Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Week 4
Week 4
RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
Introduction of hypothesis:
Hypothesis is usually considered as the principal instrument in research. Its
main function is to suggest new experiment and observations. Keen observation,
creative thinking, hunch, unit, imagination, vision, insight and sound judgement are of
greater importance in setting up reasonable hypotheses. A thorough knowledge about
the phenomenon and related fields is of great value in its process. The formulation of
hypotheses plays an important part in the growth of knowledge in every science. The
hypotheses are formulated to facilitate the findings of the research study.
Meaning of hypothesis:
❖ The relationship between/ among variables,
❖ The research hypothesis is a predictive statement, capable for being
tested by scientific methods, that relates an independent variable to
some dependent variable. The level of influence of independent
variables on the dependent variables.
❖ E.g.: “students who receive counselling will show a greater increase in
creativity than students not receiving counselling.”
❖ A proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations.
❖ A hypothesis is a precise testable statement prediction of what the
researcher expects to find or prove.
❖ It is a tentative answer to a research question.
❖ A hypothesis is a tentative proposition formulated for empirical testing.
It is a declarative statement combining concept.
Definition of hypothesis:
Goode and Hatt have defined a hypothesis, “a proposition which can be
put to test to determine validity.”
According to Rummel and Balline, “A hypothesis is a statement capable
of being tested and thereby verified or rejected.”
Characteristics of hypothesis:
Hypothesis must possess the following chacteristics:
Hypothesis should be clear and precise. If the hypothesis is not clear and
precise, the inferences drawn on its basis cannot be taken as reliable.
Hypothesis should state relations between variables, if it happens to be a
relational hypothesis.
Hypothesis should be limited in scope and must be specific. A
researcher must remember the narrower hypothesis is generally more
testable and he should develop such hypothesis.
Hypothesis should be stated as far as possible in most simple terms so
that the same is easily understandable by all concerned. But one must
remember that simplicity of hypothesis has nothing to do with its
significance.
Importance of hypothesis:
Hypothesis has a very important place in research although it occupies a
very small place in the body of a thesis. It is almost impossible for a
research worker not to have and or more hypotheses before proceeding
with his work. The importance of hypothesis can be more specifically
stated as under:
It Provides direction to research. It defines what is relevant and what is
irrelevant. Thus it prevents the review of irrelevant literature and the
collection of useless or excess data.
It is the investigator’s eye- a sort of guiding light in the world of
darkness.
It prevents blind research. Prevents indiscriminate gathering of data
which may later turn to be irrelevant.
2. Relational hypothesis:
These are propositions, which describe the relationship between two variables.
The relationship suggested may be positive or negative correlation or causal
relationship.
Some examples:
“Families with higher incomes spend more for recreation.”
“The lower the rate of job turnover in a work group, the higher the work
productivity.”
3. Casual hypothesis:
State that the existence of, or a change in, one variable causes or leads to an
effect on another variables. The first variable is called the independent variable, and
the latter the dependent variables the researcher must consider the direction in which
such relationships flow.ie. Which are cause and which effect is.
4. Null hypothesis:
These are hypothetical statements denying what are explicitly indicated in
working hypothesis. They are formed in the negative statement.
For example:” There is no relationship between families’ income level and
expenditure on recreation”.
Null hypothesis are formulated for testing statistical significance. Since, this
form is a convenient approach to statistical analysis. As the test would nullify the null
hypothesis, .they are so called. There is some justification for using null hypotheses.
They conform to the qualities of detachment and objectivity to be possessed by a
researcher. If the attempts to test hypotheses which he assumes to be true, it would
appear as if he is not behaving objectively. The problem does not arise when he uses
null hypotheses. Moreover, null hypotheses are more exact. It is easier to reject the
contrary of hypotheses than to confirm it with complete certainty. Hence the concept
of null hypothesis is found to be very useful.
7. Statistical hypothesis:
There are statements about a statistical population. These are derived from a
sample. These are quantitative in nature in that they are numerically measurable, e.g.,
“Group A is older than Group B.”
1. Formulate a hypothesis:
The first step is to set up two hypotheses instead of one in such that if one
hypothesis is true, the other is false. Alternatively, if one hypothesis is false or
rejected, the other is true or accepted. That is Ho and H1.
4. Compute:
After having selected the statistical technique to test the hypotheses, the next
step involves various computations for the application of that particular test. These
computations include the testing statistics as its standard error.
5. Make decisions:
The final step in hypothesis testing is to draw a statistical decision, involving
the acceptance or rejection of the null hypothesis. This will depend on whether the
computed value of the test criterion falls in the region of acceptance or in the region of
rejection at a given level of significance. It may be noted that the statement rejecting
the hypothesis is much stronger than the statement accepting it. It is much easier to
prove something false than to prove it true. Thus when we say that the null hypothesis
is not rejected, we do not categorically say that it is true.
Conclusion
It is true that hypotheses are useful, and they guide the research process in the
proper direction. In fact, many experiments are carried out with the deliberate object
of testing hypothesis. Decision-Makers often face situations wherein they are
interested in testing hypothesis on the basis of available information and then take
decisions on the basis of such testing. But in all analytical and experiment studies,
hypothesis should be setup in order to give a proper direction to them. The hypothesis
will guide a researcher in the selection of pertinent facts that are required to explain
the issue considered for the study. Thus, formulation of hypothesis plays an important
role in the research studies.
References
➢ Barzun, J., & Graff, H. G. (1985). The modern researcher (4th ed.). New
York: Harcourt Brace & World.
➢ Batsche, C., Hernandez, M., & Montenegro, M. C. (1999). Community
needs assessment with Hispanic, Spanish-monolingual residents.
Evaluation and Program Planning, 22, 13–20.
➢ Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2005). Educational research:
Competencies for analysis and application (8th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.