Types of Research Hypotheses

However, there are some important things to consider when building a compelling hypothesis.

1. State the problem that you are trying to solve. Make sure that the hypothesis clearly defines the topic and the focus of the experiment.
2. Try to write the hypothesis as an if-then statement.
3. Define the variables.

Simple hypotheses are ones which give probabilities to potential observations. The contrast here is with complex hypotheses, also known as models, which are sets of simple hypotheses such that knowing that some member of the set is true (but not which) is insufficient to specify probabilities of data points.

• Alternative Hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis states that there is a relationship between the two variables being studied (one variable has an effect on the other).
• Null Hypothesis.
• Nondirectional Hypothesis.
• Directional Hypothesis.

Their hypothesis is that watching excessive amounts of television reduces a person’s ability to concentrate. The results of the experiment did not support his hypothesis. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘hypothesis.

A hypothesis is an educated guess, or a guess you make based on information you already know. After you make a hypothesis, then comes the really fun part: doing the science experiment to see what happens! This lets you discover if your hypothesis was correct or incorrect.

Specific. It should be formulated for a particular and specific problem. It should not include generalization. If generalization exists, then a hypothesis cannot reach to the correct conclusions.

The hypothesis has to be formulated in such a form to attain the following qualities: (i) It should be based on known facts and must have roots in the existing theories of knowledge. (ii) The hypothesis should be testable. (This is the most important requirement).

A scientific hypothesis must be testable, and; A scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable.

A good hypothesis posits an expected relationship between variables and clearly states a relationship between variables. A hypothesis should be brief and to the point. You want the research hypothesis to describe the relationship between variables and to be as direct and explicit as possible.

State the null hypothesis. The null hypothesis gives an exact value that implies there is no correlation between the two variables. If the results show a percentage equal to or lower than the value of the null hypothesis, then the variables are not proven to correlate.

Examples of If, Then Hypotheses

• If you get at least 6 hours of sleep, you will do better on tests than if you get less sleep.
• If you drop a ball, it will fall toward the ground.
• If you drink coffee before going to bed, then it will take longer to fall asleep.

1. Variables in hypotheses. Hypotheses propose a relationship between two or more variables.
2. Ask a question. Writing a hypothesis begins with a research question that you want to answer.
3. Do some preliminary research.
4. Formulate your hypothesis.
5. Refine your hypothesis.
6. Phrase your hypothesis in three ways.
7. Write a null hypothesis.

Five Steps in Hypothesis Testing:

1. Specify the Null Hypothesis.
2. Specify the Alternative Hypothesis.
3. Set the Significance Level (a)
4. Calculate the Test Statistic and Corresponding P-Value.
5. Drawing a Conclusion.

Alternative hypothesis purpose An alternative hypothesis provides the researchers with some specific restatements and clarifications of the research problem. An alternative hypothesis provides a direction to the study, which then can be utilized by the researcher to obtain the desired results.

Compute the test statistic based on the sample data. Determine the p-value associated with the statistic. Decide whether to reject the null hypothesis by comparing the p-value to α (i.e. reject the null hypothesis if p < α)