Lesson 3

Research Questions
and
Hypothesis
Source: David, F. (2005). Understanding and
doing research: A handbook for beginners.
Jaro, Iloilo City: Panorama Printing, Inc.
 The research questions are usually
introduced with interrogative statement such
as:

1. To what extent do high school students

participate in school activities?

2. Is there a significant relationship between

the students’ extent of participation in school
activities and their school performance?
 Hypotheses
 A hypothesis is defined as educated guess or a tentative
answers to a question.

 Hypotheses are usually tested in intervention or evaluation

studies and in correlation/ relational studies.

 Purely descriptive studies or diagnostic and exploratory

investigations do not normally require hypothesis
statements because they generally do not test causal
relationships between variables.

 A hypothesis suggests the type of analysis that must be

done in order to measure the relationship.
 Functions of a Hypothesis
1. A single hypothesis might state that an independent
variable is associated with a dependent variable.

Examples:
“There is a significant association between level of
knowledge about the dangers of smoking and smoking habits
of young professionals.”

“Parents’ extent of participation in school activities of

their children is significantly related to their children’s school
performance.”
2. Sometimes a hypothesis specifies that,
under certain conditions (x, y and z), variable
A is associated with or can influence variable
B.

*There is a significant relationship between men’s extent

of exposure to gender issues and their degree of
involvement in child care among those living in urban
areas.”

Condition: living in urban area

 3. Some hypotheses may state that a particular
characteristic of a person or object varies according to another
variable.
Examples:
“Board performance of BSMT graduates varies according
to the type of school they graduated from”

“The repayment status of new clients of the PAG-IBIG

housing loan is significantly higher than that of the old clients.”

Types of Hypothesis
Hypotheses can be classified either as null or alternative
hypothesis, and directional or non-directional hypothesis.
 Null Hypothesis vs. Alternative Hypothesis
•Null hypothesis (H0) is a negative statement which indicates the
absence of a relationship/correlation between two variables,

• An absence of a significant difference between the proportions

of two groups of people or objects possessing a particular
characteristic or

•An absence of difference between or among the means of two

or more groups with respect to a particular variable, such as,
“mean of age of males and mean age of females,” and “mean
score in math of students who attended tutorial classes and
mean score of those who did not attend tutorial classes.
 Examples of Null Hypothesis
 “There is no significant relationship
between mass media exposure and attitude
towards land reform among lowland
farmers.”
 ”There is no significant difference
between the mean of age of male faculty
members and the mean age of female faculty
members.”
 Alternative Hypothesis (Ha or Hi )

•Also called the research hypothesis, is the

positive form of the null hypothesis.

•Itmay state the presence of a significant

relationship between the independent and
dependent variables , or the presence of a
significant difference between two means or two
proportions.
 Examples of Alternative Hypotheses
“There is a significant relationship between mass media
exposure and attitude towards land reform among lowland
farmers.”

“There is a significant difference between the mean

age of male faculty members and the mean age of female
faculty members”

“There is a significant difference between the

proportion of health care providers who are smoking and the
proportion of health care providers who are smoking and the
proportion of those who are not smoking.”
 Directional vs. Nondirectional hypothesis

• A directional hypothesis states whether the

relationship between two variables is direct or
inverse or positive or negative.
• A positive or direct relationship is present when
the value of one variable increases with the
increase in the value of another.
• The relationship is negative when the value of
one variable increases as the value of another
decreases.
 Examples of Directional Hypothesis
 “The higher the level of exposure of
farmers to mass media the more favorable
their attitude towards land reform.” (positive)
 “The more time employees spend in
meetings, the less productive they are.”
(negative)
 “The higher the advertisement expenses
of food establishments, the higher their
monthly gross sales.” (positive)
 A Non-Directional Hypothesis
•The non-directional hypothesis does not make
specific prediction about what direction the
outcome of a study will take.

• It merely states the:

1. presence of a relationship between two
variables
2. there is a significant difference in the
mean values of the two variables
3. one variable influence another
 Examples of Non-directional Hypothesis
 “The women’s educational attainment is
significantly associated with their extent of
participation in decision-making at home.”

 “There is a significant difference between the

proportion of women and the proportion of men who
are engaged in dry goods business.”

 “There is a significant relationship between job

satisfaction and job performance among employees.”
 How to Write Hypotheses

In writing hypotheses, one must remember the

following:

* Hypotheses must be written in simple

understandable language.

* Hypotheses must focus on the variables.

* One must keep in mind the distinction between

independent and dependent variables.