THE

LANGUAGE
OF
RESEARCH
•Jargon- terms considered as
technical because they are
commonly used only people
belonging to the same field of
specialization.
SPAN OF TIME COVERED BY
THE RESEARCH
• Cross-sectional study – involves a
one-time collection of data in a span
of time.
• Longitudinal study – repeated
collection of data for the purpose of
finding out changes of patterns over
time.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION
• Making the concept or the thing meaningful by
specifying the way your research should
measure such concept.
• Defining the term based on its operation or
application in the research gives other
researchers the opportunity to evaluate the
measurement procedure and to repeat such
procedure in their own research studies.
 GUIDELINES IN GIVING OPERATIONAL
DEFINITIONS

• Have a clear understanding of the concept focused on by your

study before you begin defining such concept operationally.
• Base your operational definition on the concept under study.
• Express the operational definition in only one sentence.
• Let the operational definition explain the measurement of
variables clearly.
• Construct an operational definition that other researchers can
understand, assess, and repeat in other research studies.
THEORETICAL/CONCEPTUAL
DEFINITION
•Explanation based on the
concepts or knowledge related
to the field of discipline and
widely accepted as correct.
 EXAMPLES OF OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION:
• Defining temperature
Theoretical: Heat flowing between infinite reservoirs
Operational: Define temperature in relation to
operations with gas thermometers
• Defining Anger
Theoretical: Intangible; not directly measured by
observation
Operational: mention facial expression, vocabulary, or
voice tone to measure anger
 IDENTIFY IF THE SENTENCE DEFINES THE
TERM OPERATIONALLY OR THEORETICALLY.

• A sentence is a word or group of words that expresses

a complete idea.
• A sentence is made up of a subject, consisting of a
name word, and a predicate, made up of an action
word, to express a complete thought.
• A bug is a fault or an error in a computer program.
• A bug is an error in a computer program that is
characterized by high-speed telegraph key.
 IDENTIFY IF THE SENTENCE DEFINES THE
TERM OPERATIONALLY OR THEORETICALLY.

• Sterilization is any procedure such as the use

of a steam-pressure cooker to destroy
microorganisms.
• Sterilization is a complete destruction of all
microorganisms.
• Strangury is a person’s abnormal way of
urinating.
• Strangury is less than 20-minute slow and
bloody way of urinating.