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Topic vs. Variables
Once you have a topic, go a step further: identify the variables that can be measured. As you have learned in class, there are two types of variables:
- INDEPENDENT: the variable that causes or influences the outcome
- DEPENDENT: the variable that is affected or influenced (by the independent variable)
You'll need at least one of each to create a hypothesis. Also, it's difficult to know what to search for in Sociological Abstracts until you think about your topic in terms of variables.
Example:
Topic: I'm interested in the attitudes of different ethnic groups towards older people.
Variables:
- Independent: ethnicity
- Dependent: attitudes towards older people
Hypotheses:
- H
1 : Attitudes towards older people are related to ethnic background.
- H
0 : Attitudes towards older people are not related to ethnic background.
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