MDDE+602+Glossary

=MDDE 602 Glossary=

**Chapter 1**
new ideas and findings within the scientific community.
 * Social research** A collection of methods and methodologies that researchers apply systematically to produce scientifically based knowledge about the social world.
 * Overgenerallzation** Statements that go far beyond what can be justified based on the data or empirical observations that one has.
 * Selective observation** Making observations in a way that it reinforces preexisting thinking, rather than observing in a neutral and balanced manner.
 * Premature closure** Making a judgment, or reaching a decision and ending an investigation, before one has the amount or depth of evidence required by scientific standards.
 * Halo effect** Allowing the prior reputation of persons, places, or things to color one's evaluations, rattler than evaluating all in a neutral, equal manner.
 * Social theory** A system of interconnected ideas that condenses and organizes the knowledge about the social world and explains how it works.
 * Data** Numerical (quantitative) and nonnumerical (qualitative) information and evidence that have been carefully gathered according to rules or established procedures.
 * Empirical** What we can observe and experience directly through human senses (e.g., touch, sight, hearing, smell, taste) or indirectly using techniques that extend the senses.
 * Pseudoscience** Ideas or information clothed in the jargon and outward appearance of science to win acceptance but that was not created with the systematic rigor or standards required for the scientific method.
 * Junk science** A public relations ten, used to criticize scientific research, even if it is conducted property, that produces findings that a group opposes.
 * Scientific community** A collection of people who share a system of attitudes, beliefs, and rules that sustains the production and advance of scientific knowledge.
 * Norms of the scientific community** A set of informal rules, principles, and values that governs how scientists conduct their research.
 * Scientific method** The ideas, rules, techniques, and approaches that the scientific community uses to create and evaluate knowledge.
 * Scientific attitude** A way of thinking about and looking at the world that reflects a commitment to the norms and values of the scientific community.
 * Scholarly journal article** An article in a specialized publication that has members of the scientific community as its primary audience; it is a means to disseminate
 * Blind review** A process of judging the merits of a research report in which the peer researchers do not know the identity of who conducted a study and the researcher does not know the identity of the evaluators in advance.

Chapter 2

 * Basic research** Research designed to advance fundamental knowledge about how the world works and build/test theoretical explanations. The scientific community is its primary audience.
 * Applied research** Research designed to offer practical solutions to a concrete problem or address the immediate and specific needs of clinicians or practitioners. **Evaluation research** Applied research in which one tries to determine how well a program or policy is working or reaching its goals and objectives.
 * Action research** Applied research in which the primary goal is to facilitate social change or bring about a value-oriented political-social goal.
 * Social impact assessment** Applied research that documents the likely consequences for various areas of social life if a major new change is introduced into a community.
 * Needs assessment** An applied research tool in which one gathers descriptive information about a need, issue, or concern, including its magnitude, scope, and severity.
 * Cost-benefit analysis** An applied research tool economists developed in which monetary value is assigned to the inputs and outcomes of a process, and then the researcher examines the balance between them.
 * Instrumental knowledge** Knowledge narrowly focused to answer a basic or applied research question, issue, or concern with an outcome or task-oriented orientation.
 * Reflexive knowledge** Knowledge that broadly examines the assumptions, context, and moral-value positions of basic or applied social research, including the research process itself and the implications of what is learned.
 * Exploratory research** Research in which the primary purpose is to examine a little understood issue or phenomenon to develop preliminary ideas and move toward refined research questions by focusing on the "what" question.
 * Descriptive research** Research in which the primary purpose is to "paint a picture" using words or numbers and to present a profile, a classification of types, or an outline of steps to answer questions such as who, when, where, and how.
 * Explanatory research** Research in which the primary purpose is to explain why events occur and to build, elaborate, extend, or test theory.
 * Cross-sectional research** Any research that examines information on many cases at one point in time.
 * Longitudinal research** Any research that examines information from many units or cases across more than one point in time.
 * Time-series research** Longitudinal research in which information can be about different cases or people in each of several time periods.
 * Panel study** Longitudinal research in which information is about the identical cases or people in each of several time periods.
 * Cohort study** Longitudinal research in which information about a category of cases or people that shared a common experience at one time period is traced across subsequent time periods.
 * Case-study research** Research that is an in-depth examination of an extensive amount of information about very few units or cases for one period or across multiple periods of time.
 * Experimental research** Research in which the researcher manipulates conditions for some research participants but not others, then compares group responses to see whether it made a difference.
 * Survey research** Quantitative research in which the researcher systematically asks a large number of people the same questions and then records their answers.
 * Nonreactive research** Research methods in which the people being studied are not aware of it.
 * Content analysis** Research in which the content of a communication medium is systematically recorded and analyzed.
 * Existing statistics research** Research in which one reexamines and statistically analyzes quantitative data that has been gathered by government agencies or other organizations.
 * Field research** Qualitative research in which the researcher directly observes and records notes on people in a natural setting for an extended period of time.
 * Historical-comparative research** Qualitative research in which the researcher examines data on events and conditions in the historical past and/or in different societies.

