Research strategy in hypothesis-testing research

whether a theoretical relation which is generalizable to a theoretical domain exists, but whether a hypothesis is correct for the practice for which the study wants to be locally relevant. We call this the practice domain , which is the universe of instances of the object of study in practice- oriented research. Therefore, instances must be selected from the practice to which the research is oriented or from other practices that are similar. Apart from this difference regarding the domain practice-related or local, versus theoretical or global, principles of selection of instances are the same in practice-oriented research and in theory-oriented research. Because the design of the experiments and single case studies for testing a hypothesis that expresses a sufficient condition is almost identical to the design of the research for testing a hypothesis that expresses a necessary condition as discussed in Chapter 5, we group these two forms together in one type of hypothesis-testing research. Summarizing, Chapter 10 Sufficient or necessary condition Deterministic relation Probabilistic relation 1. Experiment 2. Single case study 3. Survey 1. Experiment 2. Longitudinal single case study, or Comparative case study 3. Survey 1. Experiment 2. Survey 3. Comparative case study Specification of the hypothesis Specific research objective Specific research objective Specific research objective Hypothesis-testing research Contribution to a practitioner’s knowledge Flowchart 3A Hypothesis-testing practice-oriented research there are three main types of hypothesis-testing research, depicted in Flowchart 3A. The outcome of the research contributes to the practi- tioner’s knowledge.

10.2 Hypothesis-building research

The exploration of practice and of theory might not have resulted in knowledge needs that contain one or more hypotheses. An example is a practitioner’s need to know the reason why some projects are not suc- cessful, but without specification of one or more candidate causes. Then it might be found useful or necessary to build and test hypotheses in order to get the knowledge that is relevant for making decisions in the current phase of the problem. In order to check whether such a situation exists, the following questions could be raised. ■ Do relevant parties agree on the phase of the problem in the intervention cycle? ■ Do relevant parties agree that the knowledge needs that are for- mulated are the most relevant in the current circumstances? ■ Is it agreed that hypotheses need to be formulated and tested in order to get satisfactory and useful knowledge? ■ How could research help to build relevant hypotheses? If the answers to such questions are conclusive, hypothesis-building research needs to be designed and conducted.

10.2.1 Research objective in hypothesis-building research

If the researcher has decided after a successful exploration that hypoth- esis-building research is needed, the general research objective for such research can be formulated as follows: The objective of this study is to contribute to the knowledge regarding problem P {specify here the problem and its phase in the intervention cycle} by formulating hypotheses on the relation between variables V {specify the variables between which a relation will be formulated in the hypothesis}. The format of this research objective is similar to the format of theory- building research. The differences, similar to the differences between theory-testing and hypothesis-testing research, regard a the overall orientation to either a contribution to the development of a theory or to the development of a practitioner’s knowledge, and b the termin- ology proposition or hypothesis, and concepts and variables. The known and unknown variables of the hypothesis to be built must be further specified before an appropriate research strategy can be chosen. This results in four different types of hypothesis-building research, depicted in Flowchart 3B. The four types of hypothesis-building research are the same as the four types of theory-building research:

1. research that starts with known independent and dependent variables

and is aimed at specifying the relation between them; 2. research that starts with a known independent variable and is aimed at, first, identifying and specifying a relevant dependent variable and, next, specifying the relation between the inde- pendent and dependent variable; Chapter 10 Hypothesis-testing research See Flowchart 3A Known: independent and dependent variables Unknown: relation Experiment or Comparative case study Experiment or Comparative case study Known: independent variable Unknown: dependent variable and relation Known: – Unknown: independent and dependent variables and relation New hypothesis Specific research objective Hypothesis-building research