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8 years ago in PhD Proposal/Synopsis , Research Writing By Lalit Mudra
How to use variables while formulating hypothesis?
I’m in the process of formulating a research proposal for a study on the correlation between employee behaviour and organisational performance but am struggling with a few aspects of it. Until now I have been able to figure out some moderating/mediating variables like job satisfaction, employee rewards and recognition, leadership skills but I’m facing some issues in going ahead with the proposal. I still am not clear between the difference between a moderating and mediating variable and cannot figure out if the variables that I have selected should be mediating variables or moderating ones? I can’t figure out how to properly use the variables in the process of formulating the hypothesis either, whether I should test for direct relationships between the variables or that will be too simplistic? And how many hypotheses do I need to formulate at this stage in order to send a proposal that seems credible. I’m finding these aspects very confusing and would appreciate it if someone were to help me out with them as I’m running very behind on the work on my proposal. When I began writing the research proposal I didn’t imagine that all these minor confusions would pile up and become so bothersome for me. Please respond urgently!
All Answers (3 Answers In All)
By Anubhav Kumar Answered 8 years ago
I don’t know if I can help you in identifying which factors will fall under mediating variables and which ones will be moderating ones for your research but I can explain to you what mediating and moderating variables are-
You can understand the mediating variable as a quantitative or a qualitative parameter that affects the direction and/or strength of the relation between an independent variable and a dependent or variable. Specifically within a correlational analysis framework, a moderating variable that affects the zero-order correlation between two other variables. In general, a given variable may be called a mediating variable to the extent that it accounts for the relation between the independent factor and the dependent one. Mediating variables help in understanding how external physical events take on internal psychological significance. Whereas moderator variables specify when certain effects will hold, mediators speak to how or why such effects occur.
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By Manpreet Jaiswal Answered 7 years ago
In case of the moderating variable, it can be understood as an external factor that alters the way the relationship between an independent and dependent variable is perceived. The key role of the moderator is to understand how the strength or weakness between the relationship varies, but a moderating variable is not as indispensable to the relationship between IV and DV,like the mediating variable is. Hope this helps!
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By Rajshree Tamang Answered 7 years ago
I think in order to send in a decent proposal you should include atleast 3-4 broad hypothesis, and a few sub-hypotheses under each of them. But this is only a tentative number, do not take it to be written in stone. I would recommend that you go through existing research studies similar to the one that you are planning to do in order to figure out what would be a reasonable number of hypothesis to formulate and send in at this stage. Apart from that you should also consider asking a fellow researcher or academic from your field, to review the hypotheses that you have constructed for feasability, before you move to the next step and write an entire proposal around them.Â
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