Advice on
         Statistics Research Paper

         Formulating a Hypothesis
      
   
   

      

         

            


            Steps in Formulating a
            Hypothesis
            
            
 
         
         
         

            
Decide what you want to
            explain: choose a dependent variable
            
            

               
Your dependent
               variable must show variation
               
               
Run
               Descriptives to see mean and dispersion
               statistics
               
               
Even better, run 
               Frequencies, and call for a histogram
               along with the mean and std. dev (suppress the
               Frequency table itself)

               
            
            
            
            
Choose
            independent variables that also show
            variation
            
            

               
One can't explain
               variation in a dependent variable with an independent
               variable that doesn't vary.
               
               
 Moreover, the
               variation in the independent must match that in
               the dependent variable.
               
               
Otherwise, they can't
               possibly covary, which is needed for the
               covariation needed in correlation.
               
               
 Examples
               of lack of theoretical potential:
               
               

                  
Voting for Clinton
                  in 1996 in the suburb of Winnetka can't be
                  explained by race, for race does not vary much in
                  Winnetka.
                  
                  
Variation across
                  time in deaths in domestic violence within
                  nations can't be explained by ethnic diversity, for
                  ethnicity doesn't change much across time within a
                  nation.
                  
                  
However, variation
                  in deaths across nations can be
                  related to variation in ethnic diversity across
                  nations.

                  
               
               
            
            
            
            
Think of multiple
            causes of the dependent variable:
            
            

               
Do two or more
               independent variables combine to affect it?
               
               

                  
Consider using
                  multiple regression to deal with
                  multiple causes. 
               
               
               
               
Does a relationship
               hold for some units of analysis but not others?
               
               

                  
For northern
                  states but not for southern ones?
                  
                  
For European
                  nations but not for Third World
                  nations?
                  
                  
For whites, but
                  not for blacks?
                  
                  
For reformed
                  cities, but not unreformed cities?
                  
                  
For multi-party
                  states, but not single-party states?
               
               
               
               
Try to develop your
               analysis so that it considers all the cases,
               even if the relationship doesn't apply equally to
               them.

                
            
            
            
            
Consider alternative
            measures of both the dependent and independent
            variables.