aims are general statements of what the researcher intends to investigate
(purpose of the study)
when writing an aim, it must start with ‘to investigate‘
what is a hypothesis?
a statement that is made at the start of a study and clearly describes the relationship/difference between variables as stated in the theory
(a prediction about the research findings)
what are the two types of hypotheses?
directional
non-directional
difference
experiment
relationship
correlation in data
what is a directional hypothesis?
makes clear the sort of difference that is anticipated between two conditions or two groups of people.
Also known as a one-tailed hypothesis
it uses words such as more or less, higher or lower, faster or slower ect
what is a non-directional hypothesis?
states that there is a difference between conditions or groups but the nature of the difference is not specified.
‘Also known as a two-tailed hypothesis
when writing a hypothesis, you should always start with a non-directional one
what type of hypothesis is this: people who drink energy drinks become more talkative then people who don’t.
directional because it uses the word ‘more’
what type of hypothesis is this: there is a difference between people who drink energy drinks in terms of talkativeness compared with people who don’t drink energy drinks
non-directional because its not specific on the difference
how do you decide which hypothesis to use?
directional:
when a theory or the findings of previous research studies suggest a particularoutcome
non-directional
when there is no theory or previous research, or the findings from earlier studies are contradictory
what is a null hypothesis ?
this suggests that statisticallysignificant effect or relationship will not be found