Key Terms

• objective/neutral

  not influenced by personal feelings interpretations or opinons
• hypothesis

  a prediction made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation
• empirical evidence 


  source of knowledge acquired particularly from the obeservation and documentation of patterns and behaviour through experment
• conclusion

  examine something in great depth in order to return it
• peer review

  evaluation of a persons/groups research by someone from the same profession or industry
• reliable


  a peice of research which repicable and so would produce the exact same result if it were repeated
• validity


  a true or genuine picture of what something is really like
• representative

  typical of a larger number so that generalisation can be given
• quantitavie data

  numerical data which can be displayed in the form of charts
• qualitative data 


  data/information which is usually exxperessed in words about peoples thoughts felings motivation
• research method


  descrived a variety of ways in which informtioon can be found ou
• operationalised


  turning a sociological concept into something which is measurable for research purposes
• ethical


  issues of right or wrong moral priciles or guidlines
• analyse


  examine something in great depth in order to interpret it
• generalisation

  being able to apply to the whole population