WEEK 3 LECTURE 6

Dr. SATHIAMOORTHY KANNAN

Directional OR Non-Directional?
• First and second graders will feel differently towards school
• There will be a difference in scores on an attitude measure between
students in special class and students in normal class
• There will be a relationship between reading improvement and off task
behaviour
• Males over 60 years are more satisfied with their lives than females over 60
years
• Teachers ith more positive attitude with their students will demonstrate
better class management skills
• Couples who receive marriage counselling will differ in marital satisfaction
than couples who do not.
•Research problem: there is a large number of
students arriving late for classes
•Research Purpose: to investigate whether traffic
congestions cause students to come late for
classes
•Research Hypothesis: Traffic congestions are
causing them to be late?
• Null Hypothesis: Traffic congestions do not
cause them to be late
• Research problem: The final year students take too
long to finish their project
• Research Purpose: to investigate if the final year
students take too long to finish their project due to
lack of understanding of the research process
• Research Hypothesis: the final year students take too
long to finish their project due to lack of
understanding of the research process.
• Null Hypothesis: the final year students take too
long to finish their project not because of lack of
understanding of the research process.
• Research Problem: students taking science classes in the morning
seem to be performing better in their science scores when
compared with students who attend their science classes in the
afternoon.
• Research Purpose: is to better understand whether the time of
day a student takes his/her science classes has any effect on
his/her performance on a science test.
• Research Hypothesis: students taking science in the morning have
higher scores in science test than students taking the class in the
afternoon.
• Null Hypothesis: students taking science classes in the morning
do not have higher scores in a science test than students taking
science in the afternoon
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

•EXPERIMENTAL
•NON-EXPERIMENTAL
Experimental Research
•2 characteristics
•At least two conditions are compared to
assess the effects of a particular
treatment
•The independent variable (the treatment)
is directly manipulated by the researcher
TRUE EXPERIMENT
• The researcher arranges for one or more groups of subjects
to receive different treatments
• The subjects are always randomly assigned to treatment and
control groups and administration of the treatments is
controlled by the researcher
• The performance or achievement of the subjects after the
treatments is compared by means of their scores on a test or
other instrument.
• The intent is to assess the effect of an independent variable
on one or more dependent variables
 Random Assignment
•refers to the use of chance procedures
in psychology experiments to ensure
that each participant has the same
opportunity to be assigned to any given
group.
RANDOM ASSIGNMENT
QUASI EXPERIMENT
• when a random assignment is not possible the
researcher may conduct a quasi experiment
• subjects are not randomly assigned to the treatment
and control group
• Existing groups are used.
• Administration of treatment is controlled by researcher
• The intent is to assess the effect of an independent
variable on one or more dependent variables
Non Experimental Research
Correlational Research
• The researchers investigate the possible relationship
among variables without influencing those variables
• can describe existing relationship between variables
• describes the degree to which two or more quantitative
variables are related
• When a correlation exists between two variables,
denoted by r, scores on one variable are associated with
scores on the other variable
Relationship between:
• Smoking and incidence of lung cancer
• Reading skills and auditory memory
• Motivation and learning
• Teacher expectation of failure and amount of disruptive
behaviour
• Early literacy skills and motor integration levels
• Demographic factors and Attitude towards Guidance
and Counselling
Positive Correlation
•A positive correlation means high scores
on one variable tend to be associated
with high scores on the other, &
•low scores on one is associated with low
scores on the other.
If R = +1.00

Maths Score Science Score

5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
Negative correlation
•A negative correlation means high
scores on one variable tend to be
associated with low scores on the other,
&
•low scores on one is associated with
high scores on the other.
If R = -1.00

Maths Score Science Score

5 1
4 2
3 3
2 4
If R = 0.00
Maths Score Science Score
5 15
4 25
3 3
2 40
In a correlational research:
• Only one group is used
• two measures are made
• These two measures are correlated
• the intent is to determine the degree of relationship
that exists between the two measured variables
• The researcher can generalize his/her findings on the
relationship if sample is randomly assigned and loss of
subjects is minimal
Why need a Correlational Research?
•Major purpose : to explain clearly our
understanding through identifying
relationships among variables.
•Where experimental researches are
difficult, correlational researches can
still explain some important phenomena
Why need a Correlational Research?
• Second purpose: is that of prediction
• if a relationship of sufficient magnitude
exists between two variables, it
becomes possible to predict a score on
either variable if a score pon the other
variable is known.
Why need a Correlational Research?
• high school grades can be used to predict
college grades
• high GPA in high school will likely have high
GPA in college grades
• high school grades are called the predictor
variable
• college grades are called the criterion
variable
What do Correlation Coefficients
tell you?

Below 0.35 A slight relationship

Between 0.4 and 0.6 Moderate
Above 0.60 high