Question

Select one qualitative and one quantitative question that you are interested in investigating. Identify the independent and dependent variables. Next, create a hypothesis or set of hypotheses to go along with your research question. Identify your hypothesis as one of each of the four categories below and explain why your hypothesis fits into these categories (hint: review chapter 3).

Associative or causal

Simple or complex

Nondirectional vs. directional

Null vs. research

Answer 1

Qualitative Approach

The use of Research Questions as opposed to objectives or hypothesis, is more frequent.

Characteristics

Use of words- what or how.
Specify whether the study: discovers, seeks to understand, explores or describes the
experiences.
Use of non-directional wording in the question.
These questions describe, rather than relate variables or compare groups.
The questions are under continual review and reformulation-will evolve and change
during study.
The questions are usually open-ended, without reference to the literature or
theory.
Use of a single focus.

Quantitative Approach

In survey projects the use of research questions and objectives is more frequent In experiments the use of hypotheses are more frequent Represent comparison between variables relationship between variables.

Characteristics

The testable proposition to be deduced from theory.
Independent and dependent variables to be separated and measured separately.
To be either writing-questions, or objectives or hypotheses, but not a combination.
Consider the alternative forms for writing and make a choice based on the audience for the research.

Directional versus Nondirectional Hypotheses.

Hypotheses can be formulated directionally or nondirectionally. A directional hypothesis is one that specifies the expected direction of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The reader of a directional hypothesis may observe not only the proposal of a relationship but also the nature or direction of that relationship. The following is an example of a directional hypothesis: “Culturally deaf adults who receive the DHHI would demonstrate greater self-efficacy for targeted health-related behaviors than deaf adults who do not receive the DHHI”

Whereas a nondirectional hypothesis indicates the existence of a relationship between the variables, it does not specify the anticipated direction of the relationship. For example, in a study to determine if proteins expressed in nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) serve to detect inflammatory or premalignant states, the following nondirectional hypothesis was used:

“A relation exists between women’s reproductive, nutritional, and body composition, and activity factors and the amount of C-reactive protein (CRP) in NAF” (Lithgow, Nyamathi, & Elashoff et al., 2006). Nurses who are learning to critique research studies should be aware that both the directional and the nondirectional forms of hypothesis statements are acceptable. They should also be aware that there are definite pros and cons pertaining to each one.

Proponents of the nondirectional hypothesis state that this format is more objective and impartial than the directional hypothesis. It is argued that the directional hypothesis is potentially biased, because the researcher, in stating an anticipated outcome, has demonstrated a commitment to a particular position.

On the other side of the coin, proponents of the directional hypothesis argue that researchers naturally have hunches, guesses, or expectations about the outcome of their research. It is the hunch, the curiosity, or the guess that initially leads them to speculate about the question.

The literature review and the conceptual framework provide the theoretical foundation for deriving the hypothesis. For example, the theory (e.g., self-efficacy theory) will provide a critical rationale for proposing that relationships between variables will have particular out-comes. When there is no theory or related research to draw on for rationale or when findings in previous research studies are ambivalent, a nondirectional hypothesis may be appropriate.

As you read research articles, you will note that directional hypotheses are much more commonly used than nondirectional hypotheses.

In summary, when you evaluate a hypothesis you should know that there are several advantages to directional hypotheses, making them appropriate for use in most studies.

The advantages are as follows:

• Directional hypotheses indicate that a theory base has been used to derive the hypotheses and that the phenomena under investigation have been critically examined and interrelated. You should realize that nondirectional hypotheses may also be deduced from a theory base. Because of the exploratory nature of many studies using nondirectional hypotheses, however, the theory base may not be as developed.

• They provide you with a specific theoretical frame of reference, within which the study is being conducted.

• They suggest to that the researcher is not sitting on a theoretical fence, and as a result, the analyses of data can be accomplished in a statistically more sensitive way.

The important point for you to keep in mind about the directionality of the hypotheses is whether there is a sound rationale for the choice the researcher has proposed regarding directionality.