The Research Question And Hypothesis (Page 2 of 2) in pdf

The Research Question And Hypothesis Page 2

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Null hypotheses are used in the sciences. In the scientific method, a null

hypothesis is formulated, and then a scientific investigation is conducted to try

to disprove the null hypothesis. If it can be disproved, another null hypothesis

is constructed and the process is repeated.

As an example, we might begin with the null hypothesis:

Sleep does not affect reflexes.

If we can disprove this, we find that sleep does have an effect. We might then

go to the next null hypothesis:

Different amounts of sleep have the same effect on reflexes.

If we can disprove this, we can go to:

Maximum reflex efficiency is not achieved after eight hours of sleep.

And so on. At each stage in the investigation, we conduct experiments

designed to try to disprove the hull hypothesis.

What is the

A generalized form of the final hypothesis (not the null hypothesis) can be

used as a thesis statement. For example, if our final proved hypothesis is:

relationship

between the null

hypothesis and

Maximum reflex efficiency is achieved after eight hours of sleep

the thesis

statement of a

we might generalize this to a thesis statement such as:

research report?

This investigation demonstrated that sleep has an effect on reflex efficiency

and that, in fact, maximum reflex efficiency is achieved after a specific period

of sleep.

The Research Question And Hypothesis Page 2