Research Methodology and Analysis

This set of flashcards covers key terms and concepts relevant to research methodology and analysis, focusing on literature reviews, hypothesis testing, sampling, and data measurement.

Literature Review

A summary, synthesis, and critical evaluation of existing research related to a topic.

Problem Statement

A clear identification of the issue, gap, or question that the research aims to address.

Quantitative Research

Research that follows specific steps including identifying a problem, formulating hypotheses, designing methods, analyzing data and interpreting results.

Validity

The accuracy of a measure, indicating how well a concept is measured.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure across different instances.

Intervening Variable

A variable that explains how or why a relationship occurs between independent and dependent variables.

Falsification

The scientific idea that theories and hypotheses must be testable and able to be proven false.

Directional Hypothesis

A hypothesis that predicts the direction of a relationship, such as 'increases' or 'decreases'.

Null Hypothesis

A hypothesis predicting no relationship or no difference, which scientists test statistically.

Sampling Frame

The actual list of the population from which the sample is drawn.

Significance Level

A threshold (often p < .05) for rejecting the null hypothesis, indicating results unlikely due to chance.

Operationalization

Defining how a variable will be measured.

Mean

The average of a set of values.

Mode

The most frequent value in a data set.

Standard Deviation

A measure that shows the spread or variability of a set of scores.

Content Analysis

A systematic and objective description of the content of messages.