'E' Terms Flashcards
Ecological fallacy
The error of assuming that inferences about individuals can be made from data on the characteristics of groups.
Empiricism
An approach to the study of reality according to which only knowledge gained by observation through the senses is acceptable.
Epistemology, Epistemological
A branch of philosophy concerned with what constitutes knowledge and how knowledge is to be acquired; see positivism, realism, and interpretivism.
Eta
A test of the strength of the relationship between two variables. The independent variable is usually a nominal variable while the dependent variable must be an interval variable or ratio variable.
Ethnography, Ethnographer, Ethnographic
Like participant observation, a research method in which the researcher is immersed in a social setting for an extended period of time, observing behaviour, asking questions, and analyzing what is said in conversations between subjects and with the field worker. As a term, ‘ethnography’ is more inclusive than ‘participant observation,’ which emphasizes the observational component. Written accounts of ethnographic research are often referred to as ethnographies.
Ethnomethodology
A sociological perspective concerned with the way social order is established and maintained through talk and interaction; the intellectual foundation of conversation analysis.
Evaluation research
Research that concentrates on the evaluation of real-life interventions, such as policy changes.
Experiment
A research design that rules out alternative explanations of findings deriving from it (in other words, that possesses internal validity) because it involves (a) both an experimental group, which is exposed to treatment, and a control group, which is not, and (b) random assignment to the two groups.
Experimental group
See Experiment.
External validity
A type of validity that is achieved if the results of a study can be generalized beyond the specific research context in which they were generated.
