Neurodivergent Glossary
ADHD and Autism
An easy way to understand the medical jargon of the neurodivergent world.
Research
Case study
A case study is a detailed description of one person, family or group, used in research or training to show how a condition presents or how a treatment went.
Clinical trial
A clinical trial is a research study in people that tests whether a treatment is safe and whether it works, following a written plan reviewed by an ethics committee.
Cross-sectional study
A cross-sectional study collects information from a group of people at one point in time, to describe how common something is or how two things relate.
Effect size
Effect size is a number that shows how large a difference or relationship is in a study, rather than only whether it is likely to be real.
Longitudinal study
A longitudinal study follows the same group of people over months or years, collecting information at several points to see how things change over time.
Placebo
A placebo is a dummy treatment with no active ingredient, such as a sugar pill, used in research so a real treatment can be compared against it.
Prevalence of a disorder
Prevalence is the proportion of people in a population who have a particular condition at a given time, usually shown as a percentage.
Prospective study
A prospective study recruits people first and then follows them forward in time, recording what happens as it happens rather than looking back at records.
Protocol
A protocol is the written plan for a research study or clinical procedure, setting out what will be done, to whom, how and how results will be analysed.
Randomised controlled trial (RCT)
A randomised controlled trial is a study where participants are assigned by chance to receive either the treatment being tested or a comparison, such as a placebo or usual care.
Retrospective study
A retrospective study looks back at information that already exists, such as medical records or people's memories, to look for links between past events and current outcomes.
Sample (of individuals)
A sample is the group of people who take part in a study, chosen from a larger population so the results can tell us something about that population.
Significance (statistical)
Statistical significance is a measure of how unlikely a study's result would be if there were really no effect, usually reported as a p-value.
Standard deviation (SD)
Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out a set of numbers is around their average, with a larger standard deviation meaning the values vary more.
Ready to understand how your brain works?
Book a complimentary call and one of our team will guide you. Or start with a free pre-assessment evaluation.