Chapter 4 - Developing the research plan. The following will be discussed in this chapter: Research approaches, hypotheses, types of hypotheses, hypothesis testing, direction of expected results, data collection techniques,...
Chapter Developing the Research Plan Research Approaches General framework for conducting research – – – – Historical Descriptive Qualitative Experimental The general nature of the research problem will determine which approach to use Hypotheses Important to most research studies Tentative explanation of the outcome of a research problem In some research in the behavioral sciences, especially descriptive studies, it may be appropriate for the researcher to list objectives rather than hypotheses or to exclude them all together, unless comparisons are being made Types of Hypotheses Research Hypothesis - An “educated guess” or tentative proposition regarding the possible solution or explanation to the problem being studied – based on theory or previous research Null or Statistical Hypothesis - A hypothesis of “no difference or no relationship” – primary use is for statistical testing – hypothesis which says the independent variable has no effect on the dependent variable – does not necessarily reflect the researcher’s expectations Hypothesis Testing The Research Hypothesis is transformed into a Statistical or Null Hypothesis (Ho) – This is done so that statistical tests can be employed that will determine whether the findings are statistically significant or can be attributed to chance – The results of the statistical test will enable the researcher to accept or reject the null hypothesis More Hypothesis Testing The purpose of the statistical test is to evaluate the null hypothesis at a specified level of probability – For instance, testing the difference in the mean values between groups at the 05 level means: Do the values of the dependent variable differ significantly (p