15 Glossary of Q Terms

Correlation: the connection between 2 sets of scores/values. If both sets of scores/values increase, they are said to be positively correlated. If one set of scores/value increases and the other decreases, the two sets are said to be negatively (or inversely) correlated. When no connection exists between two sets of scores/values, then there is no correlation (Sommer and Sommer, p. 264).

Data: facts and statistics collected for analysis

Data analysis: researcher makes detailed comparisons and contrasts to explain, illustrate, evaluate, or interpret the data.

Data collection: systematic gathering of relevant information from sources (subjects/experiments, etc.) over a specific period of time, and sorting the information into categories (Creswell 153) to answer the research questions or test hypotheses.

Data point: a piece of information or a fact that usually comes about as a result of research; a synonym for data.

Discussion: analysis or interpretation of the results; comparisons, contrasts to previous studies; answers research questions; description of the significance of the findings; explanation of new insight resulting from the findings.

Findings: the results of the study that lead to the researcher’s conclusions

Informants: people providing information to the researcher/research team

Introduction: establishes a purpose of the study; gets the reader’s interest, identifies the problem, identifies the variables (gender, age, socio economic status, etc. of the subjects) grounds the study in the field (lit. review) (Creswell 42, 62)

Limitations: the potential weaknesses of/flaws in the study (ex., sample size too small) that may influence the findings

Literature Review: presentation and comparison of similar studies on the topic, addressing strengths and weaknesses.

Methodology: a system or plan for collecting information related to a problem being investigated. Can be qualitative, quantitative, or a combination of both.

Mean: average; the value obtained by dividing the sum of several quantities by their number. For example, if there are 9 items, the sum of these quantities would be divided by 9(M=x/9).

Median: middle value; in a set of values listed in order, from highest to lowest, the median is whatever value is in the middle. For example, in the set of values 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 15, 15, 18,20, the medial (middle) value is 8.)

Mixed Methods: combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Outlier: data that is noticeably different from other pieces of data in a group or set. It does not follow the general, expected pattern.

PI: Principal investigator; primary data collector; lead researcher

Principal investigator: see PI

Qualitative: an exploratory inquiry designed to understand a social or human problem using observations, interviews, case studies, focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, photos, videos, films, etc. documents, and “build[ing] a picture” based on what the informants share/the PI observes (Creswell 1, 21, 150-151). It can also reveal trends—

Quantitative: an inquiry designed to understand a social or human problem by coming up with usable numerical data (Creswell 1, 10-11)

Research Questions: what the researcher/PI wants to find out through the study

Researcher: person/team investigating the problem/topic

Respondent: subject, informants, participants in the study

Results: detailed, objective presentation of findings

Sample: the collection of facts/people/data from a large group/population of a particular category used for testing since the whole group/population would typically be too large to manage. Researchers use the smaller sample to make inferences/generalizations about the larger population from which the researchers obtained the sample data/facts/people (Sommer and Sommer, 225, 351)

Significance of the study: the writer’s explanation of why the study matters

Study: an inquiry designed to understand a social or human problem (Creswell 1)

Subject: informant, respondent, participant in the study

Trend: a pattern of gradual change or development over time in a direction data takes.  Typically, the data can trend up, showing an increase, or down, showing a decrease.

_{Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage. 1994.}

_{Sommer, Barbara, and Robert Summer. A Practical Guide to Behavioral Research: Tools and Techniques, 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 1991.}