What are the major characteristics of a research hypothesis? Identify common ways of specifying research hypotheses.

What will be an ideal response?

Research hypotheses describe the variables and units to be studied and specify the relationships among variables. They must be conceptually clear, must be statements of fact susceptible to empirical investigation (statements that can be proven right or wrong through research), must be specific and narrowly defined to allow actual testing, must be practical, must be suited to investigation by available techniques and research methods, and are probabilistic in nature (they may not be confirmed with certainty).

Research hypotheses may be specified in the form of conditional statements (e.g., if–then statements), continuous statements (e.g., the more X, the more Y), difference statements that indicate that one variable differs in terms of the categories of another variable, or mathematical statements that have the form Y = f(X), which means “Y is a function of X.”