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Asked by anon-253607 on 20 May 2020.
Question: How do you come up with a hypothesis and argument to back up a theory?
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Jessica Gomez-Banderas answered on 20 May 2020:
Sometimes your hypothesis is already decided by the funding body who is giving you money to carry out your research and other times you will have a general subject area for your research but will need to come up with the exact hypothesis yourself (this can be tricky!). You make predictions of the outcomes of your research using your own logic and knowledge but also by reading research papers to see what other researchers outcomes have looked like. Sometimes your hypothesis isn’t correct but that’s all part of the joy of science! To back up your theory, you need to conduct experiments to prove your hypothesis and this usually involves collecting data to back up your arguments! You can also use past research to back up your arguments.
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Oli Wilson answered on 20 May 2020:
Good question! For me, I think the hypotheses I come up with/questions I want to answer come from a mixture of my own interests and knowledge, stuff I’ve read about a subject, and guidance from my supervisor. The more I read about subjects that interest me, the more interesting stuff I find, and the more I notice things I’d like to find out about. Reading other people’s research also helps me find potential ways of answering these questions. Then my supervisor helps me work out how to take these ideas and make them into good bits of research – how to fit them into my project, where we might be able to get money for them, or when I might have to leave some for later..! He can help me so much because he knows lots about this area of science, we work together because we’re interested by similar topics, and my choice of reading is affected by the project I’m doing (which my supervisor designed)… It’s a messy combination of all these elements!
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Helen Roy answered on 20 May 2020:
Wow – great question! Thank you. My curiosity in the natural world shapes some of the questions that I go on to address … just being out for a walk is inspiring for an ecologist – seeing something different or a bit unusual can result in more questions than I would ever have time to answer. I am really fortunate that I get to use very datasets on wildlife – where and when different species are found – which have been gathered over centuries by volunteers. We can address lots of questions using these big datasets but it is really important to have a clear question.
For example – as the harlequin ladybird spread across Britain, after first arrival as a non-native species in 2004, we were concerned about the ways in which it might cause biodiversity loss so we asked will the harlequin ladybird adversely affect other species of ladybird? We carried out many laboratory experiments to see whether harlequin ladybirds would eat other ladybirds and we used the big datasets, which include where different ladybirds are found in Britain, to see if their patterns of distribution changed in response to the arrival of the harlequin – we published our findings and shared our exciting results far and wide – see https://www.ceh.ac.uk/press/invasive-alien-predator-causes-rapid-declines-european-ladybirds
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Steve Wroe answered on 20 May 2020:
Science is all about solving problems and overcoming challenges. Sometimes you identify the problem too be solved or in other instances, the problem comes the to you. For example you are tasked with solving a particular problem.
The problem needs to be broken down into ‘bite sized’ bits. Now comes the research! this is rather like being a detective!. Having gathered the research, you are now in a position in analysing the data before reaching a conclusion. Your conclusions are to be based purely on the facts alone…Not just on your opinion. A scientist MUST be honest and publish the factual results even if the facts don’t meet what the scientist wants or expects.
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Peer review is essential. All too often, when you become immersed in a project you can become so focussed that it is easy to overlook some issues (probably because they don’t fit in with your line of thought). When I was working in the Antarctic, I never got to see the results of my work. I simply took samples and readings from scientific instruments. This raw data was sent back to Cambridge University where they did the ‘number crunching’ I hope this is of use. -
Kenneth McKee answered on 20 May 2020: last edited 20 May 2020 5:01 pm
Making a hypothesis is as simple as saying “I think *insert your own idea here* is true”.
The backing up part is probably a bit harder! Anything that supports the hypothesis should be decided by logical approach. Simple logic which builds the case for the hypothesis seems the best approach for me.
Something like “If the the hypothesis is true then something else which can be tested must also be true.” For instance “I think this bit of metal in my hand is gold, is true”. A bit clunky but I think you get the message.
The things I might use to test this are: “Is it metallic?; “Is it yellow?”; “Is it heavy?”, “Is it a soft metal?”……….all the way to something like “I have had it chemically tested and shown to be gold!”.
For each step you would rule out one of the other things being true and the stronger the case for your hypothesis. For instance, when you ask “Is it yellow?” this might rule out it being silver.
The hypothesis can be as simple as my example to something much more complicated but the method stays the same. Quite often the more extraordinary a hypothesis is, the more evidence or tests you need to prove it! -
Sylvia Soldatou answered on 20 May 2020:
what a great question Georgina!
A hypothesis can start with a simple though, something that I am curious about and I want to learn more. Also, during my experiments I might come up with a different hypothesis or an additional one, depending on my results and what the data is showing me.
When I have a hypothesis, I then plan my experiments (I usually draw diagrams as it helps me follow the process). The next step is to go in the lab and do the experiments I have planned. Sometimes the original hypothesis might be wrong (and it’s totally OK!) or it might lead you to additional thoughts and ideas
Comments
Louisa commented on :
When you decide to research a subject, you will be doing a lot of reading so that you can make a good plan before beginning any experiments! Scientists publish their research online and in journals which are like scientific magazines, and that makes it easy to read about what other people have done before, and what things we still don’t know. A hypothesis is like a ‘hunch’ about what you think might happen in your experiment, or how something works to create the resulting effect. That means our hypotheses can be incorrect, even when we are basing it on pieces of information that we have read. The fun part is arriving at the best answer we can, until it is proven otherwise! The evidence to prove your theory is correct comes from performing good experiments (designed to answer the question you are asking), and any other work that might have been done in the past. Hope that answers your question 🙂
Helen commented on :
Sometimes the most exciting discoveries are those that go against your initial hunch (hypothesis)!