What is Research Hypothesis

What is a research hypothesis?

While conducting a research one of the most important consideration is the formulation of hypothesis. Hypothesis is a hunch or assumption that you want to test for possible acceptance or rejection. In research there can be more than one hypothesis or not a single hypothesis. Hypothesis is not necessary for any research but hypothesis formulation is significantly important in research. A researcher might not be able to conclude before conducting the research about the phenomenon, situation or a condition that he is studying in his research. Hypothesis formulation makes it easier to go in a particular direction and get the conclusion.

Why hypothesis is important in a research?

The significance of the hypothesis cannot be underestimated in a research. A hypothesis is second most important consideration in formulating research problem. Although hypothesis is not essential in any study but it is part of most of the research studies.

Clarity

A hypothesis brings clarity to a research hence making it easier to understand. Clarity is very important especially there should have to be clarity in the research problem. Hypothesis clears any ambiguities in the research problem. A well stated hypothesis makes it clear to the researcher that in what way he has to carry out his research.

Specificity

Every researcher wants to to bring specificity in his research and hypothesis makes the research very specific. When hypothesis is formulated the researcher get to know that he has to work only on specific areas of the research problem. The researcher has to test only those aspects of the research problem that can reject or accept the hypothesis.

Focus

No research can be conducted properly unless there is some focus in it. The researcher should focus on the specific areas of the research. The hunch or the guess that the researcher formulates gives the researc a focal point. The researcher can now work on the focal point without wandering here and there. The researcher now knows what are the specific areas of the research that he has to investigate in this research. He knows that what data he has to collect and what data is not needed in this research.

Direction

Hypothsis also shows direction to the researcher. Without hypothsis the researcher looks at various aspects of the research as he has to decide how to start the research. Hytpothesis makes the research directional and to the point. It also improves the quality of the research because as the research becomes directional it also becomes objective. The chances of bias also reduces in a directional research.

Empirical

One of the most important quality of the hypothesis is that it makes the research empirical and the findings of such research are valid and generalizable. Every research should be based on scientific methods and hypothesis makes it easier for the researcher to use scientific methods in the research.

How to formulate a research hypothesis?

Formulation of research hypothesis is a crucial step in the research study. You have to consider several factors since hypothesis is important for the research.

Well-defined

The first quality of a research hypothesis is that it should be well-defined, simple and easy to understnad. The research hypotheis should have to be well-defined so that you can easily focus on it, an ambiguous hypothesis can be misleading and it can ruin the whole research. Simplicity in wording is important so that you can easily understand it and you do not take double meanings of the hypothesis. Clarity is also important in a research hypothesis as clarity also helps in verifying the research ypothesis.

Relevant

The research hypothesis should have to be relevant to the research study. An irrelevant hypothesis has no value and such hypothesis can mislead the complete study.

Measurable

One of the most important consideration in formulating a research hypothesis is that it should have to be measurable. There are certain scales on which we test our hypothesis if the hypothesis is not measurable the researhcer cannot test the significance of the hypothesis. Without measurement of the hypothesis the researcher cannot reach any conclusion.

Verifiable

Every hypotheis that a researcher formulates has to be verified using certain methods and tehniques. Every hypothesis should have to be verifiable. Verification is necessary as it helps in analyzing the research and reaching a conclusion.

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