{"id":5368,"date":"2013-02-09T18:27:08","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T18:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/SchoolTutoring.com\/help\/?p=5368"},"modified":"2014-12-02T08:27:05","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:27:05","slug":"forming-a-good-hypothesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/forming-a-good-hypothesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Forming a Good Hypothesis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview of the Process<\/strong>
\nForming a good hypothesis is essential to the success of any science experiment.\u00a0 In order for a hypothesis to work well, it should be clear, testable, and express a relationship between something changed (the independent variable) with something that can be measured (the dependent variable).\u00a0 Even though the word guess <\/span>is often used as a synonym for the word hypothesis<\/span>, a hypothesis is not just a guess.<\/p>\n

Making the Hypothesis Clear<\/strong>
\nA good hypothesis cannot be formed on the first try (like a first draft).\u00a0 When scientists have a research idea, it is the result of careful thought and observation about something in the world that can be stated in simple terms.\u00a0 For example, astronomers \u00a0discovered several dwarf planets orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, \u00a0because they noticed that the motions of Uranus and Neptune were not quite what they expected.\u00a0 The simplest idea was that there was something causing the erratic motion.<\/p>\n

Can It Be Tested?<\/strong>
\nA good hypothesis, if it is going to be useful, must be testable.\u00a0 This is especially clear with ideas in the field of social science.\u00a0 For example, some psychologists talk about unconscious impulses underlying much of behavior, but until there’s a way to measure and locate those impulses, it can’t be proven that they exist scientifically. (Nor can it be proven that they don’t exist, which is another point about ideas being testable.)\u00a0 If something cannot be proven nor disproven, it is often in the realm of philosophy.<\/p>\n

Expressing Change Through Measurement:\u00a0 Growing Better Through Science<\/strong>
\nWhen conducting experiments, scientists manipulate one variable and measure what happens.\u00a0 That way, the hypothesis is both clear and testable.\u00a0 Whatever is manipulated or changed is called the independent variable, and what is measured is the dependent variable.\u00a0 The relationship between the change and the measurement of that change is the hypothesis.\u00a0 For example, suppose a researcher wants to know what fertilizer works best to grow plants.\u00a0 She devises a simple experiment, using three types of fertilizers (A, B, and C).\u00a0 The scientist chooses them and decides how they will be used, and they are the independent variable.\u00a0 In addition, the scientist measures growth by how tall the plant grows, and the measurement of length is the dependent variable.<\/p>\n

Prediction, Prediction, Prediction<\/strong>
\nA good hypothesis also be stated as a prediction, a special kind of if-then statement which is clear, testable, and expresses relationships.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 a scientist wants to determine the best time of day to feed lab rats.\u00a0 The hypothesis:\u00a0 If the time of day makes a difference, then the rats should eat a different amount of food when the time of day is changed.\u00a0 A lab technician in another part of the world should be able to repeat the experiment with their population of rats and get similar results.<\/p>\n

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Overview of the Process Forming a good hypothesis is essential to the success of any science experiment.\u00a0 In order for a hypothesis to work well, it should be clear, testable, and express a relationship between something changed (the independent variable) with something that can be measured (the dependent variable).\u00a0 Even though the word guess is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[478,627,930,1098,1592],"class_list":["post-5368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","tag-dependent-vaiable","tag-experimental-science","tag-independent-variable","tag-measurement","tag-scientific-method"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}