Research Test 3

Front 1

Variables that take on an infinite number of values.

Back 1

continuous variable

Front 2

Variables with a finite number of distinct values.

Back 2

Discrete Variable

Front 3

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.

Back 3

guttman scale

Front 4

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

Back 4

interval

Front 5

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

Back 5

Level of Measurement

Front 6

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.

Back 6

Likert-type scale

Front 7

Translation of observations into numbers.

Back 7

measurement

Front 8

Numbers used to name attributes of a variable.

Back 8

nominal

Front 9

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

Back 9

ordinal

Front 10

(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.

Back 10

proxy

Front 11

Errors that occur by chance.

Back 11

random error

Front 12

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

Back 12

ratio

Front 13

Stability of a research design.

Back 13

reliability

Front 14

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

Back 14

scales

Front 15

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.

Back 15

Semantic differential scale

Front 16

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.

Back 16

systematic error

Front 17

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

Back 17

validity

Front 18

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

Back 18

audit trial

Front 19

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.

Back 19

field notes

Front 20

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

Back 20

focus group

Front 21

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

Back 21

gaining access

Front 22

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.

Back 22

Investigator involvement

Front 23

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

Back 23

life history

Front 24

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

Back 24

member checking

Front 25

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

Back 25

participant observation

Front 26

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

Back 26

peer debriefing

Front 27

Process of self-examination.

Back 27

reflexivity

Front 28

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.

Back 28

rich point

Front 29

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

Back 29

saturation

Front 30

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.

Back 30

triangulation

Front 31

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

Back 31

code book

Front 32

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

Back 32

data reduction

Front 33

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

Back 33

database management

Front 34

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.

Back 34

memoing

Front 35

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

Back 35

narrative

Front 36

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.

Back 36

raw data file

Front 37

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

Back 37

transcription

Front 38

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

Back 38

variable label