| correlational research | Research whose goal is to identify predictive relationships among naturally occurring variables.
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| population | Set of all the cases of interest.
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| sample | Something less than all the cases of interest; in survey research, a subset of the population actually drawn from the sampling frame.
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| representativeness | A sample is representative to the extent that it has the same distribution of characteristics as the population from which it was selected; our ability to generalize from sample to population is critically dependent on representativeness.
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| selection bias | Threat to the representativeness of a sample that occurs when the procedures used to select a sample result in the over- or under-representation of a significant segment of the population.
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| nonprobability sampling | A sampling procedure in which there is no way to estimate the probability of each element’s being included in the sample; a common type is convenience sampling.
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| probability sampling | Sampling procedure in which the probability that each element of the population will be included in the sample can be specified.
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| simple random sampling (random selection) | Type of probability sampling in which each possible sample of a specified size in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
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| stratified random sampling | Type of probability sampling in which the population is divided into subpopulations called strata and random samples are drawn from each of these strata.
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| response bias | Threat to the representativeness of a sample that occurs when some participants selected to respond to a survey systematically fail to complete the survey (e.g., due to failure to complete a lengthy questionnaire or to comply with a request to participate in a phone survey).
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| interviewer bias | Occurs when the interviewer tries to adjust the wording of a question to fit the respondent or records only selected portions of the respondent’s answers.
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| cross-sectional design | Survey research design in which one or more samples of the population are selected and information is collected from the samples at one time.
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| successive independent samples design | Survey research design in which a series of cross-sectional surveys is done and the same questions are asked of each succeeding sample of respondents.
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| longitudinal design | Research design in which the same sample of respondents is interviewed (tested) more than once.
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| questionnaire | A set of predetermined questions for all respondents that serves as the primary research instrument in survey research.
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| social desirability | Pressures on survey respondents to answer as they think they should respond in accordance with what is most socially acceptable, not in accordance with what they actually believe.
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| spurious relationship | What exists when evidence falsely indicates that two or more variables are associated.
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