Nature of Inquiry and Research

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the definitions, characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and various types of inquiry and quantitative research based on the lecture notes.

Inquiry

The process of knowing particular information from various sources by applying various methods, often to satisfy curiosity or gain basic understanding.

Research

A creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge, involving the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence while controlling for bias and error.

Qualitative Research

An exploratory/investigative method used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons and motivations or to uncover prevalent trends in thought and opinion using unstructured or semi-structured data collection.

Quantitative Research

A research method that uses scientifically collected and statistically analyzed numerical data to investigate observable phenomena and generalize results from samples.

Phenomenon

Any existing or observable fact or situation that we want to unearth or understand through research.

Objective

A characteristic of quantitative research where data gathering and analysis are done accurately and are unaffected by the researcher's intuition or personal guesses.

Replication

The ability for a quantitative method to be repeated to verify findings, thereby enhancing validity and ensuring conclusions are not false or immature.

Descriptive Design

A kind of quantitative research used to describe a particular phenomenon by observing it as it occurs in nature without experimental manipulation or an initial hypothesis.

Correlational Design

A research design used to identify the relationship between variables through observation without considering cause and effect.

Ex Post Facto

A term meaning "after the fact" used for research that investigates possible relationships between previous events and present conditions by looking at causes of already occurring phenomena.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A design used to establish cause-and-effect relationships where the independent variable is identified but not manipulated, and pre-existing groups are compared.

Experimental Design

A design used to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables using random assignment of subjects and experimental manipulations.

Rigid Design

A weakness of quantitative research describing how the research structure is not very flexible compared to other methods.

Large Sample Size

A characteristic required in quantitative research to obtain meaningful statistical results and allow for the generalization of data to the population.