Formulating Hypothesis

• Measurable elements that can vary or take different values along dimension.

  Variables
• Hypothesis should meet certain basic criteria such as: testable, falsifiable, parsimonious, fruitful, and synthetic statement
• Is a statement of your predictions on how events, traits, or behaviors might be related.

  Nonexperimental hypothesis
• In true experiment, the hypothesis predicts the effects of specific antecedent conditions on some behavior than is to be measured.
• Experimental results cannot be interpreted with certainty.

  Confounding
• Through induction, we devise general principles and theories that can be used to organize, optimize, explain, and predict behavior until more satisfactory principles are found.
• Parsimony means that we prefer a simple hypothesis over one requiring many supporting assumptions.
• For this reason, a hypothesis must be capable of being true or false, which is a property of synthetic statements.
• Induction is reasoning from specific cases to general principles to form a hypothesis.
• Deduction is reasoning from general principles to specific predictions.
• An experimental hypothesis is testable when it can be assessed by manipulating an IV and measuring the results on the DV.
• It must be stated in what is known as “If … then” form.
• An experimental hypothesis is a tentative explanation of an event or a behavior. It is a statement that predicts the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable
• When the value of extraneous variable changes systematically across different conditions of an experiment, we have a situation known as Confounding.
• Dependent Variable, outcome the researcher are trying to explain.
• A theory is a set of general principles that can be used to explain and predict behavior.
• Hypothesis should also be fruitful, meaning, it should lead to new studies.
• Nonsynthetic statements should be avoided at all cost. It has 2 categories – analytic and contradictory.
• Hypothesis is the thesis, or main idea of an experiment.
• BF Skinner: advocate for inductive research in psychology.
• Extraneous variable can affect the results.
• Independent Variable, what the experimenter intentionally manipulates.
• Induction is the basic tool of theory building
• Through deduction we rigorously test the implications of those theories.
• To ensure that a hypothesis is a synthetic statement, we must evaluate its form.
• A simple hypothesis allows us to focus our attention on the main factors that influence our dependent variable.

  Parsimonous
• Causal relationships between the IV and DV cannot be inferred.

  Confounding
• is approach is used to test the assumptions of a well-developed theory.

  Deductive Model
• Analytic statement is one that is always true
• It is an explanation of a relationship between two or more variables.

  Hypothesis
• Dependent Variable, sometimes called as the “dependent measures”
• By examining individual instances, we may be able to construct an overall explanatory scheme to describe them.

  Inductive Model
• Without testability, we cannot evaluate the validity of a hypothesis.
• Causal relationships between the IV and DV cannot be inferred.

  Confounding
• Nonscientific synonyms: speculation, guess, hunch.


  Hypothesis
• Scientists can use the results of extensive experiments designed to test hypotheses to construct a theory that unifies their findings

  Induction
• Dependent Variable:

  • Measures
  • Effects
  • Outcomes
  • Results
• There is some indication that a hypothesis is fruitful when we can think of new studies that will become important if the hypothesis is supported.
• Contradictory statement – statements with elements that oppose each other – because contradictory statements are always false
• Antecedent that experimenter chooses to vary.

  Independent Variable