Hypothesis

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29/9/2012
 Contents

1 What is Hypothesis?

2 What do you do with it?

?

3 Functions of a hypothesis

4 How do you make one?

 Sweet Tomatos
29/9/2012
Example question

A scientist notices that the tomato plant closest to her

neighbor’s yard is much taller than any of the other
plants in her garden bed. She also notices that the
neighbor turns on his sprinkler system every day, and
that some of this water reaches only her big plant. The
scientist creates a question: Does daily watering from a
sprinkler make a tomato plant grow faster than other
tomato plants?
 Example hypothesis

The scientist creates this hypothesis to address her

question: “If I water the tomatoes in my garden daily
then they will grow faster because tomatoes grow more
when they get more water.”
 The definition of a hypothesis

 A tentative proposition.
 Its validity is unknown.
 It specifies a relationship between two or more
variables.
 An answer to a research question.
 Hypotheses are predictions about the relationship
among two or more variables or groups based on a
theory or previous research (Pittenger, 2003)
 Hypotheses are assumptions or theories that a
researcher makes and tests.
 Hypothesis Testing

 A Hypotheses can be defined as a logically conjectured

relationship between two or more variables expressed in the
form of a testable statement.
 A hypothesis is an assumption about relations between variables.
 A hypothesis (H) is an unproven statement about a factor or
phenomenon that is of interest to the researcher.
 A statistical hypothesis is an assumption about an unknown
population parameter. Hypothesis testing starts with an
assumption termed as “hypothesis” that a researcher makes
about a population parameter. We can not accept or reject the
hypothesis on the basis of intuition or on the basis of general
information.
 Why it is needed?

 To bring direction,
 specificity &
 focus to a research study.

 To have something to test. The hypothesis can be

proved to be:
 right,
 partly right,
 wrong (false).
 Functions of a hypothesis

 Providing focus
 What data to collect and what data not to collect
 Enhancing objectivity
 Making conclusions easier
 Importance of Hypotheses

 Hypotheses:
 Direct our observations
• Identifies the variables examined and data to be
collected
 Describe a relationship among variables
• Can state that as one variable increases, the other will
decrease; as one variables increases, the other will
increase, and so on.
 Refer to populations
• Hypotheses help researchers infer that results of a
sample will translate to a population

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 Hypothesis testing is a well-defined procedure which
helps us to decide objectively whether to accept or
reject the hypothesis based on the information
available from the sample.
 Often, a hypothesis is a possible answer to the
research question.
 Symbols used in Hypotheses

 M= mean
 µ (mu: mew)= population mean
 Roman Letters (e.g., A, B, C, D) are used to represent
statistics
 Greek Letters (e.g., α, β) are used to represent parameters
 α= significance level; probability of committing a Type I
Error (α= .05)
 p= probability value (p= .05)
 Null Hypothesis= (H0: µ1 - µ2 = 0 or H0: µ1 = µ2)
 Alternative Hypothesis= (H1: µ1-µ2 ≠ 0 or H1: µ1 ≠ µ2 )
 Sometimes you may see it noted as HA

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 Types of Hypotheses

 Research Hypotheses
 Statistical Hypotheses

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 Research Hypotheses

 Research Hypothesis: A statement of the

relationship among two or more variables or groups.
 The acceptance or non-acceptance of which is based
on resolving a logical alternative with a null
hypothesis.

 Example: Graduate students who read the text in

research methods will score higher on their
comprehensive exams than graduate students who
did not read their research methods text.

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 Research Hypotheses Cont.

 Research hypotheses can be stated as Directional or

Non-directional.
 Directional hypotheses predict the specific
relationship among two or more variables or groups:
 Graduate students who read the text in research
methods will score higher on their comprehensive
exams than graduate students who did not read
their research methods text.
H0: µ1 < µ2 H1: µ1 > µ2
 IQ scores will correlate in a positive manner with
Self Esteem Scores
 Cats will bark less frequently than Dogs

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 Research Hypotheses Cont.

 Non-Directional Hypotheses predict that there will

be differences among two or more groups, but do
not specify the direction of the differences
 Men and Women will differ in their recall of phone
numbers
 The scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale will
differ between people with Stroke and people with
Alzheimer’s disease
 IQ scores will correlate with Self Esteem scores

H 0: µ 1 = µ 2 H 1: µ 1 ≠ µ 2

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 Research Hypotheses Cont.

 Come up with some directional and non-directional

research hypotheses
 Share with the class

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 Statistical Hypotheses

 Statistical Hypotheses are mathematical, or logical statements that

help researchers interpret the results of research

 Statistical hypotheses consist of the Null Hypothesis (H0), the

hypothesis of no difference and the Alternative Hypothesis (H1 or
HA) which is similar in form to the research hypothesis.

