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This glossary is intended to assist you in understanding commonly used terms and concepts when reading, interpreting, and evaluating scholarly research in the social sciences. Also included are general words and phrases defined within the context of how they apply to research in the social and behavioral sciences.
Elliot, Mark, Fairweather, Ian, Olsen, Wendy Kay, and Pampaka, Maria. A Dictionary of Social Research Methods. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2016; Free Social Science Dictionary. Socialsciencedictionary.com [2008]. Glossary. Institutional Review Board. Colorado College; Glossary of Key Terms. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Glossary A-Z. Education.com; Glossary of Research Terms. Research Mindedness Virtual Learning Resource. Centre for Human Servive Technology. University of Southampton; Miller, Robert L. and Brewer, John D. The A-Z of Social Research: A Dictionary of Key Social Science Research Concepts London: SAGE, 2003; Jupp, Victor. The SAGE Dictionary of Social and Cultural Research Methods. London: Sage, 2006. What is the term for the entire group in which a researcher is interested?A “population of interest” is defined as the population/group from which a researcher tries to draw conclusions. It is a subset of the general population that the surveyor wants to know more about. Many research studies require specific groups of interest to make decisions based on their findings.
What method do researchers use when they need to exert significant control over what happens in their study?In field experiments, researchers manipulate one or more independent variables in a natural setting to determine the effect on behavior. This method represents the most extreme form of intervention in observational methods, and researchers are able to exert more control over the study and its participants.
What does it mean if a researcher has obtained informed consent from all of his or her participants?Informed consent is a procedure through which a competent subject, after having received and understood all the research-related information, can voluntarily provide his or her willingness to participate in a clinical trial.
What type of research is characterized by the direct observation of events as they actually occur?The term observational research is used to refer to several different types of non-experimental studies in which behavior is systematically observed and recorded. The goal of observational research is to describe a variable or set of variables.
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