Aligning Media Effects Theories and Empirical Evaluation Using Informative Hypotheses

Theories, hypotheses, and their empirical evaluation are usually misaligned in the media effects field. Media effects research is concerned with directional effects of substantial magnitude, but they are typically tested with the null hypothesis significance testing, which does not permit their inference. This paper features a tutorial that encourages researchers to adopt the so-called informative hypotheses and evaluate them with GORIC(A), the generalized order-restricted information criterion (approximated). The tutorial shows the formulation of informative hypotheses and their evaluation with GORICA. Throughout four empirical examples using simulated data, the tutorial facilitates the inference of moderated, mediated, and transactional media effects that have been at the center of media effects theories and empirical endeavours. Informative hypotheses and GORIC(A) are presented as powerful tools to evaluate researchers’ expectations that align closely with their theories. Adopting these methods is needed to enhance well-informed and meaningful theory-building in media effects and beyond.