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Introduction
Bibliography
Introduction 03
Conclusion 20
References 21
The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How,
What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where?
And, in order for the scientific method to answer the question it must be about something that
you can measure, preferably with a number.
Just as it does for a professional scientist, the scientific method will help you to focus your
science fair project question, construct a hypothesis, design, execute, and evaluate your
experiment.
(1) ‘Hypo’ means tentative or subject to the verification and ‘Thesis’ means statement
about solution of a problem.
The world meaning of the term hypothesis is a tentative statement about the solution of the
problem. Hypothesis offers a solution of the problem that is to be verified empirically and
based on some rationale.
(2) ‘Hypo’ means composition of two or more variables which is to be verified. ‘Thesis’
means position of these variables in the specific frame of reference.
This is the operational meaning of the term hypothesis. Hypothesis is the composition of some
variables which have some specific position or role of the variables i.e. to be verified
empirically. It is a proposition about the factual and conceptual elements. Hypothesis is called
a leap into the dark. It is a brilliant guess about the solution of a problem.
- A Tentative generalization
- Shrewd Guess
“A theory when stated as a testable proposition formally and clearly and subjected
to empirical or experimental verification is known as a hypothesis.” M. Verma
1. They provide direction to research and prevent the review of irrelevant literature and the
collection of useful or excess data.
2. They sensitize the investigator certain aspects of situation which are irrelevant from the
standpoint of the problem at hand.
3. They enable the investigator to understand with greater clarity his problem and its
ramification.
1. It is conceptual in nature. Some kind of conceptual elements in the framework are involved
in a hypothesis. The concepts should be clearly defined, operationally if possible. Moreover,
they should be definitions which are commonly accepted and communicable rather than the
products of a “private world” .
3. It has the empirical referent. A hypothesis contains some empirical referent. It indicates the
tentative relationship between two or more variables. In other words, while the hypothesis
may study value judgments, such a goal must be separated from a moral preachment or a plea
for acceptance of one’s values [7]
4. It has a forward or future reference. A hypothesis is future oriented. It relates to the future
verification not the past facts and informations.
5. It is the pivot of a scientific research. All the research activities are designed for its
verification.
The nature of hypothesis can be well understood by differentiating it with other terms like
assumption and postulate.
Assumption: Assumption means taking things for granted so that the situation is simplified
for logical procedure. They merely facilitate the progress of an agreement a partial
simplification by introducing restrictive conditions. For example, the formulas of Statistics
and measurement are based on number of assumptions. Assumption means restrictive
conditions before the argument can become valid. Assumptions are made on the basis of
logical insight and their truthfulness can be observed on the basis of data or evidences.
Postulate: Postulates are the working beliefs of most scientific activity. The mathematician
begins by postulating a system of numbers which range from 0 to 9 and can permute and
combine only thereafter. Similarly ‘Hull’s Theory of Reinforcement’s is based on eight
postulates of behavior of an organism. With many people God and Spirit is a postulate of the
good life or godly life. Postulates are not proven; they are simply accepted at their face value
so that their basic work for the discovery of other facts of nature can begin.
Example
- If skin cancer is related to ultraviolet light , then people with a high exposure to uv light will
have a higher frequency of skin cancer.
- If leaf color change is related to temperature, then exposing plants to low temperatures will
result in changes in leaf color.
Notice that these statements contain the words, if and then. They are necessary in a formalized
hypothesis. But not all if-then statements are hypotheses. For example,
- If I play the lottery, then I will get rich. This is a simple prediction.
In a formalized hypothesis, a tentative relationship is stated. if you always ask yourself that if
one thing is related to another, then you should be able to test it.
Formalized hypotheses contain two variables. One is "independent" and the other is
"dependent" [4]. The independent variable is the one you, the "scientist" control and the
dependent variable is the one that you observe and/or measure the results.
Question: Which AA battery maintains its voltage for the longest period of time in low,
medium, and high current drain devices?
Low current drain Same portable CD player | Play the same music track | Play at the same volume level
All groups Battery size (AA) | Constant temperature (A battery works better at a warm temperature.)
Hypothesis: As I test for increasingly long periods of time, the Energizer AA battery will
maintain a higher voltage than other batteries.
2. A good hypothesis does not conflict with any law of nature which is known to be true.
5. A good hypothesis shows very clear verbalization. It is different from what is generally
called hunch.
6. A good hypothesis ensures that the methods of verification are under control of the
investigator.
7. A good hypothesis guarantees that available tools and techniques will be effectively used
for the purpose of verification.
8. A good hypothesis takes into account the different types controls which are to be exercised
for the purpose of verification.
