What
Exactly Is a Hypothesis?
A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the
relationship between two or more variables. A
hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen
in your study. For example, a study designed to look at the relationship
between sleep deprivation and test performance might have a hypothesis that
states, "This study is designed to assess the hypothesis that sleep
deprived people will perform worse on a test than individuals who are not sleep
deprived."
Unless you are creating a study that is
exploratory in nature, your hypothesis should always explain what you expect
to happen during the course of your experiment or research.
Remember, a hypothesis does not have to be
correct. While the hypothesis predicts what the researchers expect to see, the
goal of research is to determine whether this guess is right or wrong.
When conducting an experiment,
researchers might explore a number of different factors to determine which ones
might contribute to the ultimate outcome.
In many cases, researchers may find that the
results of an experiment do not support the original hypothesis. When
writing up these results, the researchers might suggest other options that
should be explored in future studies.
How Do Researchers Come Up With a Hypothesis?
There are many different ways to come up with a
hypothesis. In many cases, researchers might draw a hypothesis from a specific
theory or build on previous research. For example, prior research has shown
that stress can impact the immune system. So a researcher might for a specific
hypothesis that: "People with high stress levels will be more likely to
contract a common cold after being exposed to the virus than are people who
have low stress levels."
In other instances, researchers might look at
commonly held beliefs or folk wisdom. "Birds of a feather flock
together" is one example of folk wisdom that a psychologist might try to
investigate. The researcher might pose a specific hypothesis that "People
tend to select romantic partners who are similar to them in interests and educational
level."
Elements of a Good Hypothesis
When
trying to come up with a good hypothesis for your own psychology
research or experiments, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is your hypothesis based on your research of a topic?
- Can your hypothesis be tested?
- Does your hypothesis include independent and dependent variables?
Before
you come up with a specific hypothesis, spend some time doing background
research on your topic. Once you have completed a literature review, start
thinking of potential questions you still have. Pay attention to the discussion
section in the journal articles you read. Many authors
will suggest questions that still need to be explored.
Examples of a Good Hypothesis
A
hypothesis often follows a basic format of "If {this happens} then {this
will happen}." One way to structure your hypothesis is to describe what
will happen to the dependent variable if you make changes to
the independent variable.
The
basic format might be:
"If {these changes are made to
a certain independent variable}, then we will observe {a change in a specific
dependent variable}."
A
few examples:
- "Students who eat breakfast will perform better on a math exam than students who do not eat breakfast."
- "Students who experience test anxiety prior to an English exam will get higher scores than students who do not experience test anxiety."
- "Motorists who talk on the phone while driving will be more likely to make errors on a driving course than those who do not talk on the phone."
Checklist
- Does your hypothesis focus on something that you can actually test?
- Does your hypothesis include both an independent and dependent variable?
- Can you manipulate the variables?
- Can your hypothesis be tested without violating ethical standards?
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