| Computer-assisted self-interview (CASI) | A method of data collection in which the respondent fills out questionnaires on a computer. Headphones and a soundtrack reading the questions can be added for young children or poor readers.
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| Content analysis | A set of procedures used to make valid inferences about text.
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| Correlation | A number that measures the relationship between two variables.
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| Correlational study | A study in which the researcher does not manipulate variables but rather studies naturally occurring relationships (correlations) among variables.
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| Cost-benefit approach | An approach to analyzing the ethics of a research study, based on weighing the costs of the research (the participants' time, stress to participants, and so on) against the benefits of the research (gaining knowledge about human sexuality).
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| Experiment | A type of research study in which one variable (the independent variable) is manipulated by the experimenter while all other factors are held constant; the research can then study the effects of the independent variable on some measured variable (the dependent variable); the researcher is permitted to make causal inferences about the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
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| Frequency | How often a person does something.
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| Incidence | The percentage of people giving a particular response.
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| Informed consent | An ethical principle in research, in which people have a right to be informed, before participating, of what they will be asked to do in the research.
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| Intercoder reliability | In content analysis, the correlation or percent of agreement between two coders independently rating the same texts.
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| Mean | The average of respondents' scores.
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| Median | The middle score.
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| Participant-observer technique | A research method in which the scientist becomes part of the community to be studied and makes observations from inside the community.
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| Population | A group of people a researcher wants to study and make inferences about.
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| Probability sampling | An excellent method of sampling in research, in which each member of the population has a known probability of being included in the sample.
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| Problem of refusal or nonresponse | The problem that some people will refuse to participate in a sex survey, thus making it difficult to study a random sample.
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| Purposeful distortion | Purposely giving false information in a survey.
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| Random sample | An excellent method of sampling in research, in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.
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| Sample | A part of a population.
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| Test-retest reliability | A method for testing whether self-reports are reliable or accurate; participants are interviewed (or given a questionnaire) and then interviewed a second time sometime later to determine whether their answers are the same both times.
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| Volunteer bias | A bias in the results of sex surveys that arises when some people refuse to participate, so that those who are in the sample are volunteers who may in some ways differ from those who refuse to participate.
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