Task
1 Formulate a project objective
and project hypothesis
After a lengthy problem analysis, Wing Ling
has reached this conclusion: The problem that
some of her students don't like doing pair
work is mainly due to her poor design of pair
work exercises. She is now determined to launch
a project to overcome this problem. Thus her
research objective is:
ˇˇˇˇˇˇto
enhance her students' interest in doing pair
work.
The project hypothesis reads: Learners'
interest in pair work is increased by better-designed
pair work exercises.
Her task thus becomes: design a project
that proves or disapproves or partially
proves that better-designed pair work exercises
indeed increase learners' interest in doing
pair work.
She calls her project Pair Work Design
and Learners' Interest Project.
Professor Guide's
note on how to formulate a project
objective and a hypothesis.
Hi, everyone. Just came back from
my recent lecture tour. How is your
project going? My teaching experience
tells me that you might have some
difficulty in formulating a project
objective and a project hypothesis.
So I think it might be a good idea
for me to pop up here and give you
some tips. Yeah? Here we go.
A project objective is the result
you hope to achieve by the time you
have carried out your project. I deliberately
say a project objective, not project
objectives. This is because it is
very easy to declare multiple objectives,
when the project is still at the design
stage, just to impress people, and
you will soon find that your multiple
objectives are far from being realistic.
You simply cannot reach them. It is
no good to find excuses for your failure.
Your face will be lost and your credibility
damaged! It is much better to set
up a very modest and realistic objective
and achieve it to the great satisfaction
of everybody.
When you ponder over your project
objective, always keep these words
ringing in your ear: modest,
realistic and achievable.
Come to wording. You can use these
two formulas:
The objective of my project is
to _______________________
Or By the time I have implemented
my project, my students should be
able to _________________________________________________.
Now the project hypothesis.
A project hypothesis is a complete
indicative sentence (technically called
a statement) that tells your audience
what sort of thing you want to prove
to be correct or incorrect. In other
words, a project hypothesis must be
provable, technically called verifiable.
(Do you still remember the term we
used in English for Studying
that bears a similar meaning? Yes?
It is called arguable.) Let us continue
to use Wing Ling's project as example.
Her problem -- some of my students
don't like doing pair work -- cannot
be a project hypothesis, simply because
it is a report of a fact which has
nothing left for further proof. Her
hypothesis that Learners' interest
in pair work is increased by better-designed
pair work exercises is a genuine
hypothesis: We can do something to
prove if learners' interest
in pair work is indeed increased
by better-designed pair work exercises.
It may turn out that learners' interest
in pair work is on the contrary decreased.
This proves that the hypothesis is
wrong. It is falsified.
It may take years of hard labour
to verify a hypothesis. And it may
also be the case that the hypothesis
is eventually proved to be wrong.
Does this mean that the years' hard
work has been wasted? No, not at all,
provided that the research has been
conducted in a scientific manner.
A scientifically falsified hypothesis
is just as valuable as a verified
one.
Everyone, including you and me, wants
their hypothesis to be verified, that
is, to be proved to be correct. Because
of this disposition, i.e., this eagerness
to be in the right, people sometimes
do not strictly follow scientific
procedures and fail to meet the scientific
standards. As a result, the hypothesis
is claimed to be correct, but collapses
after it is put to scrutiny. An unscientifically
verified hypothesis poses a real danger
to knowledge: It travels as truth
and misleads people.
You may see it now, it is one thing
to formulate a hypothesis, and it
is another to prove it. A verifiable
hypothesis followed by a scientific
research procedure and methodology
to prove it is an assured way to success.
At this point, you may say: "Ah,
yes, I see. But still I don't know
how to formulate a hypothesis."
I have several tips for you.
First, always start with: It is
hypothesized that + clauseˇ It
is quite useful, for it always reminds
you that the clause which follows
that is not an ordinary sentence.
Second, the content of a hypothesis
often has a hidden cause-effect relation.
Take Wing Ling's hypothesis: Learners'
interest in pair work is increased
by better-designed pair work exercises.
Can you detect any hidden cause-effect
relation in it?
The cause:
The effect:
Yes, the cause is: better-designed
pair work exercises, and the
effect is: the increase of learners'
interest in pair work.
Third, you can make this hidden cause-effect
relation explicit by using the structure
if ˇ then ˇ Now you
have a try.
If
, then
.
Yes, well done! If pair work
exercises are better designed, then
the learners' interest in pair work
will increase accordingly.
So an explicitly expressed hypothesis
goes like this:
ˇˇˇˇIt is hypothesized that if
ˇ then ˇ
I think I have given you enough tips
for you to go ahead. See you later!