Aims and Hypotheses

• the aim of a research study is a short basic description of what the researcher is investigating
• a hypothesis is a precisely worded, testable statement that predicts the possible outcome of the study
• to write a correlational hypothesis, you need to clearly state both of the variables
• operationalisation means specifying exactly how the variables will be defined or measured
• when writing your IV in hypothesis, it's good to include both conditions

  e.g. males and females
• in a study, it is good to state both

  • experimental or alternative hypothesis (positive)
  • null hypothesis (negative)
• the experimental hypothesis predicts that a significant difference will be found in the DV between the 2 IV conditions

  or

  that there will be no significant correlation between variables
• the null hypothesis states that there be no significant difference or correlation
• the experimental hypothesis can either be one-tailed (directional) or two-tailed (non-directional)
• what does a two tailed hypothesis (non-directional) mean?

  the hypothesis does not predict the direction of the resulsts
• what does a one-tailed hypothesis (directional) mean?


  the hypothesis will predict the direction of the results