Research Hypothesis

What is a research hypothesis? A hypothesis is a tentative explanation for certain behaviors, phenomena, or events that have occurred or will occur.

1. The hypothesis states the researcher's expectations concerning the relationship between the variables in the research problem.

2. The hypothesis is a refinement of the research problem. It is the most specific statement of the problem.

3. The hypothesis states what the researcher thinks the outcome of the study will be.

4. The researcher collects data that either supports the hypothesis or does not support it.

5. The hypothesis is formulated following the review of related literature and prior to the execution of the study. The related literature leads the researcher to expect a certain relationship.

6. "A good hypothesis states as clearly and concisely as possible the expected relationship (or differencce) between two variables and defines those variables in operational, measurable terms."

7. "A well-stated and defined hypothesis must be (and will be if well-formulated and stated) testable. It should be possible to support or not support the hypothesis by collecting and analyzing data."

Formulating a research hypothesisTo formulate a research hypothesis we start with a research question and:

8. generate operational definitions for all variables, and

9. formulate a research hypothesis keeping in mind expected relationships or differences operational definitions

10. Hypothesis can also be classified in terms of how they were derived inductive hypothesis - a generalization based on observation, deductive hypothesses - derived from theory

11. A hypothesis can be directional or non-directional.


Research Hypothesis: There is no specified relationship between the variables thus no research hypothesis. There is a research problem but not a formal research hypothesis.

Example: A researcher wants to find out the educational characteristics of gifted students with learning disabilities in the middle school. When asked what is meant by "educational characteristics" the researcher lists the following variables - IQ, reading achievement, mathamatics achievement, written language achievement, and locus of control (internal versus external locus of control).

Research Question: What is the average level of IQ, reading comprehension, mathematics performance, written language proficiency, and locus of control for gifted children with learning disabilities in the middle school.

Operational Definitions:

1. IQ - Scores on an individually administered IQ test

2. Reading Comprehension - Scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests

3. Mathematics Performance - Scores on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement: Mathematics Section

4. Written Language Proficiency - Scores on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement: Written Language Section

5. Locus of Control - A suitable measure for internal versus external locus of control will be selected