Hypotheses + Variables Flashcards
What is a hypothesis?
It’s a speculation or theory that lends itself to further investigation. With further testing, a hypothesis can usually be proven true or false
What is a Null Hypothesis H0?
This is a hypothesis that says there is no statistical significance between the two variables.
This is the hypothesis the researcher is trying to DISPROVE
What is an Alternative Hypothesis?
It’s the what you think will happen, and the hypothesis we try to prove, and find out if there is a statistically significant relationship between the two variables
Why should we try to disprove the null hypothesis?
We can never 100% prove the alternative hypothesis. What we do instead is see if we can disprove, or reject, the null hypothesis.
If we can reject the null hypothesis, this doesn’t necessarily mean that our alternative hypothesis is correct – but it does provide support for the alternative hypothesis.
What is a one tailed hypothesis?
A one-tailed directional hypothesis predicts the nature of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
What is a two tailed hypothesis?
A two-tailed non-directional hypothesis predicts that the independent variable will have an effect on the dependent variable, but the direction of the effect is not specified.
What is the Independent Variable?
The independent variable (IV) is the variable that the researcher changes and is believed to have a direct effect on the dependent variable.
What is the Dependent variable?
The dependent variable (DV) is the variable that the researcher measures, after changes are made to the IV which is assumed to have an effect on the DV.
What are extraneous variables?
An extraneous variable is a variable which has an effect on the dependent variable and the researchers results if they are not controlled. The researcher wants the independent variable to be the only variable manipulating and changing the dependent variable, so its important that any extraneous variables are controlled.
