Creating hypotheses for your thesis?

Before you start doing research for your thesis, you need to create hypotheses. These are predictions you make about the outcomes of your research. The research should then show whether these expectations match reality. It is important to draw up good hypotheses before you start your research. How do you do that? We'll show you, using some examples of hypotheses.

A hypothesis is a prediction of the expected outcomes in your research. For example, you state what relationship you expect to observe between two variables, or what differences you expect to see between two groups. 

You will then test that hypothesis through an appropriate research method. This could be an experiment, for example. On the basis of that research, you can later accept the hypothesis (if the research confirms the hypothesis) or reject it (if the research results do not confirm the hypothesis). 

Hypotheses are based on your research question and sub-questions. With them, you make a prediction for the answer to the sub-questions. In doing so, you often predict something about the relationship between an independent and a dependent variable. 

There are roughly three types of hypotheses. Some hypotheses deal with cause-and-effect, others with the relationship between variables, and some hypotheses zoom in on the differences between two study populations.

These are possible examples of hypotheses:

• Causal relationship: 

  • If 55+ people exercise 15 minutes more each day, it will have positive effects on their overall well-being. 

  • When grade 8 students with dyslexia receive personal tutoring, they achieve higher scores on the CITO test.

• Difference:

  • Psychology students who do not use their phones during lectures achieve higher exam grades than psychology students who do use their phones. 

  • Students who smoke are more likely to use drugs than students who do not smoke. 

• Coherence:

  • Eating a healthy breakfast boosts economics students' concentration during lectures before noon. 

  • Watching the NOS news daily creates a more negative image of the future among 18-year-olds. 

Hypotheses for your thesis are always based on your research question. To do this, you go through the following three steps. 

1. Get your research question clear

The hypotheses arise from your main question. If your main question covers a large number of elements, you often formulate additional sub-questions. In that case, your sub-questions zoom in on those individual elements. 

Your research question contains the variables that are important for your thesis. To clarify for yourself which relationships you expect to arise between these variables and how the variables are related, you can make a conceptual model. This is a visual representation of the relationship between the variables. 

2. Orient yourself within the existing literature

The hypotheses for your thesis should always be based on previous research. To do this, you conduct prior literature research in existing books, articles and other sources that discuss your research topic. 

Often you will find that previous literature uses a slightly different approach than you do. After all, when all is said and done, your research is (and should be) different from existing research. However, findings from related research can help you make a prediction for your research. 

Discuss findings from previous literature in your theoretical framework, including the correct source citations, of course. 

3. Formulate the hypotheses

You now have your research question or sub-questions clear, and you know the results from previous literature. See if you can make an initial prediction for the answer to your research question(s) based on those results. First, write down your expectations in draft form for yourself, and use that draft to build the hypotheses for your thesis. 

Make sure your hypotheses include at least these elements:

• Among which group(s) are you conducting research? 

• What variables are reflected in your research?

• What outcome do you expect?

• What type of relationship do you expect it to be (cause-effect, difference, or relationship)? 

The form of the hypothesis is not fixed. However, hypotheses surrounding a cause-and-effect relationship often follow an "if..., then... " sentence structure. 

The hypothesis examples listed above can help you set up your hypotheses correctly. 

After establishing your hypotheses, it is time to test them. In other words, you are going to examine whether or not the research results confirm your expectations. In this way, you can ultimately confirm or reject each hypothesis. To do this, it isimportant to operationalize the variables (i.e., make them measurable).

Are you going to test the hypotheses with statistical analysis? Then, you will set up two variants for each hypothesis:

1. The null hypothesis (H0): the expectation that there is no relationship between the variables.

2. The alternative hypothesis (H1): the expectation that a relationship between the variables does exist. 

Example null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis

Suppose your research question is "What relationship exists among psychology students in the Netherlands between smoking and using drugs?" A sub-question you have formulated in this regard is "Do psychology students in the Netherlands who smoke also use drugs more often?" With these questions, you can formulate the following hypotheses:

1. Null hypothesis: psychology students in the Netherlands who smoke are as likely to use drugs as psychology students who do not smoke. 

2. Alternative hypothesis: psychology students in the Netherlands who smoke are more likely to use drugs than psychology students who do not smoke. 

You will then use the chosen research method to test these hypotheses. This could be, for example, in the form of interviews, surveys or literature reviews

In the conclusion, you indicate whether the hypotheses have been confirmed or rejected by your research. Based on this, you can answer the research question and/or sub-questions.

Your thesis has quite a few parts, and it is also important that you position them in the right places in your thesis structure. How do you avoid overlooking things or missing the common thread? Our editors will help you with that. 

The AthenaCheck editors can check your thesis for language, structure and/or common thread. You will receive feedback on all of these components, and will be able to submit the best possible version of your thesis. Check out our review services and upload your document right away. We will help you.