Definition of Terms

Today we are going to discuss the definition of terms, This part of chapter 1 is important to the
readers of your research paper especially if they are outside of your field or discipline.
Definition of Terms - an alphabetical list of important terms, acronyms, or jargons used in the
research study
When we say JARGONS , these ARE terminologies only understood by people in a certain
group
And are Difficult for others to understand
Here are some examples of jargons or special words in particular field
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Definition of terms is important because the important terms, acronyms and jargons are clarified
and clearly defined for the readers of the paper. It ensures that your readers will understand the
components of your study in the way that you will be presenting them, because often your
readers may have their own understanding of the terms, or not be familiar with them at all
Possibly your readers may stop reading your research paper or will get easily confused when
they encounter unfamiliar words or unclear ideas. To avoid this, you need to hone your skills in
giving the technical and operational definition in research.

For example, when you use the word structure in your research, it may cause confusion to the
readers because this word has several meanings,right? for its dictionary meaning, it is a
manner by which something is built or organized, whereas in the field of engineering, structure
means configuration of steel beams that serves as foundation to a building, while in the field of
linguistics, structure refers to the arrangement of words. Because of the confusion that this word
may cause, it is really essential to define the term like this in a definition of terms part of your
research paper, you will define it as to how it was used in your study.

There is a quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw that follows along the lines "Britain and
America are two nations divided by a common language". The point there is that even though
we use the same words, those words can (and often do) have quite distinctly different meanings
because of our cultural differences. There's even a British English vs. American English
translation dictionary.

To put it short and sweet - words, the terms we use, do not have one correct meaning.
Words can mean different things at different times. They come into existence to express
thoughts by a group of people that share them, at a point in time, with a mean-ing that reflects
their origin, use, and timeframe. In short, if you define your key terms, you'll clarify the concepts
behind the terms you are using in your research paper.

To be shorten, It is really essential and should be clearly defined according how they are used
in the study in order to make easy understanding of the problem and avoid ambiguous meaning
to terms which can be otherwise interpreted in different ways.

But before we proceed in defining terms in your research paper. It is important that you know
the two types of definition.
 1. Technical definition or constitutive/theoretical/conceptual definition- it is the universal
meaning of the term.
- It is also a Definition that comes from different reference materials such as
dictionaries, encyclopedias, books, journals, and even websites

When we talk about conceptual definition, this is the meaning of the word or term as understood
by many people. Theoretical definition in which the researcher defines a concept or construct
according to its verbal meaning which is attached to the concept label. It explicitly specifies the
meaning associated with each concept, regardless of the extent to which we think the meaning
is shared.

The next one is operational definition, in which it is how the term is applied or used in the
research, Refers to a specific definition of a concept in a research study, Commonly uses the
phrase “as used in this study”, and The researcher is the one who formulates the meaning of
the term which is objectively anchored on the technical definition.

Guidelines in defining terms:

1. Only terms, words, or phrases that have special or unique meanings in the study are
defined.
2. What to define?
- Important words in the title (such as the variables)
- Technical terms used in the research paper
- Words for treatments and measurement (data analysis, terms, etc.)
3. Define terms technically, operationally or both
Some researchers define words or terms using technical definition, others use
operational definition only while others use a combination of both.
4. If the terms are from dictionaries, books, encyclopedia, other publications, and even
websites (technical definition), acknowledge the source.
5. If there are uncommon acronyms, include them; spell them out and give the meaning.
6. Definitions should be short, clear , and unambiguous.

Seems simple enough, right? But how do you know which terms to define and which ones to
leave out? So the rule here is to include and define terms that are important to your study or are
used frequently throughout the dissertation but are not common knowledge. You also want to
include terms that have a unique meaning within the scope of your study. You do not need to
include terms that most, if not all, of your readers will understand without having definitions
provided.
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Now let’s have some exercises, can you identify which among the words listed below should be
and should not be included in the definition of terms, the words are distance education, radion
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Let see, so the terms that should be define are distance education, radio based …
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while there’s no need to define the words student and school because those are just simple
terms, they are not complicated and most of us already know the meaning of those words

For the next activity, I want you to identify the terms that should be defined, let’s say this is the
title of your research study (read the title)
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The terms or words that should be part of your definition of terms are the following (isolation,
distance learning, learning community, time , space)

why is that time and space included? Because these terms are ambiguous, there must be a
different meaning for these terms which are related to distance education. So most probably, it’s
not the literal time or oras and space or espasyo of a place. By defining terminologies, it’s easy
for the readers to understand the content of your research, now let me show you some samples.
This is a sample definition of terms section from an actual research paper. The researcher has
an introductory line, the following terms are further define either operationally or conceptually .
Conceptually here means technical definition. Now the words being defined are comprehension,
comprehension level, and instructional leadership. Actually, there are more terms that follow but
these are just some words from the cropped section. And don’t forget , these words should be
arranged alphabetically, going back to the first terminology , comprehension was given a
technical definition , and the source is cambridge dictionary ,2019. Just like what i mentioned
earlier, when using technical definition, you need to acknowledge or cite the source. Next word ,
comprehension level is defined operationally, the definition given was based on how the word
was used in the research. This definition was from the researcher, now for the term instructional
leadership, it is also a technical definition because the source was mentioned

Here is another example, this time , this is the introductory line of the researcher, for the readers
clear understanding of the present study, the following terms were defined operationally, so
here it is very clear, that the researcher used operational definition only to define the terms such
as age and civil status
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In summary, theoretical definition tells what concept means, while an operational definition only
tells how to measure it. A theoretical definition tells what the constructs are by explaining how
they are related to other constructs. This explanation and all of the constructs it refers to are
abstract. On the other hand, the operational definitions describe the variables the researcher will
use as indicators for constructs and the procedures the researcher will use to observe or
measure the variables.