ENG518 Glossary by Asfand Yarr

1. Action research :Action research refers to a wide variety of evaluative, investigative, and analytical research methods designed to diagnose problems or weaknesses—whether organizational, academic, or instructional—and help educators develop practical solutions to address them quickly and efficiently.
2. APA Style :APA Style is a writing style and format for academic documents such as scholarly journal articles and books. ... It is described in the style guide of the American Psychological Association (APA), which is titled the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
3. Bibliography :An bibliography is a list of resources with citations related to a particular topic or arranged thematically that include a brief descriptive or evaluative summary.
4. Case Study :The term case study refers to both a method of analysis and a specific research design for examining a problem, both of which are used in most circumstances to generalize across populations.
5. Data analysis :Data Analysis is the process of systematically applying statistical and/or logical techniques to describe and illustrate, condense and recap, and evaluate data.
6. Data collection :Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes.
7. Dependent Variable :The variable that depends on other factors that are measured. These variables are expected to change as a result of an experimental manipulation of the independent variable or variables. It is the presumed effect.
8. Historical research :One type of qualitative research is historical research, which involves examining past events to draw conclusions and make predictions about the future.
9. Hypothesis :A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. It is a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen in a study.

10. Independent Variable :The variable that is stable and unaffected by the other variables you are trying to measure. It refers to the condition of an experiment that is systematically manipulated by the investigator. It is the presumed cause. 11. Instrument and Instrumentation :Instrument is the general term that researchers use for a measurement device (survey, test, questionnaire, etc.). To help distinguish between instrument and instrumentation, consider that the instrument is the device and instrumentation is the course of action (the process of developing, testing, and using the device). 12. Interpretation of data :Interpretation of data refers to the task of drawing inferences from the collected facts after an analytical and/or experimental study. 13. Interviewing :An interview is a conversation for gathering information. A research interview involves an interviewer, who coordinates the process of the conversation and asks questions, and an interviewee, who responds to those questions. Interviews are an appropriate method when there is a need to collect in-depth information on people’s opinions, thoughts, experiences, and feelings. 14. Observation :Observation is a systematic data collection approach. Researchers use all of their senses to examine people in natural settings or naturally occurring situations. 15. Problem statement :A problem statement is the description of an issue currently existing which needs to be addressed. It provides the context for the research study and generates the questions which the research aims to answer. 16. Qualitative methods :The word qualitative implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities and on processes and meanings that are not experimentally examined or measured [if measured at all] in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency. Qualitative researchers stress the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between the researcher and what is studied, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry. 17.

Quantitative

methods

:Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating preexisting statistical data using computational techniques. Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular phenomenon. 18. Questionnaire :A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. 19. Reliability :Reliability can be thought of as consistency. Does the instrument consistently measure what it is intended to measure? 20. Research :The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. 21. Research design :The research design refers to the overall strategy that you choose to integrate the different components of the study in a coherent and logical