Types of Hypotheses and Their Examples

Subject: Sciences
Pages: 1
Words: 273
Reading time:
< 1 min

The different types of hypotheses are inductive, deductive, and research. The last is divided into directional or non-directional research and statistical hypotheses, which include a null hypothesis. An example of a directional hypothesis is if the students who use the study pack will score higher on the science test than those using only textbooks.

A non-directional one states students involved in sports will perform better than the ones who do not. Directional hypothesis points towards a specific outcome, while non-directional gravitates towards the most probable outcome. Deductive is formed when if implies then. An example is, “if underwater animals die upon being extracted from the water to the land, then animals which live on land will die upon being put in the water. But hippopotamus lives both in and out of water.” Inductive comes with a general conclusion based on observation. An example is the following, “the sum of all the angles in a quadrilateral, regardless of its shape, is always 360 degrees”.

Finally, the null hypothesis believes in the result being purely statistical. For example, there is no difference between albinos who die early with the ones that die in their old age.

In order to create a reasonable hypothesis, one ought to develop a general one first. This overall hypothesis captures the variables but does not give guidance for research. Upon refining the general hypothesis, one should write the second, which is more directional. The final stage is to develop a hypothesis that goes beyond direction, to test the oriented hypothesis.