Aims and Hypothesis

• Aim definition: the objective or purpose of the experiment
• Hypothesis definition: a prediction of the outcome of the experiment
• Aim sentence starters:

  • To see if
  • To investigate
• Directional hypothesis definition: a hypothesis which makes clear the direction of the relationship anticipated in the experiment
• Directional hypothesis key words:

  • more and less
  • higher and lower
  • faster and slower
• Non directional hypothesis definition: a hypothesis that does not specify the direction of the relationship in the experiment
• Non directional hypothesis key words:

  • effect
  • difference
  • differ
• When is a directional hypothesis used?


  when findings of a previous research suggest a particular outcome
• When is a non directional hypothesis used?

  when there is no previous research or finding from earlier studies are contradictory
• Null hypothesis definition: when alternative hypothesis are rejected, null must be accepted. No trend or a trend due to chance
• How do you write a hypothesis?

  1. operationalise independent and dependent variables
  2. state the relationship between independent and dependent variables
  3. the hypothesis must be directional or non directional
• Directional hypothesis example

  people who have more workload will have higher stress levels
• Non directional hypothesis example

  a higher workload will effect a person's stress levels
• Independent variable definition: The variable that is manipulated by the researcher to determine the effect on the dependent variable.
• Dependent variable definition: The variable that changes in response to the manipulation of the experimenter
• Operationalised definition: how will the variable be measured