Chapter 3
closed system that resists change, cannot be directly falsified with empirical data, and makes normative claims. mental creations. of data. theorizing and can be restated as a prediction. and in data analysis. and subjective worldviews.
 * Parsimony** The idea that simple is better. Everything else being equal, a social theory that explains more with less complexity is better.
 * Ideology** A nonscientific quasi -theory, often based on political values or faith, with assumptions, concepts, relationships among concepts, and explanations. It is a
 * Assumption** An untested starting point or belief in a theory that is necessary to build a theoretical explanation.
 * Theoretical concept** An idea that is thought through, carefully defined, and made explicit in a theory.
 * Level of abstraction** A characteristic of a concept that ranges from empirical and concrete, often easily observable in daily experience, to very abstract, unseen
 * Concept cluster** A collection of interrelated concepts that share common assumptions, refer to one another, and operate together in a social theory.
 * Concept classification** A complex, multidimensional concept that has subtypes that are in between a single concept and a complete theoretical explanation.
 * Ideal type** A type of concept classification that presents a pure, abstract model of an event, process, or idea. It is used in building social theory and in the analysis
 * Typology** A theoretical classification or quasi-theory that is created by cross-classifying or combining two or more simple concepts to form a set of interrelated subtypes.
 * Proposition** A theoretical statement about the relationship between two or more concepts.
 * Hypothesis** An empirically testable version of a theoretical proposition that has not yet been tested or verified with empirical evidence. It is most used in deductive
 * Units of analysis** The unit, case, or part of social life that is under consideration. They are key in concept development, empirically measuring or observing concepts,
 * Deductive direction** An approach to developing or confirming a theory that begins with abstract concepts and theoretical relationships and works toward more concrete empirical evidence.
 * Inductive direction** An approach to developing or confirming a theory that begins with concrete empirical evidence and works toward more abstract concepts and theoretical relationships.
 * Grounded theory** A type of inductive social theory often used in qualitative research that builds toward abstract theory, often by making comparisons of empirical observations.
 * Micro-level theory** Social theory focusing on the micro level of social life that occurs over short durations (e.g., face-to-face interactions and encounters among individuals or small groups).
 * Macro-level theory** Social theory focusing on the macro Level of social life (e.g., social institutions, major sectors of society, entire societies, or world regions) and processes that occur over long durations (many years, multiple decades, or a century or longer).
 * Meso-level theory** Social theory focusing on the relations, processes, and structures at a midlevel of social life (e.g., organizations, movements, and communities) and events operating over moderate durations (many months, several years, or a decade).
 * Substantive theory** A type of theory that is specifically tailored to a particular topic area.
 * Formal theory** A type of theory that is general and applies across many specific topic areas. Theoretical explanation A logical argument or "story" that tells why something takes a specific form or occurs, and does so by referring to more general ideas and abstract principles.
 * Causal explanation** A type of theoretical explanation about why events occur and how things work expressed in terms of causes and effects, or as one factor producing certain results.
 * Association** The co-occurrence of two events, characteristics, or factors such that when one happens/is present, the other one is likely to happen /be present as well.
 * Positive relationship** An association between two concepts or measures, such that as one increases, the other also increases, or when one is present the other is also present.
 * Negative relationship** An association between two concepts or measures, such that as one increases, the other decreases, or when one is present the other is absent.
 * Structural explanation** A type of theoretical explanation about why events occur and how things work expressed by outlining an overall structure and emphasizing locations, interdependences, distances, or relations among positions in that structure.
 * Sequential theory** A type of theory that uses a structural explanation, outlines a sequential pattern, and specifies the ordered sequence, stages, steps, or phases by which events occur.
 * Network theory** A type of theory that uses a structural explanation in which the emphasis is on locations and connections within an interconnected web or network and on the shape or overall pattern of the network
 * Functional theory** A type of theory that uses a structural explanation in which the emphasis is on how interdependent parts fit into and operate to sustain an overall system, with specific parts serving complementary and specialized supporting roles for the whole.
 * Interpretative explanation** A type of theoretical explanation about why events occur and how things work expressed in terms of the socially constructed meanings
 * Empirical generalization** A narrow, quasi-theoretical statement that expresses empirical patterns or describes empirical regularities using concepts that are not very abstract.
 * Middle-range theory** Social theory between general frameworks and empirical generalization, that has limited abstraction/range and is in the form of empirically verifiable statements capable of being connected to observable phenomena.
 * Theoretical framework** A very general theoretical system with assumptions, concepts, and specific social theories.

