Child Care and Early Education Research Connections

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The research glossary defines terms used in conducting social science and policy research, for example those describing methods, measurements, statistical procedures, and other aspects of research; the child care glossary defines terms used to describe aspects of child care and early education practice and policy.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z
Attrition
Attrition occurs when participants drop out of a longitudinal study or panel study over time. If particular types of study participants drop out at a higher rate than other types of participants, attrition can introduce bias that can potentially threaten the internal and external validity of a longitudinal study and the internal validity of an experiment with treatment and control groups.
Average
A single value (mean, median, mode) representing the typical, normal, or middle value of a set of data.
Average Treatment Effect
The average treatment effect (ATE) measures the difference in the mean (average) outcome between the individuals or other units (e.g., classrooms, schools) assigned to the treatment and those assigned to the control. For example, in a study of the effects of a preschool reading intervention, the ATE would be the difference in average reading scores for children who received the intervention (treatment group) and the average reading scores for those who did not (control group).
Axiom
A statement widely accepted as truth.
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