ENGLISH Distinguishing Technical Terms Used In Research

• Research is defined as a systematic and scientific process to answer questions about facts and relationship between facts. It can also be defined as an activity involved in seeking answer to unanswered questions. It seeks to generate an answer to the problems as well as suggesting additional questions in need of further inquiry.
• Analysis is a method of organizing, sorting, and scrutinizing data in such a way that a research question can be answered or meaningful inferences can be drawn.
• Bibliography is a list of all the sources used in the process of researching.
• Concept refers to a mental idea of a phenomenon. These are words or terms that symbolize some aspects of reality. e. g. love, pain.
• Conclusion provides a summary of the research.
• Data is an information that can be words or numbers
• Data Gathering Tools refer to the devices/ instruments used to collect data such as questionnaire or computer- assisted interviewing system.
• Data Presentation involves the use of a variety of different graphical techniques.
• Descriptive study is a research design that describes “what is”( e.g. a survey).
• In-Text Citation is the brief form of the reference included in the body of one’s work.
• Limitations are restrictions in a study that may decrease the credibility and generalizability of the research findings.
• Literature review is a critical summary or research on a topic of interest, generally prepared to put a research problem in context or to identify gaps and weaknesses in prior studies so as to justify a new investigation.
• Plagiarism is the unethical practice of using words or ideas of another author/researcher without proper acknowledgement.
• Quantitative Research is the process of collecting and analyzing numerical data.
• Questionnaire is a set of questions used to gather information in a survey.
• Research Topic is a subject or issue that a researcher is interested in when conducting a research.
• Respondents are those persons who have been invited to participate in a particular study and have actually taken part in the study.
• Research Question is the question around which a researcher centers his/ her research.
• Sample is a part or subset of population selected to participate in the research study.
• Socio Demographic Profile includes age, sex, education, migration, background and ethnicity, religious affiliation, marital status, household, employment, and income
• Variables are attributes or characteristics that can have more than one value, such as height or weight. These are qualities or quantities, properties or characteristics of people, things, or situations that change or vary

  • Independent variable- variables that are purposely manipulated or changed by the researcher. It is also called as “Manipulated Variable”.  • Dependent variable- variables that depend on other factors that are measured. These variables are expected to change as a result of an experimental manipulation of the independent variable or variables.
• Hypothesis is a tentative explanation about the relationship among two or more variables. Hypotheses are statements that predict the outcome of a study. They are educated guesses based on previous knowledge and experience. There are two types of hypotheses: Null hypothesis (H0) and Alternate hypothesis (Ha).