Synonyms are important when you want to ensure that your research results are consistent with your other research findings.
Synonyms help you to better understand your results and to find the right study design to test your hypothesis.
However, synonyms are not always reliable, and some research may have been published before your results were made public.
Here are seven research synonym examples that may have misrepresented your research.1.
‘A good source of evidence is research with a small sample size’If you’ve been working with research that has a small number of participants or a very small sample, then you may have run into a problem.
Synonym: ‘I have seen a lot more studies of low-quality research than high-quality studies’.2.
‘You don’t need a large sample size to find an effect’If your research focuses on a single subject, then it’s best to avoid synonyms such as ‘small effect’, ‘small sample size’, or ‘small study’.
Instead, look for the type of study you’re looking at: ‘a single study with small effects, a small, low-effect study, a study with a large, high-effect effect, a large study with large effects’, ‘large studies with large and large effects’.3.
‘When using research for medical research, don’t use research synonymous terms’The synonym ‘research’ has a wide range of meanings.
It can mean research undertaken for a particular purpose, or for the purpose of obtaining data.
Synonymous terms for medical studies are often useful in the context of medical research and may be a good idea for researchers working in medical research.
For example, researchers may find it useful to use terms such as: ‘an epidemiological study’, ‘a meta-analysis’, or even ‘a statistical meta-analytic study’.4.
‘Synonyms may not be suitable for medical data’Some research is more valuable than others and synonyms can be a useful tool in terms of research selection, analysis and interpretation.
However it’s not always a good use of synonyms.
For instance, research published in one journal may not reflect that of a large number of studies published in other journals.
For this reason, it’s better to look for synonyms that are more general and suitable for all kinds of research.5.
‘Use research synopses to help you identify the type and size of studies’Synonyms are often used to identify a particular type of research study.
However they may not always be suitable as a reference when working with large amounts of data.
For that reason, you should look for terms that are broadly applicable, such as, ‘large study with low- to medium-size effects’, or, ‘small, low, medium- to large effects’ and ‘small and small, medium to large’.6.
‘Using synonyms when studying a specific topic or topic-specific data sets may lead to misleading results’Synonym synonyms often give you an idea of the kind of research being done.
However you may find that synonyms of research results don’t match the kind or the amount of data being studied.
This is especially likely if you are working in a data-driven environment, or you’re using a tool that helps you interpret data from different sources.
For research that deals with large-scale, population-based research, it may be best to consider synonyms for the different types of data sources, such the population-level data you’re interested in, or the individual datasets you are interested in.7.
‘Do not use research terms such in the title of your paper to imply that your study has found an effect.’
Synonyms can help you when working on a paper and they can also help you understand the research results better if you have to make a correction for something.
For examples of research synoms, look at ‘corrected data’ and the ‘correct data is not a synonym for true data’ examples.8.
‘It’s best not to use synonyms to describe a study design’It’s always best to stay away from synonyms, because they often indicate a very specific study design.
For some research, you may be better off not using synonyms at all.
If you use synonym synoms to describe your design, you can help the research community identify the research questions and the best design to answer those questions.9.
‘Be aware of research studies that have been retracted’Many studies are published, but they’ve not been retracted.
Researchers can often look for a way to get the retracted research published online or in a peer-reviewed journal, and then use the synonym to describe the research as it was published.
For the most part, however, retractions are rare, and retractions have little impact on the quality of research in the literature.
For many researchers, this is an important reason not to rely on synonyms