Glossary:Research and Information Handling

Term / Definition
accurate / Correct and exact
acknowledge / To accept or recognize something
advanced search / A facility many Internet search engines have, which lets you make your search much more specific
analyse / To discover more about what something meansby studying or examining it in detail
bar graph / A graph which shows the number or of things, or amount of something, in different categories, with a bar for each category rising up from the horizontal axis to a height on the vertical axis
bias / A prejudice or inclination towards one opinion, which prevents a question from being asked fairly
Bookmarks / Web pages that you have instructed your web browser to remember, in case you want to visit them again; stored in the 'Favourites' menu in Internet Explorer
Boolean operators / Words that help to improve the accuracy of Internet searches, e.g. 'AND', 'OR' and 'NOT'
closed question / A question that only invites a 'yes / no' answer, e.g. "Can you ski?"
conclusion / An opinion or judgement about something, resulting from consideration of all the available information about it
copy / An action available by right-clicking on something, which puts the selected file, image or portion of text onto the 'clipboard' to use later; shortcut in most applications: Ctrl+C
copyright / The legal right that the creator of a work (e.g. an image, web page, book or piece of music)has to control how it is used
correlation / A connection or relationship between things
evaluate / To assess something; to form an idea of the amount, value or number of something
Favorites / See 'Bookmarks'
File menu / A menu accessible from the top left of the screen in many applications, often containing common actions such as 'New...', 'Open…', 'Save' and 'Print'
formula / A set of numbers and / or letters that express a rule or relationship (often a mathematical one); a method or procedure for doing something
function / A built-in formula or algorithm that can perform a specific type of calculation in a spreadsheet, e.g. ‘SUM’ or ‘AVERAGE’
homepage / The first page you come to when you enter a particular organization’s or individual’s website
hotspot / A link on a web page, hidden within an image or an area of the screen, which takes you to another page when clicked
hyperlink / A link on a web page that takes you to another page when clicked; can be a piece of text or an image, but typically appears as blue underlined text
infringement of copyright / To use information gained from secondary sources in a way that breaches the source creator’s right to control how it is used
Internet search engine / A website that lets you search the Internet for a particular word or phrase that you are looking for information about
keywords / Words that tell you what the crucial aspect of something is; e.g. words that you would enter into an Internet search engine
leading question / A type of question that anticipates that the respondent will give a particular answer
line graph / A graph which shows the relationship between two things, with several points plotted between a horizontal axis and a vertical axis, and a line drawn to connect the points
line of best fit / A straight line drawn on a scatter graph to show the general trend in the results
logical operators / See 'Boolean operators'
multiple choice question / A type of question often used on surveys, which provides a number of answer options, one of which the person being surveyed must choose
open question / A question that can be answered in any way and in detail, e.g. "What did you have for lunch?"
order of priority question / A type of question often used on surveys, which asks the person being surveyed to put several things in a particular order, according to their preferences, opinions, habits, etc
paste / An action available by right-clicking on something, which inserts a copy of the file, image or text on the clipboard into the current folder or document; shortcut in most applications: Ctrl+V
percentage / The amount of something in every 100
pie chart / A circular chart that shows results as percentages of a whole; gives an easy to understand visual representation of how a set of results can be broken down into categories
plagiarism / Using someone else’s work or ideas and pretending they are your own
primary source / A source of information that has been captured first-hand, e.g. a survey
Print Screen key / A key at the top-right of many keyboards, which, when pressed, places an image of the whole screen on the clipboard, for pasting into a document later
quotation marks / Double speech marks (") that can be put around a phrase in an Internet search so that only web pages with that exact phrase are retrieved
ranked answer question / A type of question often used on surveys, which provides a number of answer options in an order (e.g. from high to low / best to worst), one of which the person being surveyed must choose
real-time information / Information that is constantly being updated, e.g. on a website
reference / To include the name of your information source when using secondary sources for research
refresh / To download the latest version of the web page you are viewing by clicking the 'refresh' button on your web browser
relevant / Connected to the topic in hand; appropriate, suitable and fitting for a particular purpose
reload / To download the latest version of the web page you are viewing by re-entering the web page
scatter graph / A graph which shows if there is a connection between two sets of data, with several points plotted between a horizontal and a vertical axis, and a line of best fit drawn among them if a clear pattern can be seen
secondary source / A source of information that has not been written from first-hand experience, but which may refer to or explain primary sources, e.g. an encyclopaedia or web page
selected viewpoint question / A type of question often used on surveys, which asks the person being surveyed to mark all the things in a list that apply to them
source / The place a particular piece of information has come from
statistical analysis / The act of studying and examining numerical data to find out what it means
target population / A population of people that you wish to find out about, e.g. teenagers between 12 and 18, or mothers of pre-school children
trend / A pattern in a set of data
trend line / A line drawn on a graph to show a long-term general trend, but which does not show any troughs or peaks that occur in reality
verify / To make sure something is correct