Chapter 4 in Political Science Research Methods

characteristics of good hypotheses

- Empirical - Stated as a generality - Plausible - Specific - States in a way that corresponds to the way in which the researcher intends to test it - testable

how should concepts be defined?

- The words that we choose to describe these behaviors or attributes of people in social groupings - Should be accurate, precise and informative

positive relationship

A relationship in which the values of one variable increase (or decrease) as the values of another variable increase (or decrease)

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

tautology

a hypothesis in which the independent and dependent variables are identical, making it impossible to disconfirm

directional hypothesis

a hypothesis that makes a specific prediction about the direction of the relationship between two variables

arrow diagram

a pictorial representation of a researcher's explanatory scheme

negative relationship

a relationship between variables characterized by an increase in one variable that occurs with a decrease in the other variable

hypothesis

a tentative, testable statement or prediction about what has been observed

intervening variable

a variable coming between an independent variable and a dependent variable in an explanatory scheme

antecedent variable

an independent variable that precedes other independent variables in time

ecological fallacy

deducing a false relationship between the attributes or behaviors of individuals based on observing that relationship for groups to which that individual belongs

dependent variable

the phenomenon thought to be influenced, affected, or caused by some other phenomenon

ecological inference

the process of inferring a relationship between characteristics of individuals based on group or aggregate data

unit of analysis

the type of actor specified in a researcher's hypothesis

cross-level analysis

the use of data at one level of aggregation to make inferences at another level of aggregation