How To Write A Hypothesis

Are you planning to do a research work or project? If you believe in analytical thinking, research project can be a very interesting exercise for you. Research project comes up as a great opportunity for a person to think beyond imagination and explain the observed phenomenon in detail. To conduct a great research, you need to have great imaginative skills. While great imaginative skill helps in conducting a good research, the same is also required at the time of writing a hypothesis, which is one of the difficult parts in the entire research process. The easiest meaning of the hypothesis is an explanation to an observed phenomenon of nature in a layman’s language. A hypothesis is a tentative statement that proposes a possible explanation to some phenomenon or event. A useful hypothesis is a testable statement, which may include a prediction. A hypothesis should not be confused with a theory. Theories are general explanations based on a large amount of data. Coming back, a research usually starts with a general hypothesis and end up with a specific or measurable hypothesis. This article, guides you as to how to write a hypothesis.

Writing A Hypothesis

Come out with an idea if it is not given. The idea must be of interest for the researcher. A researcher must opt for an idea which he thinks he can test and of course, prove it.
Inculcate a habit of asking questions. All of us undergo potential hypothesis by asking 5 W’s and I H. Thinking deep on various phenomenon of nature and coming out with few questions in the mind is the first step towards writing a hypothesis. Try to find out answers of the questions rolling in your mind by consulting different people. If you don’t get the answers, start developing a hypothesis to carry out a research.
In your hypothesis, put cause and effect together. A great hypothesis is one that makes use of the word “because”. This word is used to link both cause and effect together. For example, “Skim milk is better than fresh milk because it has lesser calories.”
The researcher needs to verify that the particular hypothesis is measurable and provable or not. If the hypothesis is provable, then he needs to carry out different variables for the same. There are dependent and independent variables present in every research. The dependent variable simply means the elements in your research that you expect to change by changing independent variables and studying their result.
Never take a specific hypothesis in the beginning of a research itself. Start with a broad and general hypothesis. The general statements have a larger scope of research. They can be well tested by various methods and then, specific hypothesis can be developed on the basis of this research. For example, “plants grow faster in better soil.”
Refining your hypothesis is equally important. This would help you look deeply at each element of the statement and ask several questions to yourself which would help you come out with a specific hypothesis. For example, “cactus plant can grow well without much water”.
The researcher should write the final hypothesis in his/her own words. By this way a researcher can express and explain the concept better. Also, the research would hold much weightage when the hypothesis is written by the researcher in his own words.

Tips

The hypothesis must go along with the researcher’s background information.
After carrying out a hypothesis, evaluate it thoroughly.
Remember information found on the internet can be false too. Go for various methods to increase the accuracy of the information.

This guide on how to write a hypothesis will definitely lead you towards a great hypothesis making your research logical and appreciable.

How to Cite

Related Articles

See also

More in 'Society'