Research Key Terms 11/9

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Continuous Variable

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Variables that take on an infinite number of values.

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Discrete Variable

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Variables with a finite number of distinct distinct values.

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Guttman Scale

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Unidimensional or cumulative scale in which the researcher develops a small number of items(four to seven) that relate to one concept and then arranges them so that endorsement of one item means an endorsement of items below it.

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Interval

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Measures are continuous variables in which the 0 point is arbitrary.

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Level of Measurement

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Refers to the properties and meaning of the number assigned to an observation.

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Likert-type scale

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Type of scale most frequently scored on a 5 to 7 point range, indicating the subject’s level of positive or negative response to an item.

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Measurement

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Translation of observations into numbers.

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Nominal

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Numbers used to name attributes of a variable.

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Ordinal

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Numerical values that assign an order to a set of observations.

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Proxy

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(Informant) Involves using a family member, health professional, or an individual familiar with the targeted person to rate that person on the phenomenon of interest using a standard measure.

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Random Error

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Errors that occur by chance.

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Ratio

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Numbers that have all the characteristics of interval numbers but also have an absolute 0 point.

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Reliability

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Stability of a research design.

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Scales

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Tools for the quantitative measurement of the degree to which individuals possess a specific attribute or trait.

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Semantic differential scale

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Scaling technique in which the researcher develops a series of opposite or mutually exclusive constructs that ask the respondent to give a judgment about something along an ordered dimension , usually of 7 points.

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Systematic Error

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Systematic bias or an error that occurs consistently with an instrument; impacts the extent to which an instrument is valid or represents the underlying construct or concept. Also known as nonrandom error.

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Validity

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Extent to which an investigator’s findings are accurate or reflect the underlying purpose of the study.

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Audit trail

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Path of a person’s thinking and action processes that enables others to follow the logic and manner in which knowledge was developed.

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Field notes

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Naturalistic recordings written by the investigator that are composed of two components- (1)Recordings of events, observations, and occurrences and (2) recordings of the investigators own impressions of events, feelings, hunches, and expectations.

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Focus group

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Naturalistic design that uses a small group process to facilitate data collection and analysis.

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Gaining access

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Naturalistic action processes of entering the context of the field study.

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Investigator involvement

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One of the principal characteristics of most forms of naturalistic inquiry in which the investigator becomes fully immersed in the data collection and analytical process.

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Life history

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Type of naturalistic inquiry concerned with eliciting life experiences and with how individual interpret and attribute meanings to these experiences.

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Member checking

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Technique whereby the investigator “checks out” his or her assumptions with informants.

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Participant observation

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Naturalistic data collection strategy in which the researcher takes part in the context under scrutiny.

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Peer debriefing

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Use of more than one investigator as a participant in the analytical process, followed by reflection on other possible competing interpretations of the data.

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reflexivity

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Process of self-examination.

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Rich point

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Represents a problem in your understanding and is the point at which you learn your assumptions are not adequate to explain how things are learning.

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saturation

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Point at which an investigator has obtained sufficient information from which to obtain an understanding of the phenomena.

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triangulation

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Use of multiple strategies or methods as a means to strengthen the credibility of an investigator’s findings related to the phenomena under study; also known as crystallization.

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codebook

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Record of variable names for each variable in experimental type research; record of categories, codes, and line placement in nat inquiry.

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Data reduction

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Procedures used to summarize raw data into more compact and interpretable forms.

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Database management

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Set of actions necessary to develop and maintain the raw data and statistical control files that are developed in exp-type studies.

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Memoing

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Particular approach to coding segments of narrative that is used in naturalistic forms of analysis; investigator indicates personal notations as to emerging hypotheses and subsequent directions for analysis.

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Narrative

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Set of words, derived from stories, interviews, written journals, and other written documents which forms the data set in naturalistic inquiry.

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Raw data file

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Set of numbers in a computer file that is entered from a questionnaire or other data collection instrument used exp-type research; its creation is the first action step in the process of preparing data for statistical analysis.

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transcription

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narrative derived from an audiotape or a video image of an interview with an individual or a group.

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Variable label

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Applied to each variable in a computer file; follows certain conventions that are based on the particular statistical software used by the investigator.