jedpsych-theory-and-hypotheses
Use when stating the learning/motivation theory and hypotheses for a Journal of Educational Psychology manuscript. JEP expects a clear psychological mechanism, directional hypotheses tied to that theory, and an honest separation of confirmatory (ideally preregistered) from exploratory analyses. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jedpsych-theory-and-hypotheses --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Theory & Hypotheses (jedpsych-theory-and-hypotheses) The Journal of Educational Psychology rewards a **clear psychological mechanism** for an educational phenomenon and **honest hypothesis status**. Because JEP is a research journal in *educational psychology*, the theory must explain learning, motivation, engagement, or achievement — not merely report that an intervention worked. The cardinal rule mirrors the credibility era: **state theory and confirmatory hypotheses before the data**, and label exploratory results as exploratory. ## When to trigger - Writing the theoretical framing and hypotheses - Preparing a preregistration / pre-analysis plan for a field trial or longitudinal study - Reconciling what theory predicted with what you found - A reviewer flagged the work as "atheoretical," "post hoc," "HARKed," or "just an evaluation" ## Build the argument 1. **Name the learning mechanism.** What cognitive, motivational, or self-regulatory process predicts the effect, and why it should operate in this educational setting. JEP wants the *psychology* of why the instruction, condition, or trajectory changes learning. 2. **Derive directional hypotheses.** Translate the theory into s
- When to trigger
- Build the argument
- Avoiding HARKing and the "it worked" trap
- Worked micro-example — theory to hypothesis status (illustrative)
- Constraints-on-generality (a venue expectation)
- Theory-stage reviewer pushback and the venue fix
- Theory calibration anchors
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the jedpsych-theory-and-hypotheses skill do?
Use when stating the learning/motivation theory and hypotheses for a Journal of Educational Psychology manuscript. JEP expects a clear psychological mechanism, directional hypotheses tied to that theory, and an honest separation of confirmatory (ideally preregistered) from exploratory analyses. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jedpsych-theory-and-hypotheses --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 984 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.