Research and Design
Chapter One and Two Key Concepts:
- External Validity- The extent and appropriateness of the stabilizability of results.
- Internal Validity- The basic minimum control, measurement, analysis, and procedures necessary to make the results interpretable.
- Basic Research- Research conducted for the primary purpose of adding to the existing body of knowledge.
- Applied Research- Research conducted for the primary purpose of solving an immediate, practical problem.
- Action Research- Conducted by teachers, administrators, or other educational professionals for solving a specific problem or providing information for decision making at the local level.
- Qualitative Research- Done for the purpose of understanding social phenomena, social being, used in a broad sense.
- Quantitative Research- Done to determine relationships, effects, and causes.
- Experimental Research- Involves situations in which at least one variable, the experimental variable, is deliberately manipulated are varied by the researcher to determine the effects of that variation.
- Quasi-Experimental Research- Research involving an experimental variable with intact groups, or at least with groups that have not been formed through random selection or random assignment; single subjects, not randomly selected, may also be involved.
- Survey Research- Research that deals with the incidence, distribution, and relationships of educational, psychological, sociological variables in non experimental settings.
- Historical Research- Research directed to the study of a problem, event, etc., of the past using information from the past.
- Ethnographic Research- Research that is intended to provide scientific descriptions of (educational) systems, processes, and phenomena within their specific contexts.
- Role of Theory
- Variables- A characteristic that takes on different values for different individuals.
- Intervening Variable- A variable whose existence is inferred but that cannot be manipulated or measured.
- Independent Variable- A variable that affects (or is assumed to affect) the dependent variable under study and is included in the research design so that its effect can be determined.
- Dependent Variable- The variable being affected or assumed to be affected by the independent variable.
- Hypothesis- A conjecture or proposition about the solution to a problem, the relationship of two or more variables, or the nature of some phenomena.
- Null Hypothesis- A hypothesis states such that no difference or no relationship is hypothesized.
- Statistical, Alternative, and Research Hypothesis
- Operational Definitions- A definition expressed in terms of the processes or operations that are going to be used to measure that characteristic under study.
- Nominal Scale- A measurement scale that simply classifies elements into two or more categories, indication that the elements are different, but not according to order or magnitude.
- Ordinal Scale- A measurement scale that classifies and ranks elements or scores.
- Interval Scale- A measurement scale that, in addition to ordering scores, also establishes an equal unit in the scale so that distances between any two scored are of a known magnitude; also called equal-unit scale.
Chapter Four and Five Key Concepts:
- Positivism
- Variance- A measure of variability that is the average value of the squares of the deviations from the mean of the scores in a distribution.
- Random or Error Variance- The inherent variance in a distribution of scores, which includes variance due to sources such as random sampling (or assignment) and intervening variables.
- Controlling Variance
- Bias
- Confounded Variables- Variables operating in a specific situation such that their effects cannot be separated.
- Extraneous Variables
- Control of Extraneous Variables
- Statistical Precision
- Experiment- A research situation in which one or more independent variables are systematically varied according to a preconceived plan to determine the effects of this variation.
- Experimental Design
- Experimental Variable
- Experimental Treatment
- Subjects
- Experimental Control
- Contamination
- Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design
- Solomon Four-Group Design
- Factorial Design
- Repeated Measures Design
- Threats to Validity
- Designs Extended in Time
- Multiple Observations
- Randomness or Representativeness
- Posttest-only Control Group Design
Chapter Eight and Ten Key Concepts
- Epistemology
- Ecological Psychology
- Holistic Ethnography- The study of all or parts of a culture or community by describing beliefs and practices of the group and considering the various parts as they contribute to the culture as a unified, consistent whole.
- Working Design
- Emergent Design
- Foreshadowed Problems- Specific research problems, possibly states in questions form, that provide a focus for the research.
- Specimen Record
- Oral History
- Coding- Process of organizing data, specifying designations and symbols as appropriate. Usually, the process results in data reduction.
- Funnel Approach
- Modified Analytic Induction
- Data Saturation
- External Reliability of Research- The extent to which research is replicable.
- Internal Reliability of Research- The extent of consistency in the methods, conditions, and results of research.
- Concordance
- Comparability
- Translatability
- Computer Program-Software
- Ethnography- A branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of individual cultures also, the written account that is the product of an ethnographic study.
- Field Research
- Contextualization- The requirement that data be interpreted only in the context of the situation or environment in which they were collected.
- Phenomenology- The study of phenomena through observation and description.
- Grounded Theory- Theory based on a study of the data rather than on some prior set of axioms and theorems.
- Organization
- Culture
- Perspective
- Participant Observer- The role assumed by the researcher in ethnographic research such that the researcher becomes a participant in the situation being observed.
