week 4: research questions and hypotheses Flashcards
Research Questions
questions that convey the primary goals of a research study
Guides
especially when researchers have qualitative data, these are often inform them of many different contributions they could make about a number of different observations, pat-terns, and/or ideas
Heuristics
a guide that has the potential to illuminate useful insights into how a particular group of people makes meanings and engages in the meaning-making process
interpretive research questions
stem from the curiosity about the world, the people who live in it, and how they interact
Critical Research Questions
shed light on marginalized, disenfranchised, and stigmatized experiences, expose inequality, and foster emancipatory action
Post Positive Research Questions
when a theory does not clearly make a prediction or empirical evidence to support a prediction does not exist
Hypothesis
a precise, testable statement that contains a prediction
Prediction
a statement about behaviors or events likely to occur under specific conditions
Variable
any entity that can have two or more values or categories
Comparison Hypothesis
a hypothesis that predicts how people in different groups of one variable will compare on a second variable
Relationship Hypothesis
a hypothesis that predicts an association between two variables
Positive Association
as one variable increases, the other variables increases
Negative Association
(inverse association)
as one variable increases, the other variable decreases
Nondirectional Hypothesis
a hypothesis that might predict that a difference between groups or an association between variables exists, but does not predict the direction of the difference or association
Causal Hypothesis
a hypothesis that predicts an association between variables that meets the conditions for causation
Noncausal Hypothesis
predict that as one variable changes, so does the other (without specifying which causes the other)
Cross-sectional data
data that was collected at one point in time (like a survey that is completed once without a follow up)
null hypothesis
a hypothesis that almost always predicts no relationship between variables
falsifiable
can be empirically tested and refuted
scientific method
