Sorting out competing theories can be difficult for a beginning researcher, especially if you have had only a few social science courses. Nevertheless, you will have to use theory at several points in any research you do. To start, you will have to place your research in some context, to show its significance or value. Later, when you offer generalizations based on your findings, you will want to place your generalizations in the context of what is known. At this point, you will be drawing on the integrated knowledge related to your research question. This will probably be best expressed as a theoretical set of relationships among a set of concepts related to your investigation. To prepare to use theory to strengthen your own research, we suggest you carefully read the  "Theory" or "Theoretical Framework" sections of reports you find in your review of the literature. Try to understand what theory the authors drew on and note how they presented the theories they used.

Hypotheses and research

What is a hypothesis?

A hypothesis is a tentative expression of an expected relationship between two variables. When a hypothesis is used, the purpose of the study is to find out whether or not the hypothesis is supported by the data. Several steps are involved in stating a hypothesis:

Deriving a hypothesis

In order to state a hypothesis we have to have a sound set of reasons for saying why we think the hypothesis will be supported by some body of data. This set of reasons is based on knowledge about relationships among the variables that make up the hypothesis. Researchers refer to this rationale the theoretical framework or the theory underlying the hypothesis.

An illustration will help you understand how a hypothesis is derived. Fattah (1981) investigated the role of rural Iraqi women in family decision-making. She used “individual modernism” as the main theoretical framework for her investigation. The theory of individual modernism is derived from the more general theory of modernism, which is widely accepted as a way of explaining and predicting social changes at the societal level. Fattah developed a theory of individual modernism by extending generalizations associated with the broader theory of modernism to the individual level. In the course of her review of literature she found a number of variables that could be used to measure the extent to which rural Iraqi women held “modern” views. Three of these variables were preference for living in a modern, nuclear family setting versus living in an extended family setting; a high level of achievement orientation; and a strong positive attitude for equity for women. Women with these characteristics were considered as having a high level of individual modernism.

Other research showed that women with these characteristics would also seek to participate in decisions that affected them. On this basis, Fattah reasoned that women with high levels of individual modernism would also participate more in making family decisions. Specifically, she decided to investigate the relationship between her measures of individual modernism and the participation of wives in decisions related to farm operations, family financial matters, social relationships, entertainment, child training, and childcare. Fattah then developed a number of hypotheses expressing expected relationships between each measure of individual modernism and participation in each of the six decision-making areas. To simplify this process, we cite just one of the many hypotheses she developed.

Taking only the concept for family orientation and participation only in family financial matters, she stated the following hypothesis: