Developing Your Research Question

When you were in elementary school, the most difficult task many of you may have faced was deciding what experiment to do for the science fair. In this week's discussion, you are asked to formulate a research question and then convert that question into statistical language, including the null and alternative hypotheses.

For this discussion, please complete the following:

A. Develop a research question: In your area of interest, think about a research question that could be answered using a hypothesis test for a mean. Write down this research question and explain what your research is trying to investigate. Clearly describe the population(s) you are studying and the variable you are measuring for each person (or thing) in your sample(s).

B. State the hypotheses: Using your research question, create the null hypothesis that will be tested and the alternative hypothesis. Be sure to use the symbols H_ofor the null hypothesis and H₁ for the alternative hypothesis. You can state your hypotheses verbally or symbolically.

Verbal example:

H_o: mean anxiety level for kids with ASD = mean anxiety level for kids without ASD

H₁: mean anxiety level for kids with ASD mean anxiety level for kids without ASD

Symbolic example:

H_o: ₁= ₂

H₁: _{1 2}

where ₁= mean anxiety level for kids with ASD,

and ₂= mean anxiety level for kids without ASD.

Note: If you use a symbolic statement, you must define your parameter symbols (e.g., ₁, ₂).

C. One-tailed or two-tailed: Based on your research question, indicate whether you would conduct a one-tailed or two-tailed test. If you would conduct a one-tailed test, indicate which direction the test would be and explain why you chose that direction.

D. Expected conclusion: Think of a hypothetical p-value (must be between 0 and 1 since it is a probability, but it is fine to just invent a value here) and provide your expected decision (reject Ho or not) and conclusion from your hypothesis test based on this p-value. Your conclusion should explain what your decision means in the context of your research question.