By Prof. Dr. Salahuddin Khan WHAT IS HYPOTHESIS? By Prof. Dr. Salahuddin Khan

. Hypothesis is a prediction that we believe that what the study will find. Or put it another way the answer to the research question. It is an empirical statement that can be verified based upon observation or experience. It is testable to be true or false through the research study findings. Hypothesis is the tentative presumption of the relationship between two or more variables that interpret the outcomes of the study

. For example, A study designed to look at the relationship between the athletes who experience competitive anxiety prior to competition shown better performance than those athletes who do not experience pre-competitive anxiety. "This study is designed to assess the hypothesis that pre-competitive anxieties will results better performance on a test than those who have no pre-competition anxiety."

. Remember, a hypothesis does not have to be correct. 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.

Hypothesis is a Prediction of Possible Answer or Outcomes of the Study, For Example, the following questions are formulated in the shape of possible hypothesis. Question “Will athletes who are trained by a coach of the same gender likely to improve performance than athletes trained by a coach of a different gender?” Hypothesis may be “Athletes trained by a coach of the same gender will likely improve the performance more than athletes trained by a coach of a different gender”

. Question “How University Professors feel about special classes of Physical Education for the educationally handicapped students?” Hypothesis may be “Professors of Sports Sciences & Physical Education Department believe that special classes of Physical Education for educationally handicapped students will help such students to improve their academics performance”

. Note:- The dependent variable is likely for training, the independent variable is the gender of coach. Possible outcomes variables includes the personality and ability of the coaches involved; the personality and ability of athletes, the technique and methods used by the coaches, styles of coaches, age of the coaches and others. The researcher would want to control as many as these variables as possible.

MANY DIFFERENT POSSIBLE HYPOTHESES CAN COME FROM A SINGLE QUESTION For Example; Question is Why our college Football team down in intercollegiate competitions  

Different Hypotheses of the Question . Different Hypotheses of the Question

Many of them are new, they do not have proper coaching . Many of them are new, they do not have proper coaching

It is a coach who does not pay attention to players . It is a coach who does not pay attention to players

. The players are uninterested now days; they just do not care about the Game

They don’t believe that Football will pay off for them . They don’t believe that Football will pay off for them

No, its facilities we just don’t have . No, its facilities we just don’t have

They are too busy on Facebook . They are too busy on Facebook

. Many of players busy on cell phone all the night, and don’t have proper rest

A Good Hypothesis Contains Hypothesis must be based on your research topic Hypothesis must be testable Hypothesis must include dependent and independent variables States clearly and concisely the expected relationship (or difference) between two variables and refines the variables in operational, measurable terms A well stated hypothesis must be testable within some reasonable period of time

Advantages of Hypotheses in Addition to Research Questions Hypothesis force us to think deeply about the outcomes of the study Formulating hypothesis from question can lead to more sophisticated understanding of a question and aware about the exact variables that are involved When there are more than one possible hypotheses suggested from a question of a study, the researcher is forced to think carefully what he really want to investigate

Disadvantages of Stated Hypotheses Stating hypotheses may be biased, either consciously or unconsciously on the part of researcher. Once investigators state hypotheses, they may be curious to arrange the procedures or manipulate the data in such a way as to bring about desired outcomes.

Types of Hypotheses Hypotheses can be classified in two ways: By how they are derived (rationale/logic) Inductive (generalization based on specific observations) Deductive (derived from general theory) How they are stated Declarative Hypotheses Non – directional Directional Null Hypotheses

Non – Directional Declarative Hypothesis “There is a significant difference in the achievement of M.Phil. Sports Sciences & Physical Education students who are instructed using multimedia and those who receive regular instruction only.” The hypotheses state there is a significant difference, but does not suggest what the differences will be (no direction indicated).

Directional Declarative Hypothesis “M.Phil. Sports Sciences & Physical Education students who are instructed using multimedia achieve at a higher level than those who receive regular instruction only” In the above hypothesis, notice the stated direction (achieve at a higher level).

Null Hypothesis “There is no difference in the achievement of M.Phil. Sports Sciences & Physical Education students who are instructed using multimedia and those who receive regular instruction only”

Examples of a Good Hypothesis A hypothesis often follows a basic format of "If (this happens) then (this will happen)." One way to structure your hypothesis is to describe what will happen to the dependent variable if you make changes to the independent variable. The basic format might be: "If (these changes are made to a certain independent variable), then we will observe (a change in a specific dependent variable)."

A few examples: “Distance Runners who get training in the morning will perform better in a competition than those who do not get training in the morning” "Athletes who experience competitive anxiety prior to competition will show better performance than those who do not experience pre-competition anxiety."

Checklist Does your hypothesis focus on what you want to test Or that something you want to achieve from your study Does your hypothesis include both dependent and independent variables Can you make changes or alter the variables Can the hypothesis be testable without violating the ethical standards of research

Scientific Hypothesis The scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the available scientific theories.

Working Hypothesis A working hypothesis is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted as a basis for further research in the hope that a tenable theory will be produced, even if the hypothesis ultimately fails Like all hypotheses, a working hypothesis is constructed as a statement of expectations, which can be linked to the exploratory research purpose in experimental investigation and are often used as a conceptual framework in qualitative research

. Working hypothesis is a suggested or supported in some measure by features of observed facts, from which consequences may be deduced which can be tested by experiment and special observations, and which it is proposed to subject to an extended course of such investigation, with the hope that, even should the hypothesis thus be overthrown, such research may lead to a tenable theory

Statistical Hypothesis Testing If a possible correlation between variables are tested. For example, when tested that whether, the athletes with high competition anxiety show high performance, may be this is to some extent or for some athletes. Thus the hypothesis that claimed that relationship is existing, cannot be claimed for all athletes. It means that if it is claimed for all the athletes that pre-competition anxiety shown greater performance proposed the new law of nature. In such investigations few cases in which relationship has shown do not falsify the hypothesis. Instead statistical test are used to determine that how possible is the overall effect of no relationship as hypothesized exist. If that effect/likelihood is sufficiently small (e.g. less than 1%) the existence of a relation may be assumed.

. In statistical hypothesis testing two hypotheses are compared, null hypothesis, and alternate hypothesis. The significance levels for testing of hypothesis are .10, .05, .01. Whether the null hypothesis is rejected and alternate is accepted. The entire hypothesis must be determined or formulated in advance before the data collection and analysis. It the hypothesis developed after collection/analysis of data or observation, and the results are already known, the test will be invalid

. It is important here to maintain that the above procedure is actually dependent on the number of participant or sample size that included in the study. For instance, the small sample size will result in rejection of null hypothesis, therefore it is recommended to specify the sample from the start of the study or analysis. It is also recommended that small, medium, and large sample size effects must be define for each of a number of the important statistical test which are used to be test the hypothesis.

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