Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

need help starting my hypothesis

Hi,

Welcome to Science Buddies! What is your project idea? What question do you want to answer? Stating the hypothesis for a project is done after you have asked a question and done the background research on your topic. Here is the guide for doing a science project from the Science Buddies website:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

Just in case, you don’t have a topic yet, you can use the topic selection wizard on this website to find a suitable project.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... l?From=Tab

Let us know more information about your project if you have more questions.

Donna Hardy

I'm an older(47 yrs old) 1st year college student taking Sociology. This is my assignment due July 28,2012..
Sociology 1301: Evaluation
Assignment: Designing a Research Plan (Project)
Objective #1: To employ the appropriate methods, technologies, and data that
social and behavioral scientists use to investigate the human conditions.
Directions: Create a research method that addresses the requirements listed below.

Remember that you do NOT have to perform this study. The purpose is to gain experience about the research process that WILL benefit you in your academic future.

3. What is the hypothesis for the research plan?
4. What variables need to be operationalized (defined)?
6. If you select the survey or in‐depth interviews as a research technique, list
the questions that will be asked. Will the questions be open‐ended?

I'll be using the survey method on the subject, "alcohol in relation to domestic violence"
I read your advice on writing a hypothesis and variables but need help with them. So far the only hypothesis I can think of is , If I remove alcohol then domestic violence will decrease. My independent variable would be to provide alcohol. My dependent variable would be to observe the demeanor of the person without alcohol. My controlled variable would be the same environment, circumstances. I don't think the controlled variable can actually be controlled due to possible withdrawals, anger issues, circumstances in their life(lost job,infidelity,etc) attitude of the aggressor and the person they are aggressive to.

My idea for this project was to do a survey at Domestic Violence Shelters attempting to see if there was a relation between alcohol and domestic violence THEN reread the instructions of hypothesis and variables. Some of my survey questions would be as follows:
1) Was alcohol involved by the aggressor? by the victim? by both?
2) Were there occasions of physical violence without alcohol involvement?
3) When did the violence begin? in months or years.
4) How long have you been with your aggressor?
5) What is their demeanor without alcohol? controlling? passive?
These could open up alot of other variables such as lost jobs, finances, infidelity, person was already jealous.

I didn't find a section for college students and this Hypothesis subject was one of the first I came to. My apologies in advance.

Hi,

Welcome! This website is site designed to help kids with their science fair projects and your assignment is very similar to the first steps involved in doing a science project or any scientific investigation. Since you doing this for the first time, I think the assistance that we provide will be helpful to you.

Here is a guide for doing a scientific investigation from the Science Buddies website. Your assignment includes the first three steps of the process plus writing the experimental procedure. It sounds like you have already ready this information, but I just wanted to make sure that this is the information you have read.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml

Please note that you need to start by reading scientific literature on your topic first. Ideally, you will want to find out what research has been done on your topic in the past and identify a problem that needs to be investigated. The scientific literature will provide the basis for your study. If you find a report similar to the one you want to do, pay attention to the details of the experimental design. I am not familiar with the literature on this subject, but I'm sure there are lots of papers.

Your subject on alcohol and the relationship to domestic violence is a very challenging topic to study and your ideas about the possible consequences is very good. However, I think you are thinking about investigating too many ideas in one project. With a scientific study, you want to focus on one small part of the problem and try not to do everything at once. If you want to find out about the effect of alcohol on domestic violence, you could administer your survey to people of similar backgrounds using the following independent variables: group 1: no history of domestic violence. group 2: currently in domestic violence shelter. group 3: involved in domestic violence in the past, but not for the past 3 years. Your dependent variable would be the report of alcohol use and answers to other questions on your survey.

Since this is a project involving human subjects, your project plan should include an informed consent form for your of your subjects.

Here is helpful information for designing a survey. Before starting to write your survey, be sure to write down the question that you will be answering with the survey and state your hypothesis.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... rvey.shtml

We don’t have any project ideas on your topic, but here are some other project ideas that should give you an idea about how to design your project:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... php?ia=Soc

Good luck to you! Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Donna Hardy