This topic revisits what a hypothesis is and provides examples of hypotheses. Check your comprehension of the topic by completing follow-up self-check comprehension activities in the next tab.
Most studies that are exploratory, descriptive and observational in nature may introduce the research question but may not have a hypothesis to be tested (although they may develop one over the course of the study). Exploratory studies generally tackle some phenomenon that is not sufficiently defined or studied to establish some associations or relationships. Descriptive and observational studies aim to observe and describe some phenomenon (e.g., expenditure patterns on food, level of unemployment in a community, etc.) to gain insights into the “what is” and “what was” without attempting to explain “how” and “why” certain characteristics are the way they are and what the causal relationship between some observed factors may be.
However, in most experimental and explanatory studies, which seek to explain how or why one factor influences some other factor or to establish whether there is a causal relationship between these factors, a hypothesis is set. A hypothesis (singular; plural—hypotheses) is a prediction regarding the nature and relationship between some variables that you want to test out. Hypotheses are usually generated based on the author’s observations of the subject under study (inductive reasoning) and/ or a good knowledge of what has already been done in the field (current knowledge). As in the case of research questions, a hypothesis should be verifiable or testable through the use of statistical or analytical tools in order to be confirmed or discarded. Some proposals may include more than one hypothesis. Once stated, a hypothesis guides the conceptual design of the study and determines what research methods will be used.
When there is a hypothesis to be tested, either the Introduction or the Methods sections would be the spaces to state the hypothesis and introduce the variables that will be tested. If stated in the Introduction section, the hypothesis statement would normally be brief (from one to a few sentences), with more detailed information following in subsequent sections. It can also be quite detailed, allowing the author to explain how the variables will be operationalized, i.e., explained in terms which would allow the researcher to test them scientifically. For example, how would you “operationalize” the concept of political freedom to determine what nation can be considered to be “politically free”?
Here is an example of a hypothesis from a research article in the field of political science:
| Who's Afraid of Conflict? The Mobilizing Effect of Conflict Framing in Campaign News |
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Thus in the present study we expect conflict framing to have more of a mobilizing effect on voters in countries in which baseline levels of polity evaluations in media coverage are more favorable compared to countries with more negative evaluations. The current study context, the 2009 EP elections, provides a unique case of varying degrees of polity evaluations across countries to test our expectations. Based on the above considerations we put forward the following expectations: Hypothesis 1: Exposure to campaign news coverage framed in terms of conflict mobilizes citizens to vote. Hypothesis 2: Campaign news coverage framed in terms of conflict has more of a mobilizing effect on citizens if polity evaluations are favorable than if they are less favorable. Adapted from: Schuck, A., Vliegenthart, R., & De Vreese, C. (2016). Who's afraid of conflict? The mobilizing effect of conflict framing in campaign news. British Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 177–194. |
Here is another example of a hypothesis from a research proposal in the field of economics:
| The Implications of Economic and Social Mobility for Transnational West African Migrants in Spain |
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Hypothesis. From the central question of this study, how does the social and economic integration of sub-Saharan West African immigrants in Barcelona affect the types of transnational activities they pursue and the degree of their involvement in these activities, the following hypothesis emerges: Immigrants with greater social and economic integration in the host country will demonstrate a wider range and an increased frequency of transnational behaviors. This hypothesis contains four variables to be measured: a) the level of incorporation of West African immigrants in Spain’s economy; b) the level of their social adaptation; c) the types of transnational activities they practice; and d) the frequency of engagement in these activities. These variables are defined and operationalized below in subsequent sections. Adapted from: Margolis, M., & St. Jacques, E. (2004). The implications of economic and social mobility for transnational West African migrants in Spain. Retrieved from http://gravlee.org/ang5091/proposals/stjacques_nsf.pdf |
How detailed do you find these two examples of hypotheses in the Introduction sections? Do they include information on what the variables are and how they will be operationalized?
The following verb phrases are often employed to talk about a hypothesis (plural – hypotheses):
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to assess/evaluate/ test to accept/ confirm/ corroborate/ support (= to prove a hypothesis true) to develop to formulate/ generate/ state to propose to discard/ disprove/ nullify/ refute/ reject (= to prove a hypothesis false) to refine to validate/ verify |
a/ the |
hypothesis |
H1: Higher (lower) levels of X will increase (decrease) perceptions of Y.
H2: Higher (lower) levels of X will negatively (positively) affect A.
H3: Higher (lower) levels of X will negatively (positively) affect Z.
A hypothesis can be described as:
To explain how the hypothesis will be tested using the data, the following language can be used: