HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis
• The hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a tentative
solution of a problem.
• The research activities are planned to verify the
hypothesis.
• It is very essential to a research worker to understand
the meaning and nature of hypothesis.
• The researcher always plan or formulate a hypothesis
in the beginning of the problem.
• Hypothesis offers a solution of the problem that is
to be verified empirically and based on some
rationale.
Hypothesis
 Hypothesis
• The word hypothesis consists of two words:
• Hypo + thesis = Hypothesis.
• ‘Hypo’ means tentative or subject to the verification
and
• ‘Thesis’ means statement about solution of a
problem.
Origin
 Sources of Hypothesis
Literature Review Theoretical Framework

Observations Conceptual Framework

Previous Researches
 Characteristics of Hypothesis
• Following are the characteristics of hypothesis:
• Empirically Testable.
• Simple and clear.
• Specific and relevant.
• Manageable.
 Importance of Hypothesis
• It gives direction to the researchers.
• It helps in devising research techniques.
• It provides clarity to the research problem and research
objectives
• It describes, explains or predicts the expected results or
outcome of the research.
• It indicates the type of research design.
• It identifies the population of the research study that is
to be investigated or examined.
 Components of Hypothesis
• To complete the hypothesis three components must be
included
1. The variables;
2. The population; and
3. The relationship between the variables.
 Elements of Hypothesis
• First, we must take a moment to define
independent and dependent variables.
• Simply put, an independent variable is the cause
and the dependent variable is the effect.
• For example:
• How does the salary affect the satisfaction level
of employees?
• Here, the independent variable is the salary and
the dependent variable is the satisfaction level of
employees .
 Hypothesis
• While the hypothesis predicts what the researchers
expect to see, the goal of research is to determine
whether this guess is right or wrong.
• When conducting an experiment, researchers might
explore a number of different factors to determine which
ones might contribute to the ultimate outcome.
• In many cases, researchers may find that the results
of an experiment do not support the original
hypothesis.
• When writing up these results, the researchers might
suggest other options that should be explored in future
studies.
 Examples
• For example:
• It is hypothesized that first grade girls will show better
reading comprehension than first grade boys.
• In the above mentioned example the author is
predicting that he/ she will find higher comprehension
among girls than boys.
 Types of Hypothesis
• Simple Hypothesis.
• Complex Hypothesis.
• Null hypothesis.
• Alternative Hypothesis.
• Directional hypothesis.
• Non directional Hypothesis.
• Causal Hypothesis.
• Associative Hypothesis.
 Simple hypothesis
• Simple hypothesis is that one in which there exits
relationship between two variables one is called
independent variable or cause and the other is
dependent variable or effect.
• Example:
• Smoking leads to cancer.
• The higher ratio of unemployment leads to crimes.
 Complex hypothesis
• In this type dependent and independent variables are
more than two
• Example:
• Smoking and other drugs leads to chest infections.
• The higher ration of unemployment, poverty illiteracy
leads to crimes etc.
• For example three variables – two independent variables
and one dependent variable.
Example:
for a fully bed ridden patient 2 hourly position changing,
2 hourly back care and a high protein diet will build up
body resistance, will promote blood circulation and will
prevent bedsore.
• In the above example, three independent variables
are: A) 2 hourly position changing, B) 2 hourly back
care, C) high protein diet.
• And three dependent variables are: A) promotion of
blood circulation, B) building up of body resistance, C)
prevention of bed sore.
 Null Hypothesis
• In the null form, the researcher makes a statement that no
relationship exists.
• For Example:
• "There is no difference in the attitude of parents of rural and
urban areas towards co-education at the primary level”.
 Alternative Hypothesis
• The whole research process is built on a research
hypothesis which illustrates a theory.
• It is a positive and general kind of a statement.
• For example:
• 'There is a difference between the learning styles of boys
and girls'. This hypothesis is also known as (H1,) or
general hypothesis, or empirical hypothesis.
Example
 Example
• There is difference in the attitude of parents of rural and
urban areas towards co-education at the primary level.
• There is relationship between smoking and lung cancer.
 Relationship between Null and
alternative
• The relationship between research hypothesis (HI) and the
null hypothesis (HO) is that, if null hypothesis (HO) is rejected
then research hypothesis (HI) is accepted.
Notations
 Example
• "There is positive relationship between the academic
achievement and study habit of students“.
This hypothesis stipulates that students with good study
habits will have high academic achievement.

• "Students with high test anxiety will score badly in

examinations as compared to students with low anxiety" is a
directional research hypothesis because it stipulates the
direction of the difference between the groups.
 Non directional Hypothesis
• A research hypothesis, which does not specify the
direction of expected differences or relationships, is a
non-directional research hypothesis.
• For example, the hypothesis:
• "There is a relationship between years of experience
and satisfaction of banking sector employees" is a
non-directional research hypothesis.
• Although the hypothesis does not specify the direction
such as positive or negative and higher or lower.
 Causal hypothesis
• Causal Hypothesis predicts a cause and effects
relationship or interaction between the
independent variable and dependent variable.
• This hypothesis predicts the effect of the
independent variable on the dependent variable.
• Example:
• High intake of fluid does not cause tissue
edema.
• Impact of online classes on student performance.
 Associative Hypothesis
• Associative Hypothesis predicts an
associative relationship between the
independent variable and the dependent
variable.
• AH aim to determine if relationships exist
between a set of variables.
• The associative relationship between the
independent and dependent variables may
have either- Positive or Negative
association.
• Example:
• There is a positive relationship between GPA
and NTS scores. In other words, students with
higher GPAs tend to have higher NTS score.
• There is a negative relationship between days
absent and GPA.
Link between RQ AND HYPOTHESIS
• Research question (RQ)
• What effect does daily use of social media have on the
attention span of under-16s?
• Hypothesis
• There is a negative correlation between time spent on
social media and attention span in under-16s.
• There is no relationship between social media use and
attention span in under-16s.
Link between RQ AND HYPOTHESIS
• Research Question
• Can flexible work arrangements improve job satisfaction?
• Hypothesis
• Employees who have flexible working hours will report
greater job satisfaction than employees who work fixed
hours.
• There is no relationship between working hour flexibility
and job satisfaction.
 Hypothesis Testing
• A statistical hypothesis is an assertion or
conjecture concerning one or more
populations. To prove that a hypothesis is
true, or false, with absolute certainty, we
would need absolute knowledge. That is, we
would have to examine the entire population.
• Hypothesis testing is formulated in terms of
two hypotheses:
• H0: the null hypothesis;
• H1: the alternate hypothesis.
How to conduct a TOH

Null Alternative

P-value ≤ .05
 How to conduct a TOH

Null Alternative

P-value > 0.05

 Class Assignment
• Formulate at least one simple, complex, null,
alternative, directional, non-directional,
associative & causal hypothesis from your
research problem.
THANK YOU