Epistemic Research Goals and the Role of Hypothesis Testing in Psychological Research

Psychologists are trained to think of hypothesis testing as the default method for answering research questions. Yet little is known about what psychologists are actually trying to find out through their studies, and whether hypothesis testing is the right tool for those goals. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 psychological researchers about the epistemic research goals they were trying to achieve in two of their recent projects (one completed and one ongoing; 40 projects in total). Using thematic analysis, we identified a wide range of research goals across six domains: empirical phenomena, concept development, measurement and auxiliaries, causal explanation, theory, and application. Nearly all goals in the sample were studied with hypothesis tests, but these tests served several different functions. The interviews revealed substantial variation in what researchers meant by 'hypothesis testing,' reflecting different inferential processes, assumptions, and levels of rigour. Some of these methods lacked key features of hypothesis testing and may not be ideally suited for researchers' actual objectives. Psychologists may benefit from clearer guidance about when hypothesis testing is appropriate and what alternative methods can serve the field's diverse epistemic goals.