Download research idea

Chapter Two:
Research Ideas and
Hypotheses
The Research Idea

You find a research idea when you find a gap in the current
knowledge or an unanswered question that interests you.
Characteristics of Good
Research Ideas

The most important characteristic of a good research idea is
that it is testable.
Characteristics of Good
Research Ideas

A second characteristic of the good research idea is that your
chances for success are increased when your view of nature
approximates reality as closely as possible. When reality is
approximated there is a good likelihood of success.
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Include those occurrences that give us the illusion that a
research idea has dropped out of the sky.
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Inspiration
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Inspiration

Ideas that pop into one’s mind from (seemingly) nowhere.
Inspiration usually comes more easily after one has been
working on a particular problem for some time.
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Serendipity
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Serendipity

Refers to those situations where we look for one phenomenon
but find another.
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Everyday Occurrences
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources
 Everyday Occurrences

The people and/or situations one encounters daily provide
some of the best possibilities for research.
Sources of Research Ideas

Nonsystematic Sources (recap)



Inspiration
Serendipity
Everyday Occurrences
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources

Research ideas from systematic sources are carefully organized and
logically thought out.
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources
 Past Research
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources
 Past Research
 A careful survey of the research done in a specific area
will highlight any knowledge gaps or unanswered
questions in that area.
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources
 Past Research
 A careful survey of the research done in a specific area
will highlight any knowledge gaps or unanswered
questions in that area.

A failure to replicate a previous finding raises additional
questions that only continued research will be able to
answer.
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources

Theory
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources
 Theory

The guidance function of a theory provides an endless
panorama of projects for researchers who take the time and
trouble to master the theory and understand its implications.
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources

Classroom Lectures
Sources of Research Ideas

Systematic Sources

Classroom Lectures

Lectures often include a systematic review of the relevant
literature on a particular topic and as such are a good source of
research ideas.
Developing a Research
Question
Developing a Research
Question

Regardless of the source of your research idea, your first goal
should be to turn it into a question.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Selection of Index terms
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Selection of Index terms

Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Selection of Index terms

Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms

Is a collection of index terms taken from abstracts of all
published psychological research.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Computerized Searches of the Literature
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Computerized Searches of the Literature

Your next step is to familiarize yourself with the computerized
research databases (such as PsycINFO) available at your school.
Enter your index terms into the search box of the database.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Manual Searches of the Literature
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Manual Searches of the Literature
 If your school does not subscribe to any electronic research
databases you will have to do a manual literature search.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Manual Searches of the Literature
 If your school does not subscribe to any electronic research
databases you will have to do a manual literature search.

Psychological Abstracts
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Manual Searches of the Literature
 If your school does not subscribe to any electronic research
databases you will have to do a manual literature search.

Psychological Abstracts

Is a monthly journal that provides essentially the same
information that a PsycINFO search. Write down the relevant
article references and locate the journal(s) in the library.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
 You need to assemble all of your original source materials in
one place.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
 You need to assemble all of your original source materials in
one place.
 Interlibrary loan
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
 You need to assemble all of your original source materials in
one place.
 Interlibrary loan

If your library does not have the relevant journals or books,
you can request them through interlibrary loan. There is
sometimes a small fee for this service and the amount of time
it takes to get your materials will vary.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
 You need to assemble all of your original source materials in
one place.
 Requests for reprints
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Obtaining the Relevant Publications
 You need to assemble all of your original source materials in
one place.
 Requests for reprints

You can write or e-mail the author of a journal article directly
and ask for a copy of the article (reprint). Many colleges and
universities have searchable faculty e-mail databases. This
makes it very easy to e-mail the author and ask for a reprint.
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Integrating the results of the Literature Search
Surveying the Psychological
Literature

Integrating the results of the Literature Search

This is the process of making sense of the materials you have
assembled.
Formulating the Research
Hypothesis
Formulating the Research
Hypothesis

A research hypothesis is simply a formal statement of your
research question, taking into account what you learned from
searching the literature.
Formulating the Research
Hypothesis


A research hypothesis is simply a formal statement of your
research question, taking into account what you learned from
searching the literature.
The research or experimental hypothesis is our prediction
about the relation that exists between the independent variable
that we are going to manipulate and the dependent variable
that we will record.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Statements
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Statements
 Synthetic Statements
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Statements
 Synthetic Statements

Are those statements that can be either true of false (e.g.
“Abused children have lower self-esteem”).
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Statements
 Analytic Statements

Are those statements that are always true (e.g. I am making
an “A” or I am not making an “A”).
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis


Are those statements that are always false (e.g. I am making
an “A” and I am not making an “A”).
Types of Statements

Contradictory Statements
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Statements



Synthetic
Analytic
Contradictory
Psychological Detective

Which type of statement is best suited for use in our research
hypothesis?
Psychological Detective

Which type of statement is best suited for use in our research
hypothesis?

Synthetic Statement
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

General Implication Form
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

General Implication Form
 you must be able to state (or restate) the research
hypothesis in general implication (“if…then”) form.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

General Implication Form
 you must be able to state (or restate) the research
hypothesis in general implication (“if…then”) form.

The “if” portion of such statements refers to the independent
variable manipulation(s) that we are going to make, whereas
the “then” portion of the statement refers to the dependent
variable changes we expect to observe.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Principle of falsifiability
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Principle of falsifiability

When an experimental hypothesis is stated in general implication
form, it is possible that a result is true (supported by the results of
the study) or false (not supported by the results of the study).
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning
 Inductive Logic
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning
 Inductive Logic

Involves reasoning from specific cases to general principles.
Inductive logic is the process that is involved in the
construction of theories.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning
 Deductive Logic
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning
 Deductive Logic

Involves reasoning from general principles to specific
conclusions or predictions.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Types of Reasoning


Inductive Logic
Deductive Logic
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Directional versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Directional versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses
 Directional Hypotheses
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Directional versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses
 Directional Hypotheses

Specify the outcome of the experiment.
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Directional versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses
 Nondirectional Hypotheses
Characteristics of the Research
Hypothesis

Directional versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses
 Nondirectional Hypotheses

Do not predict the exact directional outcome of an experiment,
but only that the groups we are testing will differ.