POL 370 Module Three Exercise Template
Testing Research Hypotheses
This assignment develops your ability to analyze research success when testing hypotheses as you evaluate four hypothesis statements. Complete this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information. For each hypothesis statement, do the following: 1.
Identify and describe at least one reason why it is a poor hypothesis. 2.
Rewrite the statement in proper hypothesis-writing form. (You may have to embellish a bit using
your intuition.) Example Statement and Answers
Statement: Income and partisanship are related.
Why this is a poor hypothesis:
This statement does not identify the units of analysis. Also, it does not state the tendency of the relationship because it does not say how income and partisanship are related.
Revised statement
: In a comparison of individuals, people with lower incomes will be more likely to be Democrats than will people with higher incomes.
Answer the four exercise statements below. Exercise Statements:
1.
Some individuals pay more attention to political campaigns.
Why this is a poor hypothesis: This statement does not identify the unit of analysis and does not state the frequency compared to which campaigns.
Revised statement: Individuals with a college degree pay more attention to political campaigns than those without. 2.
Democracies are not likely to wage war with each other.
Why this is a poor hypothesis: [It does not give a unit of measure to compare democracies against.]
Revised statement: [Democracies are less likely to wage war against one another than two autocratic nations.] 3.
Age and party affiliation are related.
Why this is a poor hypothesis: [The statement is vague and does not provide any unit of measurement .]
Revised statement: [Older voters over 50 are more likely to be Republican than those younger under 50 .]
4.
Some people support increased federal funding for the arts.
Why this is a poor hypothesis: [It does not give a unit of measure to the amount of people who support this idea.]
Revised statement: [35 percent of voters support increased funding for the arts.]