 Null: (H0: µ1 - µ2 = 0 )
 Alternative: (H1: µ1 - µ2 ≠ 0)

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 Written out examples:
 Null: There will be no difference in the
comprehensive test scores of graduate
students who read the text in research methods
and those who did not read their research
methods text.

 Alternative: Graduate students who read the text

in research methods will score higher on their
comprehensive exams than graduate students
who did not read their research methods text.
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 Statistical Hypotheses Cont.

 Remember, and this is important:

 The null hypothesis always implies that there is

no relation or statistical difference between
variables or groups

 The alternative hypothesis implies that there is a

meaningful relationship among variables or
groups

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 Statement of Hypotheses:
Formats
 If—Then Statements

 Directional and Non-Directional Hypotheses

 Null and Alternate Hypotheses

 If—Then Statements

 Employee who are more healthy will take sick leave

less frequently.

 If employees are more healthy, then they will take

sick leave less frequently.
 Directional and Non-Directional
Hypotheses

Directional hypotheses
If, in stating the relationship between two variables or
comparing two groups, terms such as positive,
negative, more than, less than and the like are used,
then these are directional hypotheses because the
directional of the relationship between the variables is
indicated.
Examples:
 The greater the stress experiences in the job, the
lower the job satisfaction of employees.
 Women are more motivated than men
 Non directional hypotheses:
Non directional hypotheses are those that do postulate a
relationship or differences, but offer no indication of the
direction of these relationships or differences.

Examples:
1. There is a relationship between age and job satisfaction.
2. There is a difference between the work ethic values of
American and Asian employees.
Q: what are the reasons on formulating non-directional
hypotheses?
 Null and alternate hypotheses

 Null Hypotheses:
 A null hypothesis, generally referred to as H0, is the
hypothesis which is tested for possible rejection under the
assumption that it is true.
 Theoretically a null hypothesis is set as no difference or
status quo and considered true, until and unless it is proved
wrong by the collected sample size.
 Example:
• 1. a null hypothesis may state that advertising does not
affect sales.
– H0: µ Adv = µ sales
• 2. women and men buy equal amount of shoes.
– H0: µm = µw
 Alternative Hypothesis:
 Alternative hypothesis generally referred by H1, is the
logical opposite of the null hypothesis.
 Alternative hypothesis is the opposite of the null
hypothesis, is a statement expressing a relationship
between two variables or indicating differences between
groups.
 Example
• 1. a alternative hypothesis may state that advertising affects
sales.
– H1: µ Adv ≠ µ sales
• women and men do not buy equal amount of shoes.
– H1: µm ≠ µw
Null contain equality (=, ≤, ≥) Alternative does not contain equality (≠,˂, ˃)
In sum
 Null and alternate are two opposing roads that lead to the
same place.
 By definition, the null and alternative hypotheses are
opposites; mutually exclusive.
 The null is either rejected or it is not. Only if the null is
rejected can we proceed to the alternative
 If we reject the null hypothesis, then we conclude the data
supports the alternative hypothesis.
 Researcher can start with either the null or the alternative, and
then form the other as a complement to the first. (which to
start with largely depends on the point of view of the
researcher, the context of the problem).
 Zwikael and Ahn (2011)
29/9/2012

 H1: The level of project risk varies across countries.

 H2: The level of project risk varies across industries.
 H3: Project risk is negatively correlated with project success
level.
 H4: Risk management planning moderates the relationship
between levels of project risk and project success.
 How do you write a hypothesis?

A good hypothesis includes two parts:

1. a prediction about the outcome of a
scientific investigation
----and----
2. an explanation for why those results
will occur
 How do you write a hypothesis?

 A hypothesis is worded as a prediction about what will

happen if you change something
 Example: If students eat a lot of candy then they will
get more cavities because sugar on teeth causes cavities.
How do you write a hypothesis?

A good hypothesis is worded like this:

If…..then…...because…….
OR
I predict…because
I think…because
 Hypothesis example

If students eat a lot of chocolate then they will get a sick

stomach because a lot of chocolate all at once is hard
for the stomach to digest.
 If….then….because….

 After the word “If”… explain what will change in the

investigation
 After the word “then” …write what you predict will
happen as a result of that change
 After the word “because” …explain why you think the
result will happen
 Another hypotheses

If salt is added to a plant’s soil then the plant will die

because salt will dry out the soil so that there is not
enough water left for the plant.
 Another Hypothesis

If people spend more time in the sun then they will be

more likely to get skin cancer because exposure to
ultraviolet light in sunlight causes skin cancer.
 Exercise

:Give the hypotheses for the following framework

Customer
Service quality
switching

Switching cost

. 37
 Exercise

:Give the hypotheses for the following framework

Customer satisfaction Customer

Service quality
switching

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Thank you for your kind
attention

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Go forth and research….

….but be careful out there.