Expert Advice on Developing a Hypothesis for PhD Students

Is there anything more difficult than a PhD dissertation? Yes, a PhD dissertation that requires a mixed approach.

When you adopt a mixed approach for your research, you have to combine qualitative an quantitative research methods – and for the quantitative part, you may have to form and test hypotheses.

Characteristics Of A Hypothesis

If you plan to write a Hypothesis for a PhD dissertation, then you have to understand how to correctly formulate a Hypothesis.

Following are the characteristics your Hypothesis should contain:

  • Your Hypothesis should be clear and precise for it to be considered reliable.
  • If the Hypothesis is relational, then it should be stating the relationship between two variables.
  • Your Hypothesis should be specific and should be eligible for conducting more tests on it.
  • The way of explaining your Hypothesis should be simple but remember the simplicity of your Hypothesis is not related to its significance.

Expert Advice On Developing A Hypothesis

Ask a Question:

You should begin writing your Hypothesis with a research question that you want to answer. Your question should be concentrated upon, to the point, and researchable.

Do Preliminary Research:

Your answer to that question should be based upon what is popularly known about your topic. For that, you can look at previous literary reviews and theories. It will help you form well-informed assumptions about what your research will find.

At this point, you shall also construct a conceptual framework that will help you identify the variables you will study and the relationship between them.

Creating Your Hypothesis:

Now that you are somewhat familiar with the idea of what you are expecting to find through the Hypothesis in your scientific research, proceed to write it down in a clear and concise sentence. You can also try getting the best PhD dissertation help & phd dissertation proofreading services from a qualified peer, or a research consultant. this will help you get more thorough with your Hypothesis.

Polish Your Hypothesis:

Once you are done with writing, Its time to polish your hypotheses – which simply means you have to make it specific and testable.

Specificity:

Your hypotheis should not be general and it should explain the expected relationship between the variables

Testablity:

The hypodissertation should not be a moral judgement of your topic and it should directly or indirectly measurable.

 

 

 

 

 

There are multiple ways in which you can phrase your Hypothesis but remember that whatever term you use should have a clear definition. Your dissertation Hypothesis should contain:

  • The relevant variales.
  • A particular group being studied
  • A predicted outcome of your experiment or analysis.

You can also try getting the best PhD dissertation help from a qualified friend this will help you get more through with your Hypothesis.

Phrasing Your Hypothesis:

If you want to identify the variables then write a simple prediction using the “if…then” form. The first part of your sentence will comprise of the independent variable and the second one will contain the dependent variable.

For example, Do workers who do night duties have more disturbed sleeping patterns?

  • Hypothesis: Workers who do night duties will have more disturbed sleeping patterns.

You are more likely to opt for hypotheses that are phrased in terms of correlation, as a Ph.D. student. This is because correlational hypotheses are often associated with academic research. You use this type of Hypothesis when you directly want to state the predicted relationship between the variables.

For example, The number of nightshifts a worker does has a negative effect on his sleeping patterns.

If you are aiming to compare two groups, then the Hypothesis will illustrate what difference are you expecting to find between them.

For example, The workers who do night shifts will have are disturbed sleeping patterns than those who do morning shifts.

Writing a Null Hypothesis:

There may be instances that your dissertation will involve statistical Hypothesis testing for which you should write a null Hypothesis. According to the null Hypothesis, both the variables have no relationship between them. The null Hypothesis is usually denoted by H0.

For example, Workers who do night shifts do not have disturbed sleeping patterns.

The opposite of the null Hypothesis is called the alternative Hypothesis which is often denotd by H1.  It suggests that there is a relationship between the variables.

Conclusion

Yes, a PhD dissertation is difficult – especially if you are going for a mixed methodology. With the expert advice shared above, you will be able to get your Hypothesis right. However, you will encounter many challemges as you go along with your dissertation. When that happens and you are unable to move forward, look for online phd dissertation help from a dissertation concultant.

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