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- How to Write a Strong Hypothesis | Steps & Examples
How to Write a Strong Hypothesis | Steps & Examples
Published on May 6, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.
A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested by scientific research. If you want to test a relationship between two or more variables, you need to write hypotheses before you start your experiment or data collection .
Example: Hypothesis
Daily apple consumption leads to fewer doctor’s visits.
Table of contents
What is a hypothesis, developing a hypothesis (with example), hypothesis examples, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing hypotheses.
A hypothesis states your predictions about what your research will find. It is a tentative answer to your research question that has not yet been tested. For some research projects, you might have to write several hypotheses that address different aspects of your research question.
A hypothesis is not just a guess – it should be based on existing theories and knowledge. It also has to be testable, which means you can support or refute it through scientific research methods (such as experiments, observations and statistical analysis of data).
Variables in hypotheses
Hypotheses propose a relationship between two or more types of variables .
- An independent variable is something the researcher changes or controls.
- A dependent variable is something the researcher observes and measures.
If there are any control variables , extraneous variables , or confounding variables , be sure to jot those down as you go to minimize the chances that research bias will affect your results.
In this example, the independent variable is exposure to the sun – the assumed cause . The dependent variable is the level of happiness – the assumed effect .
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Step 1. Ask a question
Writing a hypothesis begins with a research question that you want to answer. The question should be focused, specific, and researchable within the constraints of your project.
Step 2. Do some preliminary research
Your initial answer to the question should be based on what is already known about the topic. Look for theories and previous studies to help you form educated assumptions about what your research will find.
At this stage, you might construct a conceptual framework to ensure that you’re embarking on a relevant topic . This can also help you identify which variables you will study and what you think the relationships are between them. Sometimes, you’ll have to operationalize more complex constructs.
Step 3. Formulate your hypothesis
Now you should have some idea of what you expect to find. Write your initial answer to the question in a clear, concise sentence.
4. Refine your hypothesis
You need to make sure your hypothesis is specific and testable. There are various ways of phrasing a hypothesis, but all the terms you use should have clear definitions, and the hypothesis should contain:
- The relevant variables
- The specific group being studied
- The predicted outcome of the experiment or analysis
5. Phrase your hypothesis in three ways
To identify the variables, you can write a simple prediction in if…then form. The first part of the sentence states the independent variable and the second part states the dependent variable.
In academic research, hypotheses are more commonly phrased in terms of correlations or effects, where you directly state the predicted relationship between variables.
If you are comparing two groups, the hypothesis can state what difference you expect to find between them.
6. Write a null hypothesis
If your research involves statistical hypothesis testing , you will also have to write a null hypothesis . The null hypothesis is the default position that there is no association between the variables. The null hypothesis is written as H 0 , while the alternative hypothesis is H 1 or H a .
- H 0 : The number of lectures attended by first-year students has no effect on their final exam scores.
- H 1 : The number of lectures attended by first-year students has a positive effect on their final exam scores.
| Research question | Hypothesis | Null hypothesis |
|---|---|---|
| What are the health benefits of eating an apple a day? | Increasing apple consumption in over-60s will result in decreasing frequency of doctor’s visits. | Increasing apple consumption in over-60s will have no effect on frequency of doctor’s visits. |
| Which airlines have the most delays? | Low-cost airlines are more likely to have delays than premium airlines. | Low-cost and premium airlines are equally likely to have delays. |
| Can flexible work arrangements improve job satisfaction? | Employees who have flexible working hours will report greater job satisfaction than employees who work fixed hours. | There is no relationship between working hour flexibility and job satisfaction. |
| How effective is high school sex education at reducing teen pregnancies? | Teenagers who received sex education lessons throughout high school will have lower rates of unplanned pregnancy teenagers who did not receive any sex education. | High school sex education has no effect on teen pregnancy rates. |
| What effect does daily use of social media have on the attention span of under-16s? | There is a negative between time spent on social media and attention span in under-16s. | There is no relationship between social media use and attention span in under-16s. |
If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
- Sampling methods
- Simple random sampling
- Stratified sampling
- Cluster sampling
- Likert scales
- Reproducibility
Statistics
- Null hypothesis
- Statistical power
- Probability distribution
- Effect size
- Poisson distribution
Research bias
- Optimism bias
- Cognitive bias
- Implicit bias
- Hawthorne effect
- Anchoring bias
- Explicit bias
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A hypothesis is not just a guess — it should be based on existing theories and knowledge. It also has to be testable, which means you can support or refute it through scientific research methods (such as experiments, observations and statistical analysis of data).
Null and alternative hypotheses are used in statistical hypothesis testing . The null hypothesis of a test always predicts no effect or no relationship between variables, while the alternative hypothesis states your research prediction of an effect or relationship.
