Kumar-2011-Research-Methodology_-A-Step-by-Step-Guide-for-Beginners

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Glossary
Content validity: In addition to linking each question with the objectives of a study as a
part of establishing the face validity, it is also important to examine whether the questions or
items have covered all the areas you wanted to cover in the study. Examining questions of a
research instrument to establish the extent of coverage of areas under study is called content
validity of the instrument.
Continuous variables have continuity in their unit of measurement; for example age,
income and attitude score. They can take on any value of the scale on which they are measured.
Age can be measured in years, months and days. Similarly, income can be measured in
dollars and cents.
Control design: In experimental studies that aim to measure the impact of an intervention,
it is important to measure the change in the dependent variable that is attributed to
the extraneous and chance variables. To quantify the impact of these sets of variables another
comparable group is selected that is not subjected to the intervention. Study designs where
you have a control group to isolate the impact of extraneous and change variables are called
control design studies.
Control group: The group in an experimental study which is not exposed to the experimental
intervention is called a control group. The sole purpose of the control group is to
measure the impact of extraneous and chance variables on the dependent variable.
Correlational studies: Studies which are primarily designed to investigate whether or not
there is a relationship between two or more variables are called correlational studies.
Cost–benefit evaluation: The central aim of a cost–benefit evaluation is to put a price tag
on an intervention in relation to its benefits.
Cost-effectiveness evaluation: The central aim of a cost-effectiveness evaluation is to put a
price tag on an intervention in relation to its effectiveness.
Credibility in qualitative research is parallel to internal validity in quantitative research and
refers to a situation where the results obtained through qualitative research are agreeable to
the participants of the research. It is judged by the extent of respondent concordance whereby
you take your findings to those who participated in your research for confirmation, congruence,
validation and approval: the higher the outcome of these, the higher the credibility
(validity) of the study.
Cross-over comparative experimental design: In the cross-over design, also called the
ABAB design, two groups are formed, the intervention is introduced to one of them and,
after a certain period, the impact of this intervention is measured. Then the interventions are
‘crossed over’; that is, the experimental group becomes the control and vice versa.