Hypothesis, theory and scientific laws, Research, Methodology, Basic research

2. Contents
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Development and structure
Conditions for hypothesis
Source of Hypothesis
Method of Hypothesis Formulation
Method of Explanation
The Theory and its Structure
Elements of a Theory
Classification of Theory
Functions of Theory
Scientific Laws and Principles

3. Development and structure
• The word hypothesis was derived from the Greek, hypo
(under) & tithenas (to place) and suggests that when the
hypothesis is placed under the evidence as a foundation they
lead to support one another.
• It performs this function by providing a proposed explanation
which will have certain consequences, then may be confirmed
or refuted by testing

4. • Refers to a definite interpretation of a given set of facts, which
is put forth as a tentative suggestion and remains partly or
wholly unverified.
• After it is once established, it ceases to be a hypothesis and
becomes a theory or explanatory principle.

5. • Webster defines hypothesis as “a tentative theory of
supposition provisionally adopted t explain certain
facts and to guide in the investigation of others.
• Synonyms : assumption, supposition.

6. Conditions for hypothesis
1.
It must be so made that deduction can be made and consequently, a
decision reached as to whether or not it does explain the facts
considered.
2.
It should provide the answer to the problem which generated the
inquiry.
3.
A hypothesis should provide facts which would reveal certain
propositions to be true whose truths are not known at the time.
4.
It must help eliminate irrelevant facts and be simple. The simplest
hypothesis that will account for the facts should be chosen.

7. Source of Hypothesis
• In order for a hypothesis to originate, some problem
must exist to cause someone to start looking for facts
connected with this problem.
• These facts are then organized .
• The problem cannot even be started unless we are
familiar with the subject matter in which we discover
the problem.

8. • A hypothesis is believed to be relevant to a problem if
it expresses determinate modes of connection
between a set of facts, including the fact investigated.
• Sometimes scientists see a connection between
data, and then formulate a hypothesis.

9. Method of Hypothesis Formulation
• The method of hypothesis is restricted to the
formulation of good working suggestions and good
tentative principles of explanation.
• Certain general requirements or rules to be followed
in reaching a hypothesis are usually given by
logicians.

10. 1. The hypothesis should be conceivable and not
absurd.
2. The hypothesis must be of such a character that
deductions can be made from it.
3. A hypothesis should not contradict any of the known
and proven laws.

11. Method of Explanation
• To effect a complete explanation of a phenomenon,
it is necessary to carry on the investigation until the
hypothesis is fully verified.

12. Collecting the data
The Formulation of Hypothesis
Deduction from the Hypothesis
Verification of the separate deductions.

13. • Testing a hypothesis is really not a part of its development.
However, a brief outline of ways of testing a hypothesis
follows and may be valuable to a better understanding of its
development.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Observation and Experimentation.
Mathematical calculation.
Statistical Verification.
Verification by Elimination.
Verification by Disjunctive Reasoning.

14. The Theory and its Structure
• Henri Poincare (1854-1912), said : “Science is built
with facts as a house is built with stones, but a
collection of facts is no more science than a heap of
stones a house.”
• Samuelson develops his idea more precisely in a
formal definition : a theory is .. “a set of axioms,
postulates, or hypotheses that stipulate something
about observable reality

15. • Poincare & Samuelson imply or recoginze that theory
provides an organized substantiated plan of reasoning
about phenomena and their interrelationships.
• Theory provides a systematic method for conducting
scientific research and cultivates the scientific mind
toward fertile areas of knowledge discovery.

16. Elements of a Theory
• The Structure of a theory consists of certain elements
that, built one upon the other, form a deductive
system of reasoning.
• These elements are:
1. Assumptions
2. Theoretical terms
3. Theorems

17. Assumptions
• The Assumptions of a theory form a logical skeleton
for the explanatory system and define the basic
notions about the system.
• Such a conceptual world or abstract model is simpler
than the real world and contains only the forces that
the theory asserts to be important.

18. Theoretical terms
• Theoretical terms signify various entities that cannot be
specified except by way of some theory which postulates their
existence, or certain ideal limits of a theoretically endless
process.
• As coordinators of the variables or entities in the theory to
observable traits of things, these terms may be thought of as a
set of rules that define the class of phenomena for which the
model can be taken to be an adequate representation of the real
world.

19. Theorems
• Theorems should be logically deducible from the statements in
the assumptions.
• An interpretation or model for the abstract assumptions
supplies some flesh for the skeletal structure in terms of more
or less familiar, conceptual, or visualizable materials.

20. Classification of Theory
Pure theory
• Considered to be logical
deduction from assumed
promises.
• Relying on intellectual
speculations, pure theory
builds a conceptual model for
explaining observable
phenomena.
Practical theory
• It eschews all reference to
deductive reasoning,
generalizes relations abstracted
from observable phenomena .
• It is thought to put meaning
and purpose into the logic of
pure theory for the solution of
practical problems.

21. Classification of Theory …ctd
• An Axiomatizable theory consist of all the logical
consequences of a specified set of assumptions and can be
deduced from a subset of such consequences, since all the
assumptions are their own consequences and belong
themselves to a theory .
• Axiomatizing a theory amounts to constructing an axiomatic
system whose assumptions, theoretical terms, and theorems
add up to this theory.

22. • Phenomenological theories have all their statements, both the
assumptions and the consequences, about observable
phenomena.
• Since the assumptions of these theories can be validated, such
assumptions reduce to facts or laws and do not therefore,
enlarge the cognitive potentialities of science.

23. • Transcedent theories, as opposed to phenomenological
theories, contain fact-like or law-like consequences which
cannot be validated.
• If these theories are justifiable, they have to be included with
in the context of a theory system and the theory thus becomes
indispensable and cannot be replaced by any combination of
fact-like statements.

24. • Interdependent theories : For historical reasons &/or to
facilitate the division of scientific labour, ramified systems of
theories are clustered in a single discipline, or a special
science.
• Through inference or definition, one theory may be dependent
on the other or a whole heriarchy of theory may be
constructed.
• This interdependence is usually reciprocal.

25. • Self-correcting systems of theories are sequences of theories
in which each theory presupposes, extends, and refutes its
predecessor.
• This steady advance toward new theories which replace their
predecessors seems to constitute the fundamental pattern of
scientific progress.

26. Functions of Theory
• Theory
has
the
particular
functions
of
defining, systematizing, explaining, and predicting
the relationships between phenomena.

27. Language theory
• Designed to promote
systematic & organized
methods of reasoning.
• It is a set of tautologies.
A body of substantive hypotheses
• Theory abstracts features of
complex reality to explain,
predict, and validate
relationships between things.

28. Scientific Laws and Principles
• A scientific law is a statement of universal relationships
between classes, events, or facts.
• The term scientific law is often used ambiguously, sometimes
for the principle and sometimes for the formula or statement of
the principle or the phenomenon.
• The statement of scientific law in a simple form is an
abbreviation and simplification of experience of research that
establishes a scientific law.

29. • Scientific laws are generalized from facts obtained in
observation, from other laws, and by logical processes.
• Scientific laws are most often formulated from the facts that
are observed in nature.
• Scientific laws are sometimes deduced from primary laws. For
instance, Kepler’s three laws are derived from the laws of
gravitation and explain the orbits of the planets around the sun.

30. • Scientific laws become established when a majority of
scientists in the field accept the explanation as best possible to
explain result of sound empirical evidence.
• Scientific laws may need correction after a time in the light of
new knowledge.
• The correction may be in the form of adjusting, extending, or
may be completely rejected.