K - L

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• key informants

  Key informants are people who are known to have knowledge, experience, expertise and/or opinions specific to the subject of the research, and who are selected as data sources for this reason.
  

• linear relationship

  A relationship between two variables that are directly related.
  

• literature review

  Literature review brings together individual reviews of papers, etc. It should weave together the individual reviews into an an overview of the area. The aim is to convey an awareness of the current state of knowledge in the subject. It is commonly used to set the scene for introducing new research or a new perspective on the research.
  

• longitudinal research

  Longitudinal research may use any method of data gathering (observation, survey, experiment, etc.), but its particular characteristic is that the process is repeated on several occasions over a period of time, replicating the chosen methodology each time. It follows that a key aim of such research is to monitor changes over time.