Final answer:
The terms hypotheses, theory, operational definition, variable, population, and sample are crucial in research methodology, with each representing a different concept essential for executing and understanding research. A hypothesis is a suggestion, theories are well-substantiated explanations, operational definitions allow for specific measurements, variables can be manipulated or observed, populations consist of the entire group of interest, and samples are subsets of the population.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Research Methods and Their Definitions
To match each research methods term with the best definition, we need to have a clear understanding of the following terms: hypotheses, theory, operational definition, variable, population, and sample
A hypothesis is best matched with 'suggestion' as they are both speculative and not yet proven as fact, law, or concrete. In the context of conducting an experiment, the development of a hypothesis is a critical step preceding other actions such as controlled experiments or observational studies. Regarding the fitness center interested in the mean amount of time a client exercises each week, the population would be all clients of the center, and the sample would be the clients they actually collect data from. A study's population might be all students who graduated last year, and the sample might be a specific group selected randomly from those graduates. The parameter would be the actual average GPA of all those students, while the statistic would be the average GPA of just the sample. Lastly, the variable would be the GPA, and the data would be the actual GPA scores collected.
When sociologists develop an operational definition for their research, they establish a specific criterion for measurement so that it becomes tangible and consistent across different research efforts.