Chapter 6
other.
 * Triangulation** The idea that looking at something from multiple points of view improves accuracy.
 * Reconstructed logic** A logic of research based on reorganizing, standardizing, and codifying research knowledge and practices into explicit rules, formal procedures, and techniques; it is characteristic of quantitative research.
 * Logic in practice** A logic of research based on an apprenticeship model and the sharing of implicit knowledge about practical concerns and specific experiences; it is characteristic of qualitative research.
 * Linear research path** Research that proceeds in a clear, logical, step-by-step straight line and is often used in quantitative research.
 * Nonlinear research path** Research that proceeds in a cyclical, iterative, or back-and-forth pattern and is often used in qualitative research.
 * Universe** The entire category or class of units that is covered or explained by a relationship or hypothesis.
 * Bricolage** Improvising by drawing on diverse materials that are lying about and using them in creative ways to accomplish a pragmatic task.
 * First-order Interpretation** Interpretations from the point of view of the people being studied.
 * Second-order Interpretation** Qualitative interpretations from the point of view of the researcher who conducted a study.
 * Third-order interpretation** Qualitative interpretations made by the readers of a research report.
 * Variable** A concept or its empirical measure that can take on multiple values.
 * Attributes** The categories or levels of a variable.
 * Independent variable** A cause variable that produces an effect or results on a dependent variable in a causal hypothesis.
 * Dependent variable** The effect or result variable that is caused by an independent variable in a causal hypothesis.
 * Intervening variable** A variable is logically or temporally after the independent variable and before the dependent variable, and through which their causal relation operates.
 * Causal hypothesis** A statement of a causal explanation or proposition that has at least one independent and one dependent variable, and has yet to be empirically tested.
 * Crucial experiment** A direct comparison and evaluation of competing explanations of the same phenomenon designed to show that one is superior to the
 * Logic of disconfirming hypothesis** The logic for the null hypothesis. It is based on the idea that confirming empirical evidence makes a weak case for the existence of a relationship. Instead of gathering supporting evidence, test that no relationship exists that provides more cautious, indirect support for its possible existence.
 * Null hypothesis** A hypothesis that states there is no significant effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable.
 * Alternative hypothesis** A hypothesis paired with the null hypothesis that says an independent variable has a significant effect on a dependent variable.
 * Double-barreled hypothesis** A confusing and poorly designed hypothesis with two independent variables in which it is unclear whether one or the other variable, or both in combination, produces an effect.
 * Tautology** An error in explanation in which the causal factor (independent variable) and the result (dependent variable) are actually the same or restatements of one another. This is making an apparent causal relationship true by definition.
 * Teleology** An error in explanation in which the causal relationship is empirically untestable because the causal factor does not come earlier in time than the result, or because the causal factor is a vague, general force that cannot be empirically measured.
 * Ecological fallacy** An error in explanation in which empirical data about associations found among largescale units of analysis are greatly overgeneralized and treated as evidence for statements about relationships among much smaller units.
 * Reductionism** An error in explanation in which empirical data about associations found among small-scale units of analysis are greatly overgeneralized and treated as evidence for statements about relationships among much larger units.
 * Spuriousness** An apparent causal relationship that is illusionary due to the effect of an unseen or initially hidden causal factor. If the unseen factor has a causal impact on both an independent and dependent variable, it produces the false impression that there is a relationship between them.