6.5: Key Terms/Glossary

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Control group: one group in an experimental study that is not administered the treatment
Cross-sectional study: study in which observations are taken at a single point in time
Descriptive: descriptive research builds upon exploratory research to provide further information about a phenomenon and may also contain information about relationships between variables
Experimental design: an experimental design can help determine the effect of the independent variable or the treatment on the dependent variable or the outcome because the treatment can be isolated as the likely cause
Experimental group: one group in an experimental study that is administered the treatment
Explanatory: explanatory research seeks to explain “why” an outcome occurs
Exploratory: exploratory research seeks to understand an issue, trying to figure out what is going on
Longitudinal study: studies in which observations are taken at multiple points in time, often over a specified length of time
Nonexperimental design: designs that are not experimental due to lack of random assignment, control group, or the ability to manipulate the treatment
Non-probabilistic sampling: sampling technique that does not utilize probability to place cases into a sample
Population: all cases that could be a part of the study
Primary source: original data collected by researcher
Probabilistic sampling: sampling technique that utilizes probability to place cases into a sample
Random assignment: the placement of cases into control and experimental groups in an unbiased manner such that the likelihood of any case being placed into groups is exactly the same.
Representativeness: characteristic of a sample to reflect what the population of interest looks like
Research design: an action plan that guides researchers in providing evidence to support their theory
Sample: a selection of cases from the population
Secondary source: existing source of data that has been collected by other researchers
Treatment: the cause of an outcome and is able to be manipulated the be researcher in an experiment