- Privileged Observer
- Limited Observer
- Triangulation- Qualitative cross-validation of data using multiple data sources or multiple data-collection procedures.
- Ballparking
- Field Notes
- Portraiture- An ethnography that is a descriptive account of a culture, in essence, providing a portrait of the culture through words.
- Inductive Inquiry
- Key Informant- An individual in whom one invests a disproportionate amount of time because that individual appears to be particularly well informed, articulate, approachable, or available.
- Aggegate-Type Generalization
- General-Type Generalization
- Assertoric Argument- Making the case for generalization (external validity) using a general-type argu,ment that somehting is true for each and every member.
- A Posteriori Judgment
Chapter 7:
- Survey Research- Research that deals with the incidence, distributiontion, and relationships of educational, psychological, and sociological variables in non-experimental settings.
- Survey Designs
- Cross-Sectional Designs- Surveys in which that data are collected at one point in time from a random sampled of a general population that contains two or more subpopulations, with the intention of comparing the data from the subsamples or noting trends across such subsamples.
- Longitudinal Designs- Studies that involve measuring the same or different individuals two or more times during a period or time (usually of considerable length, such as several months or years)- for example, measuring the mathematics performance of the same students at yearly intervals as they progress from the fourth to the fifth grade.
- Trend Study- Longitudinal designs (in survey research) in which a general population is studied over time by taking different random samples at various points in time.
- Cohort Study- Longitudinal designs (in survey research) in which a specific population is studied overtime by taking different random samples at various points in time.
- Panel Study- Longitudinal designs (in survey research) in which the same random samples is measured at different points in time.
- Ex Past Facto Research- Research i which the independent variable or variables have already ocurred and in which the researcher begins with the observations on a dependednt variable, followed by a retorspective study of possible relationship and effects.
- Casual-Comparative Research
- Correlational Research
- Community Surveys
- Status Surveys
- Leading Questions
- Census- A study that includes all members of a population.
- Selected-Response Items
- Open-Ended Items
- Pilot Run
- Likert Scale- A scaling procedure, commonly associated with attitude measurement, that requires a graded response to each item or statement. In scoring, the alternative responses to items are assigned numerical values, and the individual’s score is the sume of the numerical values.
- Cover Letter
- Follow-Ups
- Response Rate
- Telephone Interviews
- Interrater Reliability
- Intrarater Reliability
- Branching Item
Chapter 11
- Sample
- Probability Sampling
- Random Sample
- Random Assignment
- Sampling Error
- Sampling Bias
- Stratified Random Sampling
- Sampling Fraction
- Proportional Allocation
- Equal Allocation
- Self-Weighting Sample
- Cluster Sampling
- Sampling Frame
- Statistical Precision
- Effect Size
- Systematic Sampling
- Periodicity
- Purposeful Sampling
- Information-Rich Cases
- Comprehensive Sampling
- Maximum Variation Sampling
- Extreme Case Sampling
- Typical Case Sampling
- Homogenous Sampling
- Network or “Snowball Sampling”
- Critical Case Sampling
- Critical Case Sampling
- Intermittent Selection
- Internal Sampling
- Power of a Statistical Test
Chapter 12
- Measurement
- Scales of Measurement
- Reliability of Measurement
- Parallel Forms Procedures
- Split-half Procedure
- Kuder-Richardson Procedures
- Cronback Alpha Procedure
- Reliability Coefficient
- Validity of Measurement
- Content-Related Evidence
- Criterion-Related Evidence
- Construct-Related Evidence
- Achievement Tests
- Aptitude Tests
- Personality Measures
- Projective Tests
- Nonprojective tests
- Likert Scale
- Sematic Differential
- Rating Scales
- Observation Systems
- Tests Information Sources
- Coding Data
- Data File
Chapter 13
- Statistics
- Descriptive Statistics
- Distribution
- Frequency Distribution
- Histogram
- Central Tendency
- Mean
- Median
- Variability
- Standard Deviation
- Variance
- Shape of Distribution
- Correlation
- Prediction
- Criterion Variable
- Standard Error of Estimate
Chapter 14
- Central Limit Theorem
- Standard Normal Distribution
- t-Distribution
- Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
- F-distribution
- Nonparametric Analyses
- Null Hypothesis
- Testing Hypothesis
- Estimating Parameters
- Interval Estimate
- Sampling Distribution
- Level of Significance
- Confidence Level
- Statistical Significance
- Type I Error
- Type II Error
- Parametric Analyses
- Parametric Assumptions
- Chi-Square Distribution
- Contingency Table
- Correlational Analyses
- Analysis of Covariance
- Univariate Analysis
- Primary Analysis
- Secondary Analysis
- Meta-Analysis
- Effect Size