10. A good hypothesis indicates clearly the role of different variables involved in the study.
11. A good hypothesis maintains a very apparent distinction with what is called theory law,
facts, assumption and postulate.
Make it clear. A good hypothesis is written in clear and simple language. Reading
your hypothesis should tell a teacher or judge exactly what you thought was going to
happen when you started your project.
Keep the variables in mind. A good hypothesis defines the variables in easy-to-
measure terms, like who the participants are, what changes during the testing, and
what the effect of the changes will be. (For more information about identifying
variables, see: Variables in Your Science Fair Project.)
Make sure your hypothesis is "testable." To prove or disprove your hypothesis, you
need to be able to do an experiment and take measurements or make observations to
see how two things (your variables) are related. You should also be able to repeat your
experiment over and over again, if necessary.
To create a "testable" hypothesis make sure you have done all of these things:
1. Thought about what experiments you will need to carry out to do the test.
2. Identified the variables in the project.
3. Included the independent and dependent variables in the hypothesis statement. (This
helps ensure that your statement is specific enough.
Do your research. You may find many studies similar to yours have already been
conducted. What you learn from available research and data can help you shape your
project and hypothesis.
Don't bite off more than you can chew! Answering some scientific questions can
involve more than one experiment, each with its own hypothesis. Make sure your
hypothesis is a specific statement relating to a single experiment.
When there is less oxygen in the water, rainbow Our universe is surrounded by another,
trout suffer more lice. larger universe, with which we can have
Kristin says: "This hypothesis is good because it is absolutely no contact.
testable, simple, written as a statement, and establishes Kristin says: "This statement may or may not be
the participants (trout), variables (oxygen in water, and true, but it is not a scientific hypothesis. By its
numbers of lice), and predicts effect (as oxygen levels go very nature,it is not testable. There are no
down, the numbers of lice go up)." observations that a scientist can make to tell
whether or not the hypothesis is correct. This
statement is speculation, not a hypothesis."
Aphid-infected plants that are exposed to ladybugs Ladybugs are a good natural pesticide for
will have fewer aphids after a week than aphid- treating aphid infected plants.
infected plants which are left untreated. Sandra says: "This statement is not 'bite size.'
Sandra says: "This hypothesis gives a clear indication of Whether or not something is a 'good natural
what is to be tested (the ability of ladybugs to curb an pesticide' is too vague for a science fair project.
aphid infestation), is a manageable size for a single There is no clear indication of what will be
experiment, mentions the independent variable measured to evaluate the prediction.
(ladybugs) and the dependent variable (number of
aphids), and predicts the effect (exposure to ladybugs
reduces the number of aphids)."
(i) The Independent Variable: The independent variable which is a stimulus variable or input
operates either within a person or within environment to affect his behaviour. It is that factor
which is measured, manipulated. or selected by the experimenter to determine its relationship
to an observed phenomena.
If a researcher is studying the relationship between two variables X and Y. If X is independent
variable, then it affects another variable Y: So the characteristics of independent variables are:
(ii) The Dependent Variable: The dependent variable is response variable or output. It is an
observed aspect of the behaviour of an organism that has been stimulated. The dependent
variable is that factor which is observed and measured to determine the effect of the
independent variables. It is the variable that will change as a result of variations in the
independent variable. It is considered dependent because its value depends upon the value of
the independent variable. It represents the consequence of change in the parson or situation
studied.
(iii) The Moderator Variable: The term moderator variable describes a special type of
independent variable a secondary independent variable selected for study to determine if it
affects the relationship between the primary independent variable and the dependent variable.
The moderator variable is defined as that factor which is measured, manipulated or selected
by the experimenter to discover whether it modifies the relationship of independent variable
to an observed phenomena. The sex and rural urban generally function as moderator variables.
(iv) Control Variable: All the variables in a situation can not be studied at the same time,
some must be neutralized to guarantee that they will not have a differential or moderating
effect on the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. These variables
whose effects must be neutralized or controlled are known as control variables. They are
defined as those factors which are controlled by experimenter to cancel out or neutralize any
effect they might otherwise have on the observed phenomena. While the effects of the control
variables are neutralized, the effect of moderator variables are studied. Certain variables
appear repeatedly as control variables, although they occasionally serve as moderator
variables.
For example sex, intelligence and socio-economic status are three subject variables that are
commonly controlled, noise, task order and task content are common control variables in the
situation.
