TESTING THROUGH EMPIRICAL RESEARCH A. THE THIRD STEP IN CONDUCTING...

3. Testing Through Empirical Research a. The third step in conducting scientific research is to test the hypothesis by collecting and analyzing data (empirical research). b. The researcher must decide what participants to use in their research (e.g., human or animal? female, male, or both?). By establishing an operational definition, the researchers provide an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured or observed. c. Importantly, variables do not have only one operational definition; rather, it is the way a researcher interprets the variable. d. One key aspect of testing a hypothesis is data collection, which applies mathematical procedures to understand what the data mean. Data are the information collected in a study.