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