OCR a Level English Language Learner Resource 9

Learner Resource 9: Creating and Using a Hypothesis

In science, creating a hypothesis is an essential part of the research process, as many of you will know already. It is a statement of what you expect to find, based on previous research and usually makes a single claim which can be tested, such as ‘A dog will wag its tail when shown a sausage’.

In language research, a hypothesis is often helpful but it is not essential; sometimes a more open-ended approach is better. If you are able to make a prediction or a series of predictions about what the answer to your research question might be, based on language studies you know about, then you will find this a good way to turn your RQ into a structure for your analysis. You can use a bullet-pointed list of features you expect to find.

If you do not know about previous research which predicts the answer to your RQ, you cannot create a hypothesis off the top of your head or based on a vague hunch or a stereotype! Keep an open mind and work with just the question.

Here is a worked example of turning an idea into a question into a hypothesis:

General area of language: Gender differences
Data: recordings of male and female teachers teaching the same subject.
RQ: What are the differences in the language used by male and female art teachers?
Previous research: Robin Lakoff’s theory about Women’s Language
Hypothesis: Female teachers will use more hedging
Female teachers will use more indirect requests
Female teachers will use more politeness features /

Activity: think of three pieces of language research or theories you have learned about on the course, or look some up in a textbook / on the internet. For each one, think of a way it could be used as the basis for a student’s investigation. What data could you collect to test that theory? What would the research question be? What would the hypothesis be?

Study / theory / concept / Data to collect / RQ / Hypothesis /

Setting up the Independent Language Research Project