The document defines key research terminology, including subjects, researchers, and the distinction between independent and dependent variables. It explains the significance of operational definitions in specifying how variables are observed and measured, as well as concepts of heterogeneity and homogeneity in research samples. The document emphasizes the importance of understanding relationships between variables and the need for control in research to ensure valid results.

1. BASIC RESEARCHTERMINOLOGY
-A STUDY, INVESTIGATION, OR A RESEARCH
PROJECT.
-SUBJECTS (SOMETIMES ABBREVIATED AS SS)
OR THE STUDY PARTICIPANTS: THE PEOPLE
WHO ARE BEING STUDIED.
-RESPONDENTS OR, SOMETIMES,
INFORMANTS: WHEN THE SUBJECTS PROVIDE
INFORMATION TO THE RESEARCHERS.

2. - Researcher ,investigator, or scientist :is the person
who undertakes the research.
- Principal investigator or project director; the main
person directing the investigation when a study is
under taken by a research team

3. CONCEPTS:-
- Conceptualization refers to the
process of developing and refining
abstract ideas.
Scientific res .Is almost always
concerned with abstract rather than
tangible phenomena.

4. Variables:-
-Within the context of a research investigation,
concepts are referred to as variables.
- Is something that varies or differs from one
person to another.
- All research activity is aimed at trying to
understand how or why things vary and to
learn how differences in one variable are
related to differences in another.

5. -AVARIABLE,THEN, IS ANY QUALITY
OF PERSON, GROUP OR SITUATION
THATVARIES ORTAKES ON DIFFERENT
VALUES.
-CATEGORICALVARIABLES: PLACE
INDIVIDUALS INTO CATEGORICAL
( AS: PREGNANT / NOT PREGNANT,
MALE/ FEMALE, SINGLE/ MARRIED/
DIVORCED/WIDOWED).

6. -Attribute variables: are often inherent
ch.ch. Such as age, blood type, health
beliefs.
 Heterogeneity: when an attribute is
extremely varied in the group under study,
the group is said to be heterogeneous with
respect to that variable

7. HOMOGENEITY:
WHENTHE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP ARE
HIGHLY SIMILAR TO ONE ANOTHERWITH
RESPECT TO THATVARIABLE,THE GROUP IS
DESCRIBED AS HOMOGENEOUS.
Demographic variables:-
- Are ch. ch or attributes of the subject that are collected to describe the
sample.

8. Dependent variables and Independent variables.
Independent variable Presumed cause.
Dependent variable presumed effect.
• Variability in the dependent variable is presumed to depend on variability in
the independent variable.

9. The dependent variable is the variable
the researcher is interested in
understanding explaining, or predicating.
Dependent is the response, behaviors or
out come that the researcher wants to
predict or explain.

10. The dependent variable is the
“effect’’ or the variable that is
influenced by the researcher’s
manipulation (Control) of the
independent variable.
The designation of a variables as
independent or dependent is a function of
the role that the variable plays in a
particular investigation.

11. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS:
The researcher usually clarifies and define the
variable under investigation.
The definition must specify how the variable will be
observed and measured in the actual research
situation.
It is a specification of the operations that the
researcher must perform to collect the required
information.

12. This operational definition clearly indicated to
both the investigator and to the consumer
what is meant by the variable weight.
Precision in defining the terms has the
advantage of communicating exactly what the
terms mean.
-Data:- singular, datum)
Are the pieces of information obtained in the
course of the investigation

13. RELATIONSHIP:-
• Refers to a bond or connection between two variables or
more.
Example:
Height: taller people will weigh more than
shorter people.
Metabolism: the lower a person’s metabolic
rate, the more he or she will weigh.
Caloric intake: people with higher caloric
intake will be heavier than those with lower
caloric intake.
Exercise: the greater the amount of exercise,
the lower the person’s weight.

14. •VARIABLES CAN BE RELATED TO ONE
ANOTHER IN DIFFERENTWAYS:
1. Cause – and – effect (or causal relationships).( as natural
phenomena) –
eating more calories causes weight gain.
2. Functional relationship
• Control
- Research control attempts to eliminate any contaminating
factors that might obscure the relationship between the
variables that are of central interest.