(v) Intervening Variable: Each independent, moderator, and control variable can be
manipulated by the experimenter and each variation can be observed by him as it affects the
dependent variable. Often these variables are not concrete but hypothetical, the relationship
between a hypothetical underlying or intervening variable and dependent variable. An
intervening variable is that factor which affects the observed phenomenon but cannot be seen
and measured or manipulated, Its effect must be inferred from the effects of the Independent
and moderator variables on the observed phenomena. The attitude, learning process, habit and
interest function as Intervening variables.
In addition, the extraneous variables have an impact upon this Intervening variable. Such
extraneous variables are not under the researcher’s control, their presence weakens a study.
One of the goals of a researcher is to remove as many significant factors as possible from the
extraneous variables category by bringing them into the categories of moderator and control
variables. Such a process of removing extraneous variables strengthens a study.
a. Question form of Hypotheses: Some writers assert that a hypothesis may be stated as a
question, however, there is no general consensus on this view. At best, it represents
the simplest level of empirical observation. The following example of a question is
used to illustrate the various hypothesis forms:
If your prediction specifies a direction, and the null therefore is the no difference prediction
and the prediction of the opposite direction, we call this a one-tailed hypothesis. For instance,
let's imagine that you are investigating the effects of a new employee training program and
that you believe one of the outcomes will be that there will be less employee absenteeism.
Your two hypotheses might be stated something like this:
HO: As a result of the company employee training program, there will either be no significant
difference in employee absenteeism or there will be a significant increase.
HA: As a result of the company employee training program, there will be a significant
decrease in employee absenteeism.
You believe (based on theory and the previous research) that the drug will have an effect, but
you are not confident enough to hypothesize a direction and say the drug will reduce
depression (after all, you've seen more than enough promising drug treatments come along
that eventually were shown to have severe side effects that actually worsened symptoms). In
this case, you might state the two hypotheses like this:
HA: As a result of 300mg./day of the drug, there will be a significant difference in depression.
Hypothesis C: "Any two objects dropped from the same height above the surface of the earth
will hit the ground at the same time, as long as air resistance is not a factor."
Hypothesis C is a scientific hypothesis because:
+ It is testable - pick 2 objects, and drop them. Of course, you may have to provide a vacuum
for them to fall in, in order to remove air resistance from consideration.
+ It is falsifiable - If anyone finds 2 objects that don't hit the ground at the same time and can
show that it is not due to air resistance, then she has proven the hypothesis wrong. This
hypothesis "sticks its neck out" for every test. In theory and in practice, if Hypothesis C were
wrong, it would be very easy and straightforward to show it.
Note that it is very easy to prove Hypothesis C wrong, but it is impossible to prove it correct!
Since Hypothesis C states that any pair of objects behaves in a certain way, in order to prove
it correct, all possible combinations of objects that exist (or have ever, or will ever exist) must
be tested. This is clearly not possible. As we test Hypothesis C more and more, we can get
more and more confident in its truth, but we can never be absolutely sure. Someone could
always come up with 2 objects tomorrow which don't behave exactly as Hypothesis C says
they should, and this would make Hypothesis C incorrect.
Actually, this almost happened. Just a few years ago a group of physicists published a paper
claiming that careful reanalysis of some experimental data published at the turn of the century
(which confirmed Hypothesis C) actually showed that things made of large, heavy atoms fall
very slightly faster than things made of small, light atoms. This "fifth (antigravity) force" idea
caused quite a stir for a short while, but no one has (so far) been able to confirm this effect. If
other physicists had been able to observe it, Hypothesis C would have been proven wrong.
According to L. R. Gay and Peter Airasian, a hypothesis is a tentative explanation for certain
behaviors, phenomena, or events that have occurred or will occur. "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." (Gay 1996, page 62).
A well-stated and defined hypothesis must be testable. It should be possible to support or not
support the hypothesis by collecting and analyzing data. To formulate a research hypothesis
we start with a research question and generate operational definitions for all variables. A
hypothesis can be directional or non-directional. Hypothesis can also be classified in terms of
how they were derived inductive hypothesis which is a generalization based on observation
and deductive hypothesses derived from theory.
[2] Fundamental of Research Methodology and Statistics Y.K. Singh, NEW AGE
INTERNATIONAL (P) LIMITED, PUBLISHERS
[3] http://www.batesville.k12.in.us/physics/phynet/aboutscience/hypotheses.html
[4] http://www.accessexcellence.org/LC/TL/filson/writhypo.php
[5] http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_sample_variables.shtml
[6] Essentials of Behavioral Science Series Founding Editors, Alan S. Kaufman and Nadeen
L. Kaufman
[8] http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/hypothes.php
[9] Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application, Seventh Edition by L.
R. Gay and Peter Airasian (2003, Merrill/Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-099463-4)