English

TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN RESEARCH

Research
- an art of scientific investigation
- Careful and detailed study into a specific problem
- To gain new knowledge
- An organized and systematic way of finding answer to question
Systematic because there is a definite set of procedures and steps which you you will follow
Organized in that there is a structure or method in going about doing research

Finding answers
- End of all research
Questions
- Central to research
Abstract
- A short summary of your completed research
- Intended to describe your work without going into detail
Introduction
- Next part after the title and abstract
- From general subject are to a particular topic of inquiry
- Establishes the scope, context, and significance of the research being conducted
Literature review
- Provides an overview of sources you have explored including books, scholarly articles, and any other
sources relevant to a particular issue
Hypothesis
- Expectation or prediction that will be tested by research
- A.k.a researcher’s intellectual guess or wild guess
Methodology
- Systematic method to resolve a research problem through data gathering
Population
- Entire group that you want to draw conclusions about
Sample
- Sample part or subgroup of the population
Respondents
- Answers (responds/reply to) questionnaires
- Usually quantitative research
Participants
- Participate and answer questions in qualitative studies
- Gives much detailed answer than a respondent
Subject
- The people in the researcher in experiment
Variable
- Any factor, trait, or cognition that can be manipulated, controlled from or measured in an experiment
Independent
- Changed or manipulated
- Have a direct effect on the dependent variable
Dependent
- Responds to the changes
- Being tested and measured
Research instrument
- Any tool that you may use to collect or obtain data, measure data and analyze data
- Questionnaires, surveys, interviews, checklists, simple tests
Questionnaires
- Main instrument for collecting data in survey research, often called items
Results
- Authors provide the data collected during the study
Discussion
- Interpret and describe the significance of your findings
Objectives
- Reiterate in research problem
- Explain the meaning of the findings
- Relate the meaning of the findings to similar studies
- Consider alternative explanations of the findings
- Acknowledge the study’s limitation
- Make suggestions for further research
Conclusion
- Intended to help the readers understand why your research should matter to them
- Synthesis of key points
Goals
- Restate the research problem
- Summarize your overall arguments of findings
- Suggest the key takeaways from your paper
References
- List of the sources
- Gives credit to authors
Appendix
- Serves as a space for materials that help clarify you researchers attach a copy

TECHNICAL OPERATIONAL
Definition of terms
- An alphabetical list of important terms
2 TYPES OF DEFINITION
1. Technical
- Describing or explaining technical terminology
- Used to introduce the vocabulary in a particular field clearly expressed and unambiguous
2. Operational
- Detailed specification of how one would go about measuring a give variable
- Can range from very simple and straight forward to quite complex

EXPANDED DEFINITION OF WORDS

Expanded definition
- Explains a complex or unfamiliar term
FULL DEFINITION
Pattern 1
Carbohydrates are a food group including sugars, scratches, and cellulose.
Term
Class
Distinguishing characteristics

Pattern 2
A food group including sugars, starches, and cellulose is carbohydrates.
Class
Distinguishable characteristics
Term
VARIOUS WAYS OF GIVING EXPANDED DEFINITIONS
1. Description
2. Process narration
3. Additional definition
4. Historical background
5. cause /causes
6. effects, results, consequence
7. Problem-solution
8. Statistics
9. Uses application
10. Similarities, difference, analogies
11. Classes, types, categories
12. Examples
13. Etymology
14. Negatives
15. Advantages, disadvantages

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
Rule no.1
A singular subject requires a singular verb. A plural subject requires a plural verb.
Example:
- She is very active.
- They are very active.
Rule no. 2
When two singular nouns are joined by either…or, neither… or, the verb is singular.
Example:
- Either mom or dad attends the meeting.
- Neither Ariane nor Ara needs your help
Rule no.3
When a phrase comes between the subject and the verb, remember that the verb still agrees with the
subject, not the noun or pronoun in the phrase.
Example
- The student, as well as the committee members is excited.
- The teacher with all the master’s degrees is motivated.
Rule no.4
If a sentence starts with “these” or “here” the subject will always be placed after the verb.
Example
- There is a meeting today.
- Here are the result from this past months.
Rule no.5
A compound subject that refers to one person or things should have a singular verb.
Example
- The secretary and treasurer is Miss Irene Gomez.
- The chairman of the board and President is Miss Pardo.
Sentence
- Group of words that expresses a complete thought or meaning.
Subject
- The one being talked about in the sentence
Predicate
- It tells something about the subject or its state of being.
SOURCES: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
Primary source
- Produced by a person who actually witnessed and experiences an event firsthand
- Oral histories or memoirs
- Interviews
- Music
- Photographs
- Letters
- Diaries
- Maps
- advertisement
Secondary source
- Created by people who were not present during the events
- References primary sources for information
- Derived from primary information
- Can be summaries of primary sources
- Can analyze and interpret primary sources
- Dictionaries
- Encyclopedias
- Textbooks
- Biographies
- Books written about events
- Articles that review other sources
- Book reviews