• Question: Do you always write a hypothesis before conducting research?

    Asked by anon-342620 on 29 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Clare Ashton

      Clare Ashton answered on 29 Nov 2022:

      I guess this is necessary for you to set up the methodology to test your assumption?

    • Photo: Harry Piper

      Harry Piper answered on 29 Nov 2022:

      Absolutely! Hypotheses can differ though – I don’t always say (e.g.) X will be higher than Y but instead might just say they’ll be a difference but not sure how.

    • Photo: Ashleigh Johnstone

      Ashleigh Johnstone answered on 29 Nov 2022:

      A hypothesis is an important step at the start of the research process because it helps you justify your research. The hypothesis should be evidence based so it should follow a lot of the other research that you’ve been reading.

      The research process looks a little bit like this (although steps 1 and 2 could be either way around):
      1. Come up with an idea
      2. Read papers relevant to your idea to see what’s already been done
      3. Create your hypothesis about what you think you’ll find based on the reading you’ve done
      4. Find a way to create an experiment which will allow you to test your hypothesis 😊

    • Photo: Liz Halstead

      Liz Halstead answered on 29 Nov 2022:

      Hi- it depends on the research I am doing. Mostly yes, but if I am doing qualitative research and taking a grounded theory approach then I would not as this is not appropriate for this methodology!

    • Photo: Mhairi Bowe

      Mhairi Bowe answered on 30 Nov 2022:

      We use hypotheses when they are appropriate for the research design, for example if we are predicting something specific based on current knowledge and theories and when we are using quantitative (numerical) data. We don’t use them when we are using qualitative approaches e.g., interviewing people, because we don’t preume any specific experiences, thoughts, or views and remain exploratory in our approach…so the answer is ‘sometimes’.

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