coercion The threat of harm or the offer of an
excessive reward with the intent to force an indi-
vidual to participate in a research study
cohort comparison Nonexperimental
cross-sectional design in which more than one
group is studied at the same time so that conclu-
sions about a variable over time can be drawn
without spending as much time
cohort studies Quasi-experimental studies
using two or more groups; epidemiologic designs
in which subjects are selected based on their
exposure to a determinant
communication Process of creating and sharing
information with one another to reach mutual
understanding
community-based participatory action research
Active involvement of community members
throughout the research process
comparative designs Descriptive design type
that compares two or more groups or variables
complex hypothesis A hypothesis describing the
relationships among three or more variables
Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Software (CAQDAS) Computer software that
assists in the management, coding, grouping, and
analysis of qualitative data
concept analyses Scholarly papers that explore
the attributes and characteristics of a concept
concepts Words or phrases that convey a unique
idea that is relevant to a theory
conceptual definitions Definitions of concepts
contained in a theory that sound like dictionary
definitions
concurrent validity A test for criterion-related
validity when a new instrument is administered
at the same time as an instrument known to be
valid; scores of the two instruments are com-
pared, and strong positive correlations indicate
good validity
conduct and utilization of research in nursing
(CURN) Early study conducted about how
nurses transition research findings into practice
confessionist tales Qualitative researchers’ per-
sonalized accounts that provide insight about data
collection and scientific rigor
confidence intervals Ranges established around
means that estimate the probability of being
correct
confidentiality The protection of subjects’ iden-
tities from everyone except the researcher
confirmability One of four criteria for a trust-
worthy qualitative study that relates to the rigor-
ous attempts to be objective and the maintenance
of audit trails to document the research process;
findings can be substantiated by participants
confounding variables Factors that interfere
with the relationship between the independent
and dependent variables; extraneous variable;
Z variable
construct A word or phrase used to communi-
cate a specific key idea to others
construct validity A threat to external validity
when the instrument does not accurately measure
the theoretical concepts
content validity A kind of validity to ensure that
the instrument measures the concept; a test in
which experts on the topic are asked to judge each
item on an instrument by assigning a rating to
determine its fit with the concept being measured
continuous data Interval- or ratio-level data
that use a continuum of numeric values with
equal intervals
continuous quality improvement A participa-
tory process involving indicators that measure
quality
control Ability to manipulate, regulate, or statis-
tically adjust for factors that can affect the depen-
dent variable
controlled vocabularies Standardized hierar-
chical lists that represent major subjects within a
database
convenience sampling Nonprobability sampling
method in which elements are selected because
they are easy to access516 GLOSSARY