business

Proposed Research Questions 2

Proposed Research Question

Student Name

Institution

Propose Research question

A study will attempt to determine the factors influencing the passing of a class. The research question will therefore be

What factors affect the academic performance of a tertiary level student?

There are various variables which can be included in the study to understand their impact to the final score of the college classes. The dependent variable is the final score of the class. It is important to note that there are some factors which will have a negative impact whereas others will have a positive impact. The factors or variables will range from personal to school factors.

The table below displays the variables to be tested, their level of measurement and possible responses if it is a closed questionnaire.

Variable (level of measurement)	Possible options
Personal factors
Gender (nominal)	· Male · Female · Choose not to say
Age in completed years (interval/ratio)
Class discipline (nominal)	· Science · Arts · Business · (others)
Parent’s highest education level (nominal)	· Elementary · High school · College/university
Hours for self-study per week (interval/ratio)
School factors
Class duration in weeks (interval/ratio)
Number of students in class (interval/ratio)
Maximum class hours (interval/ratio)
Gender of instructor (nominal)	· Male · Female · Prefer not to say
Years of experience of instructor (interval/ratio)
Student/teacher centered approach (nominal)	· Student-centered approach · Teacher - centered approach · Mix of two approaches · Cant tell the method
Course outline	· Yes · No
Instructor covered course syllabus (ordinal)	· Yes (more than 50%) · Yes (less than 50%) · No · I don’t know
Final score (interval/ratio)	·

A )tab33)dependent variable is the variable of interest being influenced by the others. In other words, it is the variable being tested or measured. In our case, the dependent variable is the marks of the final test. On the other ha(, )mostqell)the independent variable is the variable which is controlled in a scientific experiment. It is considered to have an impact on the dependent variable. The others are the independent variables. The dependent and the independent variables have a cause and effect relationship. The researcher influences the independent variable whereas the variations of the response variable are as a result of the explanatory variable.

The null hypothesis proposes that there is no statistical relationship between a given set of observation (Yule, 2012). The alternative or research hypothesis states that there is difference between the set of two variables (Yule, 2012). The alternative (haybotheses )hypothesis can either be directional or non-directional. A directional alternative hypothesis is where one observation is either less than or greater than another observation (i.e. a > b, or a < b) (Yule, 2012). The non-direction alternative hypothesis is where there is a difference between the two observation but not specified (i.e. a ≠ b) (Yule, 2012). in our case, the null hypothesis is that either of the independent variables (say class durations) have no effect on the final exam score. As for the alternative hypothesis, there is a relationship between any explanatory variable and the final test marks. The research hypothesis is therefore non-directional.

To reject the null hypothesis, Yule (2012) states that the alpha level of significance has to be set, mostly 5%. When the calculated probability value (p-value) is less than the alpha level, we are 95% confident that there is a relationship otherwise, we would conclude that there is no sufficient evidence.

References

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Yule, G. U. (2012). An introduction to the theory of statistics. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing.

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