Introduction

Understanding concepts & variables

Theory as a
way of
organizing knowledge

Hypothesis & research

The logic of scientific
inquiry

The logic of scientific
inquiry

Cause
and effect

Aids

This hypothesis received considerable support. So did similar hypotheses for participation in the other five areas of decision making. Fattah's investigation illustrates the derivation of hypotheses, using one theoretical base; namely, individual modernism.    Other theoretical bases could have been used to derive the same hypothesis.   In fact, Fattah did exactly that. She also derived the same set of hypotheses from two other theoretical frameworks. One framework was based on "task allocation" theory, which says that persons who perform a task, in effect, have earned the right to make or at least participate in decisions related to that task. Since rural Iraqi women participate in heavy farm labor, it could be hypothesized that they would also participate in various family decisions, particularly those related to farm operations. And this is what Fattah found.

The third theoretical framework she used is known as "resource theory." This theory says that persons who bring valued resources to a situation are given a greater role in decision-making. In traditional rural Iraq, resources of women include giving birth to sons, having an extensive extended family network, being literate, achieving greater education, and having been married for a number of years. Hypotheses based on task allocation had strong support, while those derived from resource theory received only minimal support.

As you can see from Fattah's research, deriving a hypothesis requires imagination and creativity as well as knowledge about the variables being used. Different researchers use different approaches to the same problem and may use different theoretical bases in deriving hypotheses.  

Hypotheses can also be derived directly from observation. If we were to repeat the Sudan Fertility Survey with a sample from a population in another country, for example, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that fertility will decline with increases in education of women. Empirically derived hypotheses, however, simply extend a previous conclusion to a new population. They do not extend knowledge as theoretically derived hypotheses can.

Independent and dependent variables

Hypotheses usually express a relationship between two variables, as illustrated by those used by Fattah. It is customary to designate one variable as the independent and the other as the dependent variable. The independent variable is assumed to be the one responsible for changes in the other, the dependent variable. In Fattah's research, for example, the variables identified as representing components of individual modernism were designated as the independent variables and participation in family financial decisions became the dependent variable. It makes more sense to argue that the preferences or orientations of the wives could influence the degree of participation in family decisions than the other way around.

Hypotheses generally express an expected relationship between an independent and dependent variable. To start, you can think of a   hypothesis as a single sentence with three parts:

1. The subject, which generally is the independent variable;
2. A connecting verb, which defines the relationship between the independent and dependent variables; and
3. The object, which is the dependent variable.

The hypothesis we quoted from Fattah's investigation was in this form:

• "Preference for living in a modern nuclear family" was the subject (independent variable);
• "Is positively associated with" defines the relationship between "preference for living in a modern nuclear family" and "participation in making family financial decisions (the dependent variable); and
• "Participation in making family financial decisions was the object (dependent variable).

Try to express any hypothesis you write in the same way; as single sentence with a subject, a connecting verb, and an object.

Also, since most hypotheses deal with the actions of groups of persons, plural forms are generally used. In the hypotheses we use as examples, you will note we used plural forms - females, children, families, incomes, etc. Also, because you want to generalize to conditions as they currently exist, hypotheses are generally expressed in the present tense. The independent and dependent variables, for example, "are associated." However, if your hypothesis deals with some past situation, you would obviously express the hypothesis in past tense.