Hypothesis
Hypotheses bring clarity, specificity and focus to a
research problem, but are not essential for a study.
Hypothesis
Black and Champion define a hypothesis as ‘a tentative
statement about something, the validity of which is usually
unknown’ (1976: 126).
A proposition that is stated in a testable form and that
predicts a particular relationship between two (or more)
variables.
H1: There is a significant relationship between gender and
facilities.
In other words, if we think that a relationship exists, we first
state it as a hypothesis and then test the hypothesis in the
field. (1978: 35)
Types of hypothesis
1. Null Hypothesis (H0 )—It is the presumption
that is accepted as correct unless there is
strong evidence against it.
2. Alternative Hypothesis (H1 )—It is accepted
when H0 is rejected.
Characteristics of Hypothesis
1. A hypothesis should be simple, specific and
conceptually clear
2. A hypothesis should be capable of verification.
3. A hypothesis should be related to the existing
body of knowledge
4. A hypothesis should be operationalizable.
Hypothesis Development and Testing
Hypothesis is an assumption or claim about some
characteristic of a population, which we should be able
to support or reject on the basis of empirical evidence.
Hypothesis testing is a process for choosing between
different alternatives which have to be-
1) mutually exclusive and
2) exhaustive.
Hypothesis Development and Testing
For example: An electric bulb manufacturing
company may claim that the average life of its bulbs is
at least 1000 hours.
Now we will try to find out the alternatives:
The alternatives have to be mutually exclusive and
exhaustive.
Average life of the bulb is greater than or equal to
1000 hours.
Average life of the bulb is less than 1000 hours.
Hypothesis Development and Testing
Typically, in hypothesis testing, we have two options
to choose from. These are termed as null hypothesis
and alternate hypothesis.
Null Hypothesis (H0 )—It is the presumption that is
accepted as correct unless there is strong
evidence against it.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1 )—It is accepted when
H0 is rejected.
Hypothesis Development and Testing
Null hypothesis represents the status-quo and
alternate hypothesis is the negation of the status-
quo situation.
One way to ensure that null hypothesis is
formulated correctly is to observe that when null
hypothesis is accepted, no corrective action is
needed.
Hypothesis Development and Testing
It should be noted that negation of the null hypothesis
also means that some corrective action is needed to
ensure that the average life of bulbs is at least 1000
hours.
Type I and Type II Errors
While testing a hypothesis, if we reject it when it
should be accepted, it amounts to Type I error.
On the other hand, accepting a hypothesis when it
should be rejected amounts to Type II error.
Generally, any attempt to reduce one type of error
results in increasing the other type of error.
The only way to reduce both types of errors is
to increase the sample size.
