<p>I conducted an experiment, where all participants were tested for verbosity under a low and under a moderate stress situation. My primary hypothesis was &quot;Low stress situations, compared to moderate stress situations, significantly reduce verbal capacity in participants.&quot; To explain possible individual differences, I did literature research to identify potential moderators. Based on this research I want to check if conscientiousness (as a personality trait) is explaining individual differences in verbosity when comparing situations, and also – in a separate analysis – I want to check if cultural background (as a contextual factor) may explain individual differences in verbosity. Due to mixed empirical findings, both explorative questions have to be formulated two-tailed without assuming any direction.</p>
<p>Since I'm not familiar with the formulation of explorative research questions, I would be glad to get some advice.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T15:25:40.873Z
I'm not really understanding what you are asking for. It sounds like you have articulated your research questions. Beware data dredging/p-hacking, but other than that what do you need,?
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T20:21:25.123Z
My question is, how can I formulate the explorative part of the question just in a similar manner as I formulated the hypothesis. In university I only learned how to formulate hypotheses, but not how to formulate the explorative questions. Hope I could clarify.
Malea Dondé
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T20:37:33.510Z
Explorative questions are also hypotheses; the differences are in the interpretation only.
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T21:04:53.813Z
Ok, thank you, wasn't clear on that. So this would be a valid formulation "The analysis will explore whether cultural background serves as a significant explanatory variable for individual differences in verbal capacity across different stress levels (low vs. moderate), acknowledging mixed empirical findings without predicting the direction of effect."?
Malea Dondé
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-02-26T21:06:02.167Z
I probably wouldn't state it exactly that way but this isn't a site about English writing. I'd recommend reading papers as the best way to learn writing.
Bryan Krause
<statistics><writing>
Formulation of explorative research questions checking possible moderators
Malea Dondé
# Formulation of explorative research questions checking possible moderators

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-02-26)

I conducted an experiment, where all participants were tested for verbosity under a low and under a moderate stress situation. My primary hypothesis was "Low stress situations, compared to moderate stress situations, significantly reduce verbal capacity in participants." To explain possible individual differences, I did literature research to identify potential moderators. Based on this research I want to check if conscientiousness (as a personality trait) is explaining individual differences in verbosity when comparing situations, and also – in a separate analysis – I want to check if cultural background (as a contextual factor) may explain individual differences in verbosity. Due to mixed empirical findings, both explorative questions have to be formulated two-tailed without assuming any direction.

Since I'm not familiar with the formulation of explorative research questions, I would be glad to get some advice.

**Tags:** statistics, writing

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm not really understanding what you are asking for. It sounds like you have articulated your research questions. Beware data dredging/p-hacking, but other than that what do you need,?  
> **username_0**: My question is, how can I formulate the explorative part of the question just in a similar manner as I formulated the hypothesis. In university I only learned how to formulate hypotheses, but not how to formulate the explorative questions. Hope I could clarify.  
> **username_1**: Explorative questions are also hypotheses; the differences are in the interpretation only.  
> **username_0**: Ok, thank you, wasn't clear on that. So this would be a valid formulation "The analysis will explore whether cultural background serves as a significant explanatory variable for individual differences in verbal capacity across different stress levels (low vs. moderate), acknowledging mixed empirical findings without predicting the direction of effect."?  
> **username_1**: I probably wouldn't state it exactly that way but this isn't a site about English writing. I'd recommend reading papers as the best way to learn writing.  

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