For this activity, you should generate a hypothesis. Be sure you are clear in terms of Constructs/Operations, IV/DV, measures and expected results. An example has been provided below.

For the hypotheses, you should do them as follows:

A hypothesis is typically no more than two sentences. You should begin by asking a research question (first sentence) based on a topic covered by this class. Then generate a hypothesis (second sentence). Identify the independent and dependent variables. In addition, you should identify what your constructs are and what your operations are. Then explain in terms of your Independent and Dependent Variables what you expect to find.

TERMS:

Construct: Think of a construct as a class, abstraction, or general variable. Love, work, sex, aggressive behavior, and polite behaviors are all examples of constructs.

Operation: An operation is a more specific example of a construct that is measurable and specifiable. For example, we might operationalize the construct 'love' as the number of hugs given in a week. Or work may be operationalized as the number of hours someone is 'clocked in' at his or her location of employment. An operation should be something measurable that reflects the construct.

Answer the following questions:

1. Where/how would you recruit participants for your study?

2. What are the demographics of your participants (age, sex, race, SES, etc.)?

3. How specifically will you measure your Dependent variable (should be quite similar to your operation statement)?

EXAMPLE HYPOTHESIS ASSIGNMENT:
Research Question: Does music influence amount of work completed for men differently than it does women?

Hypothesis: Men work faster when there is music playing while women work slower when there is music playing. However, when there is no music men work slower and women work faster.

Independent variable: Music (or no music) and Sex of Participant (male or female)

Construct: Music	Operation: Billy Joel's Greatest Hits
Construct: Participant Sex	Operation: Participant Sex

 

Dependent variable: Work (how much work is completed)

Construct: Work

Operation: Number of widgets made in one hour

Expected Difference: Men should have more work completed when listening to music than men who do not listen to music, while women who listen to music should have less work completed than women who do not listen to music while they work. In terms of operations, men should have a higher number of widgets built in one hour than women when they are listening to music. However, when there is no music-playing women should build more widgets in an hour than men.

Participants: Participants would be recruited by asking the local Widget making factory for access to their workers for one week. My population would likely range in age from 18 to 65, most likely with a high school education or less. There will likely be more men than women and this would need to be controlled for by over sampling the female widget makers. The SES would be lower to upper middle class with a primarily white population, but with minority populations represented at a similar rate as that found in the community population.

Measurement: I would physically count the widgets that each man and woman selected for the study made during each day in which the music played and during each day in which the music was not played.