Glossary: Research

Case Study

It involves in-depth examination and analysis of a particular individual, group, organization, event, or phenomenon within its real-life context. Case studies typically aim to provide subjective, detailed, and holistic insights to a larger study.

Causal Hypothesis

A statement hypothesizing that the independent variable affects the dependent variable in some way. Causal hypotheses are common in fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, and medicine, where researchers seek to understand the causes and effects of various phenomena.

Causal Model

A model which represents a causal relationship between two variables. It represents the structure of relationships among variables and provides insights into how changes in one variable may influence changes in other variables.

Causal Relationship

A causal relationship refers to the association between two or more variables in which one variable (the cause) influences or directly affects changes in another variable (the effect). The relationship established shows that an independent variable, and nothing else, causes a change in a dependent variable.

Causality

The relation between cause and effect. The first of these is normally understood to be at least partly responsible for the occurrence of the second, thus the second is dependent upon the first. Causality is an abstraction based upon experience that is used to show and explain how change happens in the world.

Central Tendency

The most common measures of central tendency include the mean, median and mode. These measures indicate the middle or center of a distribution; any way of describing or characterizing typical, average, or common values in some distribution.

Chi-square Analysis

A statistical method used to determine whether there is a significant association between variables. A common non-parametric statistical test which compares an expected ratio to an actual ratio.

Classification

Ordering of related items, objects, entities or phenomena into categories, groups, or systems according to characteristics or attributes.

Cluster Analysis

A method of statistical analysis where data that share a common trait are grouped together. The data is collected in a way that allows the data collector to identify natural groupings or clusters within a dataset.

Cohort Analysis

A statistical technique used to analyze the behavior and characteristics of a group of individuals who share a common characteristic or experience within a defined time period. Group members are referred to collectively as a cohort, and share a particular characteristic (born in a given year) or a common experience (entering a college at a given time).

Confidence Interval

The range of values derived from sample data that is likely to contain the true value of an unknown population parameter at a given level of probability. Confidence intervals are used to quantify the uncertainty associated with population parameter estimates and to make inferences about the population based on sample data.

Confidence Level

The confidence level in statistics refers to the degree of certainty or reliability associated with a confidence interval: the specific probability of obtaining some result from a sample if it did not exist in the population as a whole, at or below which the relationship will be regarded as statistically significant.

Confidence Limits

Same as confidence interval: the upper and lower boundaries of a confidence interval. They define the range within which the true value of a population parameter is estimated to lie with a specified level of confidence. The range of scores or percentages within which a population percentage is likely to be found on variables that describe that population. Confidence limits are expressed in a "plus or minus" fashion according to sample size.

Confidentiality

A research condition which refers to the treatment of information that a participant has disclosed to the researcher with the expectation that it will not be revealed to others in ways that violate the original consent agreement, unless permission is further granted by the participant.

Confirmability Objectivity

The degree to which the results of the research can be confirmed or corroborated by others, that the findings of the study could be confirmed by another person conducting the same study.