Week 4: HYPOTHESIS

FORMULATION
 Quiz (1/4 sheet of paper)
1. The assigned chapter started with a
description of a study. What was the
study about?
2. What are variables of interest in that
study?
3. What was the research design used to
answer the questions of that study?
4. What is/are the result/s of that study?
 Hypothesis Formulation
1: Find a research idea 2: Form a hypothesis
 Step 1: Find an idea for a
research study
✓ Identify a topic area that is interesting
to you
➢ Personal interests & curiosities
➢ Casual observations
➢ Report of others’ observation
➢ Practical problems & questions
• Applied research
• Basic research
 Step 1: Find an idea for a
research study
✓ Review the published research reports
in your topic area
➢ Read (books, journal articles, & other
reputable sources)
➢ Start with a general idea & let you reading
lead you to a specific question
➢ Develop a research question (& weed out
the rest)
➢ Take one step at a time
 Primary Sources

• First-hand, direct accounts of practices,

The events, or conditions being researched.
• These include journal articles and
research report.

literature Secondary Sources

generally • Sources that discuss, study, or

comment on information from primary
sources.

falls into 1 • These include reviews or critiques.

Tertiary Sources
of 3 • Sources that utilize and distill
information from primary and

categories: secondary sources.

• Examples are guides and
encyclopedias.

The types of sources included in a

literature review will depend on the its
objectives and needs.
 Primary Sources

Sciences / Health Sciences:

▪ Original research (articles,
reports, pre-prints)
▪ Conference papers and
posters (research focus)
▪ Theses & dissertations
▪ Patents & inventions
▪ Technical reports
▪ Lab notebooks
▪ Raw data
Image: Female in lab, by jarmoluk, Permission by
Pixabay.com license.
Secondary Sources

Sciences / Health Sciences:

▪ Literature reviews
▪ Data analysis or refined
compilations
▪ Reviews (includes systematic or
meta-analysis)
▪ Articles in trade journals (non-
research or summarizes
research)
▪ Opinion pieces or
commentaries
▪ Letters to the editor
▪ Textbooks and books
Image: Textbook reserves, by Kristy Padron.
What is the literature review?
❑ An iterative process of identifying,
locating, examining, and synthesizing
scholarly information and publications
on a particular topic.
❑ One of the first things done by any
student or scholar who plans to
pursue new knowledge or do
research in most subject areas.
❑ It provides background and
context on current knowledge of
a topic, and establishes the base
upon which any new work stands.
❑ It can be simple (a review or
preliminary survey) or complex
(uncover a research topic for further
study, to be refined or more narrow in
its scope).
❑ It also lays out a logical case to
defend points or conclusions
asserted in a thesis (or other
document).

Image: Telescope, by Roksana96. Permission by Pixabay.com license.

 A literature review develops an
understanding of a topic in four different
directions:
1. Research theory and philosophy
History • Establish intellectual content
• Define a concept
2. History of development
• Gain background to present history

Theory Methods 3. Latest research and development

• Identify current thinking, issues, and
arguments
• Detect a knowledge gap
4. Research methods/constructs
• Discern techniques and other means of study
Research

Together, these help a student or researcher

establish their credibility, and show their research
is meaningful.

It leads to a synthesis that provides a critical

analysis of selected literature.

Image: Four arrows vector. Permission by Pixabay.com license.

