This module is intended to provide a fairly detailed understanding of some of the critical concepts and the relationships among these concepts as essential for understanding research design. These concepts are elementary in that they form the foundation for more sophisticated ideas as we learn more about statistics.

Module 3 Objectives:

• Define qualitative and qualitative variables.
• Correctly categorize concrete concepts within the nomenclature of NOIR and as quantitative or qualitative
• Define the concepts of independent, dependent, and control variables
• Given sample “methods” sections from primary research articles, identify variables as nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio, and as control, dependent or independent variables.
• List the essential criteria for arguing causation and distinguish the concept “causation” from “correlation.”
• Define and distinguish from one another the concepts of internal and external validity.
• Using the “Research Review Checklist,” analyze and critique basic research articles.

Please use the links to the left to navigate and move through this module.