Hypothesis testing is a formal procedure for investigating our ideas about the world using statistics. It is used by scientists to test specific predictions, called hypotheses , by calculating how likely it is that a pattern or relationship between variables could have arisen by chance.
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McCombes, S. (2023, November 20). How to Write a Strong Hypothesis | Steps & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 23, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/hypothesis/
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Defining the null and alternative hypotheses
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"A hypothesis is a conjectural statement of the relation between two or more variables" (Kerlinger, 1956). "Hypothesis is a formal statement that presents the expected relationship between an independent and dependent variable" (Creswell, 1994). Basically, a hypothesis is a prediction of what can or can't happen between different things.
18 Steps for hypothesis testing. Step 1: State the hypotheses Be sure to state both the null and alternative hypotheses . Step 2: Select a level of significance (1%, 5% or 10%) Step 3: Calculate the test value Step 4: Calculate the probability value Step 5: Make a decision Step 6: Summarize results. Download ppt "Formulation of hypothesis and ...
Testing Process Hypothesis testing is a proof by contradiction. The testing process has four steps: Step 1: Assume H0 is true. Step 2: Use statistical theory to make a statistic (function of the data) that includes H0. This statistic is called the test statistic. Step 3: Find the probability that the test statistic would take a value as extreme or more extreme than that actually observed.
A researcher formulates this hypothesis only after rejecting the null hypothesis. Research: Hypothesis. Prof. Dr. Md. Ghulam Murtaza Khulna University Khulna, Bangladesh 23 February 2012. Definition. the word hypothesis is derived form the Greek words "hypo" means under " tithemi " means place Slideshow 1044622 by carlyn.
5. Phrase your hypothesis in three ways. To identify the variables, you can write a simple prediction in if…then form. The first part of the sentence states the independent variable and the second part states the dependent variable. If a first-year student starts attending more lectures, then their exam scores will improve.
Steps • State null and alternative hypotheses. • Find the critical values • Compute the test value • Make decision to reject or accept • Summarize the results. Critical Value and Region Critical value - the z-value that separates the critical region from the noncritical region (symbol C.V.) Critical/rejection region - range of ...
Hypothesis writing.ppt - Google Slides ... Hypothesis
Chapter 9 -Hypothesis Testing. Hypothesis testing can be used to determine whether a statement about the value of a population parameter should or should not be rejected. The null hypothesis , denoted by H 0 , is a tentative assumption about a population parameter. 568 views • 40 slides
1 Introduction to Hypothesis Testing. 2 What is a Hypothesis Test? A hypothesis test is a statistical method that uses sample data to evaluate a hypothesis about a population. 3 Falsifiability A good hypothesis is one that is falsifiable. You cannot prove something that cannot be disproved Better yet, you cannot support a hypothesis if you ...
It explains a cause and effect. A Hypothesis ... is written in the following way: "If the (independent variable) is (describe change), then the (dependent variable) will (describe measure).". IMPORTANT: You must always write a hypothesis as an "IF...THEN" statement. It shows how the independent and dependent variables are related. Now ...
Effect size. Significance tests inform us about the likelihood of a meaningful difference between groups, but they don't always tell us the magnitude of that difference. Because any difference will become "significant" with an arbitrarily large sample, it's important to quantify the effect size that you observe.
1 Defining the null and alternative hypotheses. For the purposes of this class, the null hypothesis represents the status quo and will always be of the form Ho: μ = μo The choice of the alternative hypothesis depends on the purpose of the hypothesis test. 11/29/2018. 2 Defining the null and alternative hypotheses.
The hypothesis testing framework 1.Start with two hypotheses about the population: thenull hypothesisand thealternative hypothesis 2.Choose a sample, collect data, and analyze the data 3.Figure out how likely it is to see data like what we got/observed, IF the null hypothesis were true 4.If our data would have been extremely unlikely if the null
Presentation Transcript. Hypothesis Defined (contd.) • It indicates the expectations of the researcher regarding certain variables. • It is the most specific way in which an answer to a problem can be stated • A hypothesis is never to be stated as a question, but always as a statement with an explanation following it.
41 slides that introduce the idea of writing hypotheses, checking assumptions, performing the calculations and writing conclusions for hypothesis testing. The concepts of significance levels is explained as well as the relationship between confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Subjects: Statistics.
Learning Check TF • Decide if each of the following statements is True or False. Answer TF. 8.3 Example of a Hypothesis Test • Step 1: H0: alcohol exposure =18 (Even with alcohol exposure, the rats still average 18 grams at birth.) • Step 2: α = .05Critical region: z beyond ±1.96 • Step 3: z = 3.00 • Step 4: Reject H0.