ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATION: Communication between people where all the communicants are not, necessarily, in contact at the same moment in time.
BIAS: Prejudice in favour, or against, a group individual, perspective, etc.
CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP: The assertion that a change in ‘A’ causes a change in ‘B’.
CHECK BOXES: On an electronic questionnaire, boxes that can be ticked by respondents in response to a question.
CODE: A way of identifying a specific answer or characteristic. It may be numeric or alphabetic.
COMPARATIVE RESEARCH: A research strategy used to study two or more subjects, often countries or cultures.
CONSTANT COMPARISON: Comparing data from different sources and from different places and times to support the analysis, along with the search for negative cases.
CONTROL GROUP: In a research design, this is a group of people or materials that are the same as the experimental group in every way except the aspect of manipulation or change.
project, or are perhaps being observed in secret.
CRITICAL REALISM: A position that prioritises identifying structures or mechanisms that result in inequality or injustice and thus offers the opportunity for social change by changing or negating the structural mechanisms that are identified as having these impacts.
CROSS-TABULATION: Presentation of data from two variables in one table, enabling the researcher to identify interesting similarities and differences within the data.
DATA: A collection of facts (or other information, such as opinions or values) which can be analysed and from which conclusions can be drawn.
DECILE: One-tenth part of a sample or data set.
DIAGRAM: Presentation of data or findings in a graphical format.
DISSEMINATION: The process of spreading the news of research findings so that they become known to a wider audience.
DROP-DOWN LISTS: On an electronic questionnaire, a set of possible answers presented as a list from which respondents select one or more applicable responses.
ETHICS: Ethics can be throught of as a set of rules by which individuals and societies maintain moral standards in their lives.
EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: In a research design, the group of people or materials that are manipulated or changed in some way.
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH: Research that aims to discover what participants think is important about the research topic.
FOCUS GROUP: A data collection method that usually brings together a group of between 5 and 13 people who have something in common, which is connected to the research topic, to take part in a discussion on that topic, which is facilitated by the researcher.
GRAMMAR: The ‘rules’ that control the way that language is structured and, in the case of writing, govern the use of punctuation and syntax so that the writer’s meaning will be clear to the reader.
HARMONISED DATA: Data gathered from a range of different sources but which take account of the differences in the way the data has been collected, enabling researchers to access comparative data.
HYPOTHESIS: A proposal or statement that is intended to explain observations or facts; it can be thought of as an ‘informed guess’ about the social world that, if true, would explain the phenomenon being researched.
INFORMATION: Knowledge gained through study, experience or instruction: what we are told.
INTERPRETIVIST APPROACH: This usually means that qualitative data is collected, with a focus on how people interpret the social world and social phenomena and enabling different perspectives to be explored.
KEYWORDS: Terms that tell a database (such as a library catalogue, or a citations search engine) what to look for.
LONGITUDINAL STUDY: A research design that enables the researcher to look at the same people or situations at key points in time and to consider how the changes over time have affected different groups of people.
MEDIAN: A statistical average calculated by arranging all data, or flagging a piece of data for later investigation.
community and family.
quantitative methods in a way that is best for a specific research project.
MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS: The analysis of three or more variables together.
NEGATIVE CASES: Instances that seem to contradict or disprove the emerging theory.
NORMAL DISTRIBUTION: Data that is distributed symmetrically around the mean point in a ‘bell shape’.
ONLINE SOCIAL RESEARCH: The computer-mediated collection of data and typically adapts traditional data collection methods, for example, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, etc., for use in an online virtual environment.
OPEN QUESTIONS: Questions that allow the respondent to answer the question in their own way.
PARADIGM: A cluster of beliefs and dictates that for scientists in a particular discipline, influence what should be studied, how research should be done, how results should be interpreted and so on.
in which the researcher/observer achieves intimate PEER REVIEW: In academic settings, the process by PILOT-TEST: A trial run or an opportunity to try out a data wording, research participant understanding and data PLAGIARISM: Presenting someone else’s work as of it was PLANNING: To arrange in advance (an action or proposed POPULATION: In statistical terms, population refers to the POSITIVISM: An epistemological position which asserts understandings.
PROBABILITY SAMPLE: A sample that can be shown to be highly representative of the whole population – or all the potential cases – in terms of relevant criteria.
PROXY DEFINITION: A ‘rule of thumb’ definition which stands in for a more detailed and sophisticated way of defining something.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS: Methods that are primarily concerned with stories and accounts including subjective understandings, feelings, opinions and beliefs.
QUARTILE: One-quarter part of a sample or data set.
QUESTIONNAIRE: (1) A set of questions each with a range of answers; (2) a format which enables standardised, relatively structured, data to be gathered about each of a (usually) large number of cases.
certain number, or quota, of cases, on the basis of their matching a number of criteria.
RAW DATA: Data that has not been analysed in any way, but is presented in the form it was collected in.
RELIABILITY: A measure of research quality, meaning that another researcher would expect to obtain the same findings if they carried out the research in the same way, or the original researcher would expect to obtain the same findings if they tried again in the same way.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL: A document that outlines what a research project is about, how it will be undertaken, why it is worthwhile, how long it will take, and why it should be funded.
RESEARCH TOOL: Something used to collect data, e.g. a questionnaire, the researcher her/himself or an interview schedule.
SAMPLING FRAME: A list of all the members of a population from which a sample may be drawn.
SECONDARY DATA: The data that a researcher uses which SEMI-STRUCTURED: Describes data, or a data collection SNOWBALL SAMPLING: A sampling technique where members of an initial sample are asked to identify others with the same characteristics as them, who the researcher then contacts.
STANDARD DEVIATION: A statistical measure of how values or cases are distributed around the mean value or case.
STATISTICS: Data that is structured and can be counted or is already expressed in numerical terms.
STRUCTURED: Describes data, or a data collection method (such as an interview or questionnaire), in which the questions are the same for each participant, and typically there is a common set of answers for each question.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS: A process of working with raw data to identify and interpret key ideas or themes.
THEORETICAL SAMPLE: A sample of selected cases that will best enable the researcher to explore theoretical ideas.
TOPIC GUIDE: A set of questions, key points or prompts to be included in a focus group or interview that helps the facilitator to remember the issues/questions to introduce; suggests ways of approaching topics and phrasing questions; reminds the facilitator to probe and follow up comments; includes an introduction and a way of ending; if you are holding more than one focus group or two or more facilitators are involved ensures that the same topics are covered in each group.
TRIANGULATION: A measure of research quality, meaning that if different types of data are collected to address the same research question, each set of data can be used to check the findings from the others.
UNIT: The individual respondent or subject about whom a researcher collects data, for example countries, universities, families or individuals.
VALUE STATEMENTS: Statements, usually from an individual, that are indications of each person’s opinion where they are using their own judgement and criteria.
Source: Bob Matthews and Liz Ross, RESEARCH METHODS A practical guide for the social sciences (England: Pearson Education Limited 2010)
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