generation of research hypothesis

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Hypothesis generation is an early and critical step in any hypothesis-driven clinical research project. Because it is not yet a well-understood cognitive process, the need to improve the process goes unrecognized. Without an impactful hypothesis, the significance of any research project can be questionable, regardless of the rigor or diligence applied in other steps of the study, e.g., study design, data collection, and result analysis. In this perspective article, the authors provide a literature review on the following topics first: scientific thinking, reasoning, medical reasoning, literature-based discovery, and a field study to explore scientific thinking and discovery. Over the years, scientific thinking has shown excellent progress in cognitive science and its applied areas: education, medicine, and biomedical research. However, a review of the literature reveals the lack of original studies on hypothesis generation in clinical research. The authors then summarize their first human participant study exploring data-driven hypothesis generation by clinical researchers in a simulated setting. The results indicate that a secondary data analytical tool, VIADS—a visual interactive analytic tool for filtering, summarizing, and visualizing large health data sets coded with hierarchical terminologies, can shorten the time participants need, on average, to generate a hypothesis and also requires fewer cognitive events to generate each hypothesis. As a counterpoint, this exploration also indicates that the quality ratings of the hypotheses thus generated carry significantly lower ratings for feasibility when applying VIADS. Despite its small scale, the study confirmed the feasibility of conducting a human participant study directly to explore the hypothesis generation process in clinical research. This study provides supporting evidence to conduct a larger-scale study with a specifically designed tool to facilitate the hypothesis-generation process among inexperienced clinical researchers. A larger study could provide generalizable evidence, which in turn can potentially improve clinical research productivity and overall clinical research enterprise.

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• First Online: 01 January 2024

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• Hiroshi Ishikawa 3  

Part of the book series: Studies in Big Data ((SBD,volume 139))

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This chapter will explain the definition and properties of a hypothesis, the related concepts, and basic methods of hypothesis generation as follows.

Describe the definition, properties, and life cycle of a hypothesis.

Describe relationships between a hypothesis and a theory, a model, and data.

Categorize and explain research questions that provide hints for hypothesis generation.

Explain how to visualize data and analysis results.

Explain the philosophy of science and scientific methods in relation to hypothesis generation in science.

Explain deduction, induction, plausible reasoning, and analogy concretely as reasoning methods useful for hypothesis generation.

Explain problem solving as hypothesis generation methods by using familiar examples.

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Ishikawa, H. (2024). Hypothesis. In: Hypothesis Generation and Interpretation. Studies in Big Data, vol 139. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43540-9_2

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Hypothesis Generation

Hypothesis: A testable explanation to a proposed problem

An educated guess the importance of a hypothesis in research:.

Generally, when people think of a hypothesis they will define it simply as an educated guess. But for scientific research a hypothesis is a bit more intricate than that and will act as the basis from which you design experiments.

In research you often start with a proposed problem to solve or a question you would like to answer. To answer this question, you will read papers relating to your topic and you may also talk to your PI or other lab mentors in order to develop possible explanations or solutions to your problem. These possibilities will become your testable hypotheses that will guide what experiments you do to solve your problem.

What is a hypothesis?

Miriam Webster defines a hypothesis as follows :

1a:  an  assumption  or  concession  made for the sake of argument

b:  an interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the ground for action

2:  a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or  empirical  consequences

For this guide we will be using the second definition 2:  a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or  empirical  consequences. For science, the hypothesis forms the basis of your scientific experiments and therefore it must be testable and  you want to be careful and deliberate when forming your hypothesis.

How to generate a hypothesis:

The basic criteria of a hypothesis:.

It must be testable.

It must be possible for the hypothesis to be proven false.

It must be possible for the hypothesis to be proven true.

Whatever results you get must be reproducible

Formulating a research hypothesis in 3 steps.

State the question or problem you are addressing in your research.

Have a clear and defined focus and make sure your hypothesis actually addresses the question

Try to formulate your hypothesis using the if/then method

If an action is taken then this will occur.

Not every question will be conducive to this format but this is a good place to start.

Define the Variables

A hypothesis should examine the relationship between an independent and a dependent variable. The independent variable is what you will be changing in your experiment(The if) and the dependent variable is the effect (the then)

A simple example

You are trying to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on appetite. You have read on up previous research done on sleep deprivation and now want to form your hypothesis. Your main question is how will a reduction in sleep affect a person’s appetite. Based on your research you hypothesize that If you were to reduce the amount of sleep a person were to get, then their appetite would be reduced. In this case the independent variable would be number of hours of sleep and the dependent variable would be the effects on appetite.

Questions to ask yourself as you generate the hypothesis.

1.      What question am I asking?

2.      What do I think will happen?

3.      How would I test this?

4.      What variables are important?

Questions to ask yourself once you have generated the hypothesis.

1.      Is the hypothesis clearly stated?

2.      Does the hypothesis address the research question?

3.      Does the hypothesis contain an easily identifiable dependent and independent variable?

4.      Is the hypothesis testable and able to be proven either true or false?

5.      Does the hypothesis explain what you expect to happen?

References & Further Reading

https://www.enago.com/academy/how-to-develop-a-good-research-hypothesis/

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