The literature review is
not…
❑ …a summary, annotated
bibliography or laundry list
of articles.
❑ …a linear process; earlier
steps may need to be
revisited because of new
or additional information
found.
❑ …an optional step when
beginning research or
exploring a topic.
Image: Shoes in basket. Permission by Pixabay.com license.
How do I start a literature review?
1. Explore, select, then focus on
a topic.
▪ This is the beginning of your
question formation, research
question, or hypothesis.
▪ Look at “recommendations for
further research” in the
conclusions.
▪ Use this to formulate your goal
or objective of the review.
▪ (Generally for a systematic
review or meta-analysis)
Determine the pre-established
criteria.
Image source: Woman reading, by Christina @ wocintechchat.
https://unsplash.com/photos/rBYYsIQcPBE. Permission for limited
commercial and non-commercial uses.
2. Prepare for your search.
a. Identify information sources
for your topic and field:
library and information
resources, organizations,
special collections or
archives, etc.
• Consider other fields that
also study your topic
b. Familiarize yourself with
your organization’s library or
information services,
including interlibrary loan or
document delivery.
c. Choose keywords and
search strategy:
terminology, synonyms, and
combining terms (Boolean
Operators AND, OR, NOT).
d. Read reviews of your topics
if available.
Image: Male at laptop. Permission by Pixabay.com license.
3. Start your search.
a. Keep track of your search
strategies and results.
b. Skim, scan, read, or annotate
what you find.
c. Try chain or citation searching to
find additional documents.
• Also known as pearl mining/
growing, citation analysis, mining,
or reference searching.
d. Manual or hand searching: visit
the stacks or your journal’s online
version.
• Browse, flip or skim through
publications or journals on your
topic.
e. Search alerts: create a personal
account in library databases,
search engines and journal
packages to get notifications.
• Saved searches
• Table of content (TOC) alerts
• Citation alerts

Image source: Woman in Stacks, by Clay Banks.

https://unsplash.com/photos/GX8KBbVmC6c. Permission for limited commercial
and non-commercial uses.
4. Organize your
documents, data, and
information.
▪ Identify file saving or sharing
options (and necessities) like
Google Drive or DropBox:
cloud-based, on your device,
etc.
▪ Storing information: have a
plan or structure
▪ Create a filing system that makes
sense to you (and others if
necessary).
▪ Establish file naming conventions:
2021-01-19_SLIDES_Literature
Review_KPadron.pptx
2018-01-19_ARTICLE_Best
Practices for Adult
Learners_KPadron RMcCall.pdf

Image: Papers and files. Permission by Pixabay.com license.

5. Survey and review
what is found.
▪ Identify major themes
and concepts.
▪ Highlight important
papers.
▪ Determine what is
important, out of
scope, or disputed.
▪ Discern the research
premise, design, and
methodology utilized.
▪ Review described
limitations of study or
recommendations for
future research.
Image: Surveying, by paulbr75. Permission by Pixabay.com license.
6. Analyze and critique the
literature
▪ Identify critical gaps,
disagreements, and
anomalies.
▪ Discover relationships
between sources (backward
and forward searching of
cited references).
▪ Think about how various
pieces can be integrated into
a whole.
▪ Consider what literature is
most relevant and
appropriate to include in your
review.

Remember, the literature review

is an iterative process; you may
need to revisit parts of this
search, find new or additional
information, or update your
research question based on what
you find.

Image: Student at Mac by Wes Hicks,

https://unsplash.com/photos/4-EeTnaC1S4. Permission
for limited commercial and non-commercial uses.
7. Provide a
synthesis and
overview of the
literature; this
can be organized
by themes or
chronologically.

Image: White puzzle in place. Permission by Pixabay.com license.

 Parts of a Journal Article

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article | NC State

University Libraries (ncsu.edu)
 Step 2: Transform research
idea into a hypothesis
✓ Characteristics of a Good Hypothesis
➢ Logical
➢ Testable
➢ Refutable
➢ Positive
 How to formulate
a strong hypothesis?

6 Steps to Formulate a STRONG

Hypothesis | Scribbr 🎓 - YouTube
 Observations for Lab
Experiment Topics
• Chewing gum improves
concentration.
 Hypothesis Formulation
1: Find a research idea 2: Form a hypothesis
 Hypothesis Formulation
✓Summarize the findings of the studies
you found by looking into the summary
of results and gaps in the literature
(what is not yet known).
✓These gaps would be the source of your
research questions.
✓ Formulate your hypotheses based off of
your research questions.