BASIC CONCEPTS IN LESSON 2

RESEARCH
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After going through the chapter the learner should;
1)Appreciate the basic research terminologies and their usage.
BASIC RESEARCH
TERMINOLOGY
-A study, investigation, or a research project.
-Subjects (sometimes abbreviated as ss) or the
study participants: the people who are being studied.

-Respondents or, sometimes, informants: when the

subjects provide information to the researchers.
-Researcher ,investigator, or scientist :is the
person who undertakes the research.

-Principal investigator or project director; the

main person directing the investigation when a study is
under taken by a research team
 CONCEPTS

Conceptualization refers to the process of

developing and refining abstract ideas.

Scientific res .Is almost always concerned with

abstract rather than tangible phenomena.
Variables:-
-Within the context of a research investigation, concepts are
referred to as variables.
-Is something that varies or differs from one person to another.
-All research activity is aimed at trying to understand how or
why things vary and to learn how differences in one variable
are related to differences in another.
-A variable, then, is any quality of person, group or situation
that varies or takes on different values.
-Categorical variables: place individuals into categorical
( as: pregnant / not pregnant, male/female,
single/married/divorced/widowed).
Attribute variables: are often inherent ch.ch. Such
as age, blood type, health beliefs.

Heterogeneity: when an attribute is extremely

varied in the group under study, the group is said to
be heterogeneous with respect to that variable
Homogeneity: when the members of the group are highly
similar to one another with respect to that variable, the group
is described as homogeneous.
Demographic variables: is a variable that is collected by
researchers to describe the nature and distribution of the
sample used with inferential statistics.
Within applied statistics and research, these are variables
such as age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic measures,
and group membership
Three Demographic Variables. The population changes in
accordance with three demographic variables: Fertility,
mortality, and migration. Population growth or decline in a
society is influenced by the birth rate, the death rate, and
the migration rate
 INDEPENDENT AND
DEPENDENT
The VARIABLES
two main variables in an experiment are the
independent and dependent variable.
An independent variable is the variable that is changed or
controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the
dependent variable.
A dependent variable is the variable being tested and
measured in a scientific experiment.

Independent variable Presumed cause.

Dependent variable presumed effect.

Variability in the dependent variable is presumed to

The dependent variable is the variable the researcher is
interested in understanding explaining, or predicating.

Dependent is the response, behaviors or out come that

the researcher wants to predict or explain.
An example of a dependent variable is how tall you are
at different ages.
The dependent variable (height) depends on the
independent variable (age).

Examples of Independent variables: In an experiment

to test how the amount of sunlight affects the growth of
carrots.
The dependent variable is the “effect’’ or the variable
that is influenced by the researcher’s manipulation
(Control) of the independent variable.

The designation of a variables as independent or

dependent is a function of the role that the variable
plays in a particular investigation.
A controlled variable - is one which the researcher
holds constant (controls) during an experiment.
It is also known as a constant variable or simply as a
"control". The control variable is not part of an
experiment (not the independent or dependent variable),
but it is important because it can have an effect on the
results.
Examples of Controlled Variables. Temperature is a
common type of controlled variable. If a temperature is
held constant during an experiment it is controlled.
Other examples of controlled variables could be the
amount of light, always using the same type of glassware,
constant humidity, or duration of an experiment.
EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES
Extraneous variables are any variables that you are not
intentionally studying in your experiment or test.
When you run an experiment, you’re looking to see if one
variable (the independent variable) has an effect on
another variable (the dependent variable).
Other variables, perhaps ones that never crossed your
mind, might influence the outcome of an experiment.
These undesirable variables are called extraneous
variables.
 TYPES OF EXTRANEOUS
VARIABLES
Demand characteristics: environmental clues which tell
the participant how to behave, like features in the
surrounding or researcher’s non-verbal behavior.
Experimenter / Investigator Effects: where the
researcher unintentionally affects the outcome by giving
clues to the participants about how they should behave.
Participant variables, like prior knowledge, health status
or any other individual characteristic that could affect the
outcome.
Situational variables, like noise, lighting or temperature
in the environment.
CONFOUNDING
VARIABLES
Confounding occurs when the experimental controls do
not allow the experimenter to reasonably eliminate
plausible alternative explanations for an observed
relationship between independent and dependent
variables.
For example, if you are researching whether lack of
exercise leads to weight gain, lack of exercise is your
independent variable and weight gain is your
dependent variable.
Confounding variables are any other variable that
also has an effect on your dependent variable.
 OPERATIONAL
DEFINITIONS:
The researcher usually clarifies and define the variable
under investigation.

