统计是用以收集数据、分析数据和由数据得出结论的一组概念、原则和方法. 和数学及音乐不同, 统计不能欣赏自己, 它不为实际服务就没有存在必要 统计必须为各个领域服务统计必须和数据打交道。因此,统计必须和计算机结合

Data sources: primary, secondary Objectives: descriptive, exploratory, correlational, explanatory Time for data collection: cross-sectional, longitudinal (panel, trend) Data types: qualitative, quantitative (survey, experimental) Primary: studies based on primary, or original, data sources, such as classroom observations or real students, or their test scores, or their responses to a questionnaire. Secondary: studies based on secondary sources such as other researhers’ books and articles, including library research and literature reviews. Descriptive: studies involving the collection of data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the current status of the subjects of the study. Exploratory: studies conducted into an issue or problem where there are few or no earlier studies to refer to. The focus is on gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation. Correlational: The basic question for descriptive research is - "What are the values of a number of variables for a given sample of subjects. The basic research question for correlation research is - What is the relationship between two or more variables for a given set of subjects. Notice that we said relationship between variables and not the effect of one variable on another variable. In descriptive research we are just describing our subjects in terms of one or more variables, while in correlational research we are looking at the relationship between the variables. Correlational: The basic question for descriptive research is - "What are the values of a number of variables for a given sample of subjects. The basic research question for correlation research is - What is the relationship between two or more variables for a given set of subjects. Notice that we said relationship between variables and not the effect of one variable on another variable. In descriptive research we are just describing our subjects in terms of one or more variables, while in correlatio