MOR2 Data Analysis and Writing Workshop
Name___________________________________ p. 1
Research Questions
Remember, your questions should be original, relevant, clear and specific, feasible and ethical.
1. Original—it contributes something new to our knowledge. It is not a question that has been
asked and answered many times before—at least not in your system.
2. Relevant—it has direct bearing on a practical problem or theoretical issue in science
3. Clear and specific—it is easy to understand and unambiguous, and clearly states the variables
involved
4. Feasible—it can be answered with the system, methods and/or data at hand
5. Ethical—answering the question causes no harm to humans, animals or the environment
Write your research question(s) below:
Using your literature review, explain why your research question is original and relevant.
Exchange your research question and explanation with your partner. Partner: please give
written feedback on the research question above based on the first 4 criteria above (original,
relevant, clear and specific, feasible).
MOR2 Data Analysis and Writing Workshop
Name___________________________________ p. 1
Independent Variables
List your independent (explanatory, causal) variables. These should be variables that we
measured or that can be calculated from variables measured and available in the MOR2
ecological or social datasets or other available data.
Dependent Variables
List your dependent (response) variables. Again, these should be variables that are available
within existing MOR2 datasets or which can be calculated from those variables. For example
“species composition” is not a variable in our dataset. However we do have data on the cover of
each individual species. Species diversity can be calculated from the available data, but is not a
variable in our current database.
State your Research Hypothesis
A hypothesis is an educated guess about a relationship between two variables. For example, we
might hypothesize that biomass in the eastern steppe is greater than in the steppe, which in turn is
greater than the desert-steppe. Mathematically, we would express this as:
Eastern steppe biomass > steppe biomass > desert-steppe biomass.
State your Statistical Hypothesis
Researchers using statistics to test their hypotheses have two types of hypotheses, their research
hypothesis and their statistical hypothesis. The statistical hypothesis is always that there is NO
difference or NO relationship between the variables. For example, our statistical hypothesis for
the research hypothesis above would be:
Eastern steppe biomass = steppe biomass = desert-steppe biomass
Exchange your worksheet with your partner. Review your partner’s variables and hypotheses.
MOR2 Data Analysis and Writing Workshop
Name___________________________________ p. 1
Identify what type of variables your independent and dependent variables are.
To know what statistical test is appropriate to use for your data, you must first identify what type
of variables your independent and dependent variables are: scale, nominal or ordinal.
Scale variables: Scale variables are continuous measurements. For example, average distance
moved is a continuous variable as is percent vegetation cover or biomass.
Nominal variables: Nominal variables are variables separated by categories (also called
categorical variables). For example, ecological zone is a categorical variables with four
categories in the MOR2 ecological dataset: desert-steppe, steppe, mountain-forest steppe and
eastern steppe.
Ordinal variables: Ordinal variables are discrete (not continuous) variables that are ordered. For
example, responses to the question “How many people do you know with whom you discuss
pasture management?” has four possible responses: 0=none, 1=1-3 people, 3=more than 3
people.
MOR2 Data Analysis and Writing Workshop
Name___________________________________ p. 1
Table 1. Fill out this table as you work through your data diagnostics. This will help you to keep track of each step of your data
preparation and analysis.
Variable Name Dependent/
Independent
Ecosite
independent
Scale/
Nominal/
Ordinal
nominal
Grass biomass
dependent
scale
Normally
Which test
distributed? for
normality
N/A
Equal
variances?
Which test Transformation?
for
variances
Name of
transformed
variable
MOR2 Data Analysis and Writing Workshop
Name___________________________________ p. 1
Table 2 Identify what statistical test to use and track your results
Statistical
Hypothesis
Independent
variable(s)
Independent
variable
type
Dependent
variable
Dependent
variable
type
Statistical
test
Biomass ES
Ecozone
Nominal
Total
Scale
ANOVA
=Biomass S
Ecosite
=Biomass DS
biomass
Assumptions
met?
Nonparametric
alternative?
P-value
Reject Ho?
Effect size