The definition must specify how the variable will be

observed and measured in the actual research situation.

It is a specification of the operations that the researcher

must perform to collect the required information.
This operational definition clearly indicated to both the
investigator and to the consumer what is meant by
the variable weight.

Precision in defining the terms has the advantage of

communicating exactly what the terms mean.

Data:- singular, datum)

Are the pieces of information obtained in the course of
the investigation
 RELATIONSHIP
Refers to a bond or connection between two variables or
more.
Example:
Height: taller people will weigh more than shorter people.

Metabolism: the lower a person’s metabolic rate, the more

he or she will weigh.

Caloric intake: people with higher caloric intake will be

heavier than those with lower caloric intake.

Exercise: the greater the amount of exercise, the lower

the person’s weight.
OTHER TERMS
Control Group: test subjects randomly assigned to not
receive the experimental treatment.
Empty Control Group: a type of control group which
does not receive any treatment, including a placebo.
Experimental Group: test subjects randomly assigned
to receive the experimental treatment.
Population: the entire group the researcher is studying.
If the researcher cannot gather data from the population,
studying large random samples taken from the
population may be used to estimate how the population
would respond.
 HYPOTHESIS
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed
explanation for an observation. The definition depends on
the subject.
For example, in science, a hypothesis is part of the
scientific method. It is a prediction or explanation that is
tested by an experiment.
Observations and experiments may disprove a scientific
hypothesis, but can never entirely prove one.
Hypothesis: a prediction of whether the independent
variable will have an effect on the dependent variable or
a prediction of the nature of the effect.
 WRITING A HYPOTHESIS
Most scientific hypotheses are proposed in the if-then
format because it's easy to design an experiment to see
whether or not a cause and effect relationship exists
between the independent variable and the dependent
variable.
The hypothesis is written as a prediction of the outcome
of the experiment.
 NULL HYPOTHESIS AND
ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS
Statistically, it's easier to show there is no relationship
between two variables than to support their connection.
So, scientists often propose the null hypothesis.
The null hypothesis assumes changing the independent
variable will have no effect on the dependent variable.
In contrast, the alternative hypothesis suggests changing the
independent variable will have an effect on the dependent
variable.
Class activity:
Consider a possible relationship between getting a
good night's sleep and getting good grades. Write a
null and alternative hypotheses.
Null hypotheses Alternative hypotheses
"The number of hours of "The amount of sleep
sleep students get is students get affects their
unrelated to their grades."
grades"
"There is no correlation "If you get more sleep, your
between hours of sleep grades will improve"
and grades."
"Students who get 9 hours
of sleep have better grades
than those who get more or
less sleep."
Example of a Hypothesis
1)If you drop a rock and a feather, they will fall at the same
rate.A
2)Plants need sunlight in order to live. A
3)Eating sugar gives you energy. A
4)"Hyperactivity is unrelated to eating sugar“ N
5)"Plant growth rate is unaffected by the presence of
cadmium in the soil N
6)“All daisies have the same number of petals. A
7)The number of pets in a household is unrelated to the
number of people living in it. N
8)A person's preference for a shirt is unrelated to its color. N
 SUGGESTED ON-LINE
READING
1) Crossman, Ashley. "Definition of Hypothesis." ThoughtCo, Jun. 22, 2018,
thoughtco.com/definition-and-types-of-hypothesis-3026350.
2) Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Elements of a Good Hypothesis."
ThoughtCo, Oct. 8, 2018, thoughtco.com/elements-of-a-good-
hypothesis-609096.
3) Helmenstine, Anne Marie, Ph.D. "Null Hypothesis Definition and
Examples." ThoughtCo, Jun. 22, 2018, thoughtco.com/definition-of-null-
hypothesis-and-examples-605436.
4) Taylor, Courtney. "Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis."
ThoughtCo, Sep. 24, 2018, thoughtco.com/null-hypothesis-vs-
alternative-hypothesis-3126413.
5) Taylor, Courtney. "Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis."
ThoughtCo, Sep. 24, 2018, thoughtco.com/An Example of a
Hypothesis Test
END THANK YOU