Glossary

A

Abstract– the short paragraph at the beginning of an article that summarizes its main point (2.1)

C

Comparable groups– groups that are similar across factors important for the study (4.3)

Comparison group– a group in quasi-experimental designs that receives “treatment as usual” instead of no treatment (4.1)

Compensatory rivalry – a threat to internal validity in which participants in the control group increasing their efforts to improve because they know they are not receiving the experimental treatment (4.3)

Confidence interval – a range of values in which the true value is likely to be (2.1)<

D

Diffusion of treatment – a threat to internal validity in which members of the control group learn about the experimental treatment from people in the experimental group and start implementing the intervention for themselves (4.3)

E

Empirical articles– apply theory to a behavior and reports the results of a quantitative or qualitative data analysis conducted by the author (1.2)

Empirical questions– questions that can be answered by observing experiences in the real world (4.1)

Ethical questions – questions that ask about general moral opinions about a topic and cannot be answered through science (4.1)

H

History – a threat to internal validity that occurs when something happens outside the experiment but affects its participants (4.3)

L

Literature review – a survey of factual or nonfiction books, articles, and other documents published on a particular subject (3.1)

M

Maturation – a threat to internal validity in which the change in an experiment would have happened even without any intervention because of the natural passage of time (4.3)

Mortality – a threat to internal validity caused when either the experimental or control group composition changes because of people dropping out of the study (4.3)

N

Null hypothesis – the assumption that no relationship exists between the variables in question (2.1)

P

Peer review – a formal process in which other esteemed researchers and experts ensure the work meets the standards and expectations of the professional field (1.2)

Practical articles – describe “how things are done” in practice (Wallace & Wray, 2016, p. 20) (1.2)

Primary source – published results of original research studies (1.2)

P-value – a statistical measure of the probability that there is no relationship between the variables under study (2.1)

Q

Query – search terms used in a database to find sources (1.3)

R

Reactivity – a threat to internal validity that occurs because the participants realize they are being observed (4.3)>

Resentful demoralization – a threat to internal validity that occurs when people in the control group decrease their efforts because they aren’t getting the experimental treatment (4.3)

S

Secondary sources – interpret, discuss, and summarize original sources (1.2)

Seminal articles – classic works noted for their contribution to the field and high citation count (1.2)

Signposting – words that identify the organization and structure of a literature review (3.3)

Statistical significance – the likelihood that the relationships that are observed could be caused by something other than chance (2.1)

T

Table– a quick, condensed summary of the report’s key findings (2.1)

Target population– a group of people whose needs your study addresses (4.2)

Tertiary sources – synthesize or distill primary and secondary sources, such as Wikipedia (1.2)

Theoretical articles – articles that discuss a theory, conceptual model, or framework for understanding a problem (1.2)