AP Research methodology vocab

bias

A personal opinion, belief, or value that may influence one’s judgment, perspective or claim

Case Study

intensive study of a person or group, typically combine long- term observations with tests, journals, and interviews; they don't prove or disprove anything, but results can provide more material for future hypothesis

coding

A method for reducing data sets into categories or numbers for the purpose of analyzing emerging themes, patterns, or trends

content curation

The act of organizing and maintaining a collection of artifacts related to your research process.

correlation

mutual relation of two or more things

control group

group of subjects that do not get the treatment being studied in the study

cross sectional study

data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared to draw conclusions about differences due to age

deductive

A type of reasoning that constructs general propositions that are supported with evidence or cases

double blind

of or pertaining to an experiment or clinical trial in which neither the subjects nor the researchers know which subjects are receiving the active medication, treatment and which are not a technique for eliminating subjective bias from the test results

experimental group

the group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested

experimental research

a systematic and scientific approach to the scientific method scientist manipulates variables

experiments

a test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation for the purpose of discovering something unknown or of testing a principle, etc.

hypothesis

educated guess/ prediction of a behavior

implication

A possible future effect or result

inductive

A type of reasoning that presents cases or evidence that lead to a logical conclusion

limitation

A boundary or point at which an argument or generalization is no longer valid

literature

The foundational and current texts of a field or discipline of study

longitudinal study

 study of the same group of people over a number of years to determine changes in behavior

mean

arithmetic average of a set of variables

median

a number that separates the higher half of a sample from the lower half

mode

the value that has the largest number of observations, namely the most frequent value or values

naturalistic observation

observing a subject without them knowing you are the researcher; eliminates chance that subject is acting a certain way because they know the researcher is present

placebo effect

those components of medical/ psychological care that have no intrinsic therapeutic value for the condition being treated but that nonetheless make people feel better (also known as a dummy or sugar pill)

primary research

The planning and implementation of an inquiry to gather firsthand data or information pertaining to a topic of interest

primary source

an original source of information about a topic (e.g., study, artifact, data set, interview, article)

qualitative

a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical data. This type of research "refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things" and not to their "counts or measures."

quantitative

A research method that emphasizes objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques.

sample

small group out of the total population being studied

secondary research

the process of gathering data or information about a topic of interest from previously published sources

secondary source

A commentary about one or more primary sources that provides additional insight, opinions, and/or interpretation about the primary sources data, study, or artifacts

self-fulfilling prophecy

any positive or negative expectation about circumstances, events, or people that may affect a person's behavior toward them in a manner that causes those expectations to be fulfilled

single blind

of or pertaining to an experiment or clinical trial in which the researchers but not the subjects know which subjects are receiving the active medication or treatment and which are not a technique for elimination subjective bias, as the placebo effect, from the test results

stratified

the researcher divides the population into separate groups. Then, a probability sample (often a simple random sample ) is drawn from each group.

survey

a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a particular group of people

random sample

a system where the sample should be similar to the larger group because every member of the larger group has an equal chance of being chosen to be in the study

research ethics

is specifically interested in the analysis of moral principles issues that are raised when people are involved as participants in research

variable

any factor that is capable of change

variance

the state, quality, or fact of being variable, divergent, different, or anomalous