Layout 1

examples of hypotheses made in the
science of marriage and family might be
the following:

In each of the above hypotheses,
there is anindependent variable,or a
cause,and adependent variable,or an
effect.For example, in the first
hypothesis,“married people”is the
independent variable and“healthier”is
the dependent variable. This hypothesis
proposes that overall health is related to
marital status. In the second hypothesis,
“teenagers”is the independent variable
and“divorce”is the dependent variable.
Here the hypothesis suggests that being
married in one’s teens is a cause of
divorce. The third hypothesis has
“firstborn children”as the independent
variable and“shy”as the dependent
variable. This hypothesis suggests that
birth order has something to do with
shyness.
Collect Data to Test the Hypotheses.
Scientists then collect data to test each
hypothesis. Scientists use a variety of
methods to test hypotheses. These

methods will not“prove”or“disprove”

the hypothesis, but merely“support”or

“not support”the hypothesis. A scientist

might test each of the above hypotheses

using this method:

Chapter 1

1. Married people are healthier than
   single people.


2. Teenagerswhomarryaremore
   likelytodivorcethanpeoplewho
   marryatanolderage.


3. Firstborn children are less shy than
   their siblings.
   
   
   1. Thescientistcoulduse
      questionnairesorinterviewsto
      surveycouplesregardingtheir
      maritalstatusandoverallhealth.
      Sometimesthescientistwillcreatea
      scaleaspartofthesurveyormay
      organizethedatausingascaleto
      measurethestrengthofresponses,
      oftenassigninganumericalvalueof
      1to5.Next,thescientistwoulduse
      statisticalanalysistocomparethe
      maritalstatusscoresinrelationto
      overallhealth.Ifsinglepeoplehave
      morehealthproblems,thedata
      supportthehypothesis.
   
   
   2. Totestthesecondhypothesis,the
      scientistcouldexamineexistingdata,
      includingpublicrecordsonmarriage
      anddivorce.Usingthesestatistics,
      thescientistwouldtestthe
      relationshipbetweenagesat
      marriageanddivorce.Another
      commonmethodwouldbetousea
      casehistoryapproachtoanalyzea
      particularfamilytoseehowfamily
      membersadapttocertainchallenges.
      Suchanapproachcanutilizediaries,
      records,andotherformsofexisting
      data.