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.
Ethnographic Decision Models
A qualitative method for examining behavior under specific circumstances. An EDM is often referred to as a decision tree or flow chart and comprises a series of nested "if-then" statements that link criteria (and combinations of criteria) to the behavior of interest.
Ethnographic Interviewing
A research method in which face-to-face interviews with respondents are conducted using open-ended questions to explore topics in great depth. Questions are often customized for each interview, and topics are generally probed extensively with follow-up questions.
Ethnography
Literally meaning "folk-" or "people-" "writing," ethnography is a field method focused on recording the details of social life occurring in a society. A primary objective is to gain a rich, ¿thick¿ understanding of a setting and of the members within a society. Ethnographers seek to learn the language, thoughts, and practices of a society by participating in the rituals and observing the everyday routines of the community. Ethnography is primarily based upon participant observation, direct observation, and in-depth interviewing.
Evaluation Research
The use of scientific research methods to plan intervention programs, to monitor the implementation of new programs and the operation of existing programs, and to determine how effectively programs or clinical practices achieve their goals.
Event History Analysis
Event history analysis deals with data obtained by observing individuals over time, focusing on events occurring for the individuals under observation. It is similar to linear or logistic regression analysis, except that the dependent variable is a measure of the likelihood or timing of an event (e.g., birth of first child, divorce, job changes).
Exogeneity
The condition of being external to the process under study. For example, a researcher may study the effect of parental characteristics on their children's behaviors. A parent's religious upbringing is exogenous to their children's behaviors because it is impossible for children's current behavior to impact parent's upbringing, which occurred prior to the birth of the child. The opposite of exogeneity is endogeneity.
Experimental Control
Processes used to hold the conditions uniform or constant under which an investigation is carried out.
Experimental Design
A research design used to establish cause-and-effect relationships between the independent and dependent variables by means of manipulation of variables, control and randomization. A true experiment involves the random allocation of participants to experimental (treatment or intervention) and control (non-treatment or non-intervention) groups, manipulation of the independent variable (e.g., new reading or math curriculum), and the introduction of a control group for comparison purposes (e.g., classes in program that will not use new reading or math curriculum). Participants are assessed after (or before and after) the manipulation of the independent variable in order to assess its effect on the dependent variable (e.g., the reading or math skills of children in both the experimental and control groups are assessed ); differences between the groups are assumed to be due to the treatment effect.
Experimental Group
In experimental research, the group of subjects who receive the experimental treatment or intervention under investigation.
Explanatory Analysis
A method of inquiry that focuses on the formulating and testing of hypotheses. For example, instead of, or in addition to, describing Black and White differences in the reading and math skills of preschool children, the analysis focuses on testing whether factors that may contribute to these differences (e.g., resources available to children at home and in their child care programs) are in fact associated with those differences.