (and therefore, more suited for qualitative research) while those on surveys must have response format resulting in nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio scaling (page 9) |
| variable | a measure that can change (i.e., assume different values as we move from one case to another, or one time to another; e.g., a child's score on an achievement test varies from child to child, and may even vary from the next time the same child takes the same test); dependent variables are outcome variables that are some measure of choice, performance or attitude (page 9) |
