Chapter 2: Hypothesis development: Where research questions come from

Developing a Research Question First step in the research process. The researcher’s primary motivation for designing and conducting a study. These questions come from many sources. Primarily, they come from what the researcher is interested in learning about. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Developing a Research Question McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Developing a Research Question Research questions can be Descriptive Such as whether a specific behavior occurs (Are college students anxious?) What the nature of the behavior is (How does anxiety manifest itself in college students?) Whether behaviors occur together (Do college students who smoke also tend to be anxious?) McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Developing a Research Question Research questions can be Causal About causes of behavior (What types of events cause college students to be anxious?). Many causal research questions are also designed to test a theory about the cause of a behavior (Is anxiety in college students caused by a lack of confidence in their abilities?) McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Conducting a Literature Review How much is already known about the research question? Involves searching research databases or other sources to find relevant research that has been done in an area of the field. Ensures that a new study will add to the knowledge in an area without duplicating what is already known. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

How to Conduct a Literature Review PsycINFO Contains records of articles, books, and book chapters written by researchers. Can be searched by topic words, words that appear in the citation information for the article, author names, journal in which the article was published. PubMed and ERIC Journals that publish research in biological and medical areas can be found by searching the PubMed database. Articles in areas related to education can be found in the ERIC database. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

How to Conduct a Literature Review Other sources Google Scholar Psychological Conferences: APA, APSC Google web searches and Wikipedia searches are not reliable sources. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Literature Review Journal articles May describe a single study or it may describe multiple studies, all of which relate to the same research question. Peer review. Review process can be lengthy. Considered primary sources for research information. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Literature Review Structure of a journal article Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

The Literature Review Review articles and book chapters Organize and summarize research in a particular area of psychology to give researchers a review of the research to date. Allow a researcher to find a lot of information about a topic in a single article. Provide a list of references that can be helpful in searching for empirical articles about specific studies. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Using the Literature to Make Hypotheses The primary goals of a literature review are to Determine what research has been done on a research question to avoid duplicating previous research. Review previous findings and theories to allow a hypothesis to be made about the outcome of a study. A hypothesis is the prediction for the findings of the study. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Using the Literature to Make Hypotheses Theory-driven hypotheses Made from the predictions of a theory. Deductive reasoning. Data-driven hypotheses Made based on data from previous studies. Inductive reasoning. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Using the Literature to Make Hypotheses Descriptive hypothesis A prediction about the results of a study that describes the behavior or the relationship between behaviors. Causal hypothesis A prediction about the results of a study that includes the causes of a behavior. McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them Using inappropriate search engines Use of inappropriate sources Hypotheses stated too generally Focus on full-text articles Only reading the abstract McBride, The Process of Research in Psychology. Third Edition © 2016 SAGE Publications, Inc.