Hypotheses

The planning stage is possibly the most demanding, certainly the most important part of the research process. If research were limited to gathering facts, knowledge could not advance.

Scientific method

• • proposal of a hypothesis

  • deduction from the hypothesis that certain phenomena should be observed in given circumstances

  • checking of this deduction by observation

Formulation

• • Hypotheses are the working instruments of theory

  • follows from the review of literature

  • problems are not the only source of hypotheses

  • they also derive from theory

  • a hypothesis must be stated so that it is can be either confirmed or refuted

Operational definition

• • use of indefinite terms in a hypothesis make it untestable. e.g. authoritarianism can only be tested if there is a scale of it

  • Variables must be defined because not everyone will have the same definition or understanding of the terms in a hypothesis and there are also differences in the precision. e.g. define Violence on TV

Research and Operational Hypotheses

• • the original hypothesis is often tightened up and refined and becomes the operational hypothesis.

Which of the following is testable?

Children who attend Sunday School show better acquaintance with the bible than those who don’t.

Children who attend Sunday School show greater moral fibre than those who don’t.

Judging hypotheses

• • concise, correct terminology

  • must be testable

  • must state the relationship between variables

  • hypotheses should be limited in scope, not universal.

  • they should be grounded in known facts

Hypothesis formation and testing

• • most research either looks for differences between groups or for relationships between groups

Hypothesis testing and significance

• • We are never proving a hypothesis, only testing it and eventually accepting ir or rejecting it

One tailed and two tailed hypotheses

• • One tailed makes its prediction in one direction, e.g. that something is more likely than not

  • Two tailed hypotheses are those that suggest that the effect of an independent variable could go either way. e.g. that something is different (without saying which way)

Type I and II Errors

• • A null hypothesis in a directional forms favours its rejection

  • If the null hypothesis is accepted but the null hypothesis is actually false, you have a Type 2 Error

  • If the null hypothesis is rejected but the null hypothesis is actually true, you have a Type 1 Error