Formulating a Research Hypothesis and 5 Steps to Formulating a Winning Research Hypothesis
Every good research revolves around an equally meaningful question. All over the world, research studies are panning out, giving definitions to abstract particles and paving ways to new development, but the output of these researches and how evocative its entire containment becomes only stems from a good research hypothesis.
A hypothesis is an uncertain statement predicting the association between two variables (dependent and independent) existing in the natural world. At the same time, it is not as absolute as logic in mathematics and physics. It is expected to be unique and questionable.
Before coming up with a research hypothesis, it is essential to go through the topic of concern, even if it demands you read through an exhaustive range of articles, books, cases, and/or newspapers, this being so that adequate information can be garnered to contain the entirety of your work in a single question.
For example, in a research study engineered to assess the relationship between hearing loss (independent variables: particles that can be altered by the researcher) and fluorescent light bulbs (dependent variables: particles above the influence of the researcher) you’d be required to go through fine prints detailing the consequences of fluorescent energy, articles related to the effect of this energy on human anatomy, How the human biology responds to such and many more along the lines so that you can have a hypothesis that reads “this study is intended to evaluate the hypothesis that fluorescent light bulbs can increase hearing loss in people below 15”
You see a hypothesis is designed to reflect a possible outcome strongly affiliated with what the researcher believes should happen it doesn’t necessarily have to be correct, while the hypothesis forecasts what the researcher might assume to be existent; the idea behind the background research is to determine whether this prediction is solid or erroneously concocted, however, even if such hypothesis results into misconceptions, many discoverable factors can contribute to the outcome. Usually, researchers wind up with outcomes that don’t support the thesis while compiling the result they often recommend other options that must be explored in future studies; it can be a revision of the original hypothesis or a supporting future development that brings home the truism of the hypothesis
A good research hypothesis usually comprises various qualifying features, there are standard criteria that prove the quality of a hypothesis, and the ones that do not meet these criteria usually result in junk research and miscalculated outcomes. Before formulating a hypothesis it is necessary to understand the elements of a good hypothesis and what it is expected to comprise of, so as to help you further explore through background research, and a checklist just to properly weigh your hypothesis.
Elements/ characteristics of a good hypothesis
1.1 There are questions you should ask yourself while you are trying to come up with a hypothesis, begin with the following questions
- Can the hypothesis be tested?
Why this exactly? Your hypothesis should be able to be proven or disavowed through research, it should likewise be reproducible. If your hypothesis cannot be proven correct or disavowed the outcome wouldn’t be of any use as no significant development would be ensured. Take for example if the hypothesis “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away” is not reproducible, and has no possibility of being neither disproved or qualified then truly the purpose of the research is vague because you wouldn’t know if taking apples can keep doctors away.
- Are there dependent particles and independent particles?
There must be present elements in which their relationship should be determined, “an apple a day keeps the doctors away”, here the independent variable is the “apples a day” while the dependent variable is the “doctors”. Their relationship exists to burn a factual concept into reality. A hypothesis void of dependent and independent variables is nothing but a phrase.
- Does your hypothesis share any similarity with your research topic?
If not, there should be an immediate restructuring of the hypothesis; this part should be kept in the mind of the researcher because the hypothesis is the potential answer to a research question. You see when scientists/ authors conduct experiments, they first make observations and conduct preliminary research, this preliminary research is what helps the creation of a research question that would soon be answered via the experiment. Take for example a researcher who seeks to study muscle growth might ask “how does lifting weight influence muscle growth?” using the evaluation of this as a basis researchers would create a hypothesis to answer the question, e.g. a tentative statement can be made as “can subjecting muscle fibers to heavyweight trigger the body to reinforce growth” then a research is carried out to test if really such prediction is true
- Is there clarity of language?
- Can the variables in your hypothesis be altered?
Formulating a Winning Research Hypothesis
While it frequently appears as a simple question, it is not quite so, an hypothesis is a convoluted report that must engender a clear interlink to the scientific research, its purpose, and the overall conclusion.
Though you can source a hypothesis from maxims and proverbs it is important to consider the following while building a hypothesis
- Ask a question; provoke a focus
“The issue of erosion is a disturbing phenomenal to the collective pool of crop cultivation, what possibly can be done to elicit a solution?”
The problem here is the havoc wreaked on farmlands by erosion, creating a hypothesis should see you start from acknowledging the difficulty at hand; your hypothesis must define the focus of the experiment. Your research question must have a focus, must be precise, and must be researchable;
- Engage preliminary research
Assess theories and read through previous studies carried out on that very issue, at most, go through articles and cases that point in that direction so as to develop refined assumptions as the answer to your question must be shrouded in what has already been conceived about the topic. While pervading through preliminary research conceptually notarize a framework to help define your variables and how they are linked.
“The convalescing landmark of Warsaw, Poland has only been able to level above its previous deplorable condition and foster a crop-friendly environment owing to the presence of more green cultivation and trees”—afforestation is a complex approach to mitigating erosion.
- Authentic the hypothesis—sentence like
Now that the problem has been recognized and a focus has been placed under examination, cultivate a hypothesis that hinges on a supposed outcome to the problem, there is the law of causality that sees every outcome as a product of a cause, use such as a yardstick e.g. if the cause of erosion is defined by the mass presence of water as against the exposed layer of the earth, wouldn’t the use of trees mitigate the rise of deplorable farmlands? Hypothesis: afforestation reduces the effect of erosion
- Enhance your hypothesis
- Present variables
- Area of concentration; what in total finality is being studied?
- Supposed outcome
Ensuring that your hypothesis is precise and can be tested is important, your hypothesis must contain the above, so far you choose to phrase your hypothesis in a manner that surfaces the relationship between both variables or the difference subsisting in groups(supposing you are comparing variables) all that would be required is clarity in the definition.
- write a null hypothesis or an alternative hypothesis
This is required if your research consists of statistical hypothesis testing, a null hypothesis is a negative remark that champions the findings of the research being that there is no relationship existing between the two variables, while an alternative hypothesis conveys a relationship between the two variables of the research. Null hypotheses are usually written as H0 while alternative Hypotheses are written ad H1 or H2.
Do you have experiences building hypotheses for research? What challenges did you come across,? How were they handled, please communicate your thoughts with us?