Mary Jackson Pitts, Ph.D.

 

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mpitts@astate.edu

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nWhat is a concept?

n     Represents a number of individual, but related things.

 What is a construct?

n   A construct is the linking of a variety of concepts

n   You must be able to measure the construct.

 What is a variable?

n    The variable  becomes that thing, construct, concepts that you present in your research questions and hypotheses.

uThe variable is is always identified in the research questions or the hypothesis.

 The variable

n    There must be variability.

n    There must be two or more levels.

uGender----Males and females

uAge----young and old

uCognition---- comprehension, lack of comprehension.

What is operationalization?

n     This is where you denote how the variable is observed and measured.

 Variables

n     Some are easy to pick out, view and count.

u  Violence on tv…

u  Attitudes about violence on television

nWhat is an hypotheses?

n     Is an educated guess or a presumption, that is based on a scholar’s review of the research literature.

n     It describes a relationship between two variables.

Variables

n     Independent Variable---A variable that influences another variable; for example, if frequency of newspaper reading depends to some extent on education level, then education level is an independent variable.

n     This is the predictor variable.

n     We manipulate these variables.

Variables

n       Dependent Variable---A variable influenced by another variable; for example, if frequency of newspaper reading depends on education level, frequency of newspaper reading is a dependent variable.

u   This is the criterion variable.

u   Something happens to the dependent variable because of the dependent variable.

Confounding variables

n     Can be used to provide a link between the two main variables.

 Finding variables

n      There is a relationship between gender and the likelihood of liking pro wrestling programs.

n      A relationship exists between radio listenership and live djs.

n     Class success is influenced by attendance.

 Hypothesis

n      Directional

u   The statement indicates the direction of the relationship.        

«  Ie Females will be less likely to watch pro wrestling.

n      Nondirectional

u   Suggests a difference will exist but doesn’t say how.

«  There will be a difference between viewing habits between males and females.

n       

How do you know if your hypothesis is good?

n     Is is simply stated?

n     Are there at least two variables in the statement?

n     Can the variables be measured by the techniques you know how to use?

n     Are the relationships precise?

n     Can the hypothesis be tested?

Testing the null hypothesis

 

n      Attempting to reject the null hypothesis.

n     The null hypothesis says that no relationship exist. 

n      The null is opposite of the research hypothesis.

n      We assume the null is true until evidence suggests otherwise.