A local school board is developing a new preschool program; the system already has half-day and full-day kindergartens. The school board members recognize that children come to kindergarten from many different backgrounds and wonder whether preschoolers who attend childcare programs that are run by school districts are better prepared for kindergarten than children who attend independent childcare programs.

Your first task as the research consultant is to identify the hypotheses and assumptions that underlie the research effort. In this case, you think the board members already have both.What's their most likely hypothesis? Is it your hypothesis, too, as the consultant?