BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

Unit 3

Hypothesis

Dr. Thulasi Krishna. K, Ph.D.

Dept. of Management Studies, MITS, Madanapalle, A.P.

tkk2007@gmail.com

HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis is a tentative statement showing the relationshipbetween two or more variables, the reliability and validity ofwhich is to be tested and verified.

The Characteristics of a Testable Hypothesis

(i) Hypothesis should be clear and precise

(ii) Hypothesis should be capable of being tested

(iii) Hypothesis should state relationship between variables, if it happens to be a relational hypothesis

(iv) Hypothesis should be limited in scope and must be

specific

(v) Researchers should state hypothesis as far as possible in

most simple terms so that the same is easily understandable

by the all concerned

(vi) Hypothesis should be consistent with most known facts

i.e., it must be consistent with a substantial body of

established facts

(vii) Hypothesis must explain the facts that gave rise to the

need for explanation

Sources of Hypothesis

• Observation –based on the behaviour pattern

• Relation between price and demand is hypothesized

• The sales and advertisement may be hypothesized

• Analogies (similarities/co-relation) casual observations innature

• Poor people buy more lotteries

• Intuitions and personal experiences

• The story of Newton and falling of apple

• The wisdom of Budha under the banyan tree

• A sparking in our mind at particular occasions

• Findings of studies

• State of Knowledge – the theorems may be modified

• Culture –castes, beliefs, habits, behaviour

• Contribution of research – the rejection of certainhypothesis may lead to further research

• Theory –large concerns earn more profit, return on capitalis an index of business success

• Examples of Hypothesis

• Health Education programmes influence thenumber of people who smoke.

• Newspapers affect people's voting pattern.

• Attendance at lectures influences marks in theexam.

• Diet influences intelligence.

Different Types of Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis: A type of hypothesis used in statistics that proposes that no statistical

significance exists in a set of given observations is called a null hypothesis. It is denoted

by ‘H0’.

Alternative Hypothesis: The alternate hypothesis is just an alternative to the null. When

we reject the null hypothesis, we accept another hypothesis known as alternate

hypothesis. The alternative hypothesis is denoted by ‘H1’.

For example, the null hypothesis might be “There will be no change in the water level this

Spring,” and the alternative hypothesis would be “There will be a change in the water level

this Spring.”

Descriptive Hypothesis: It simply describes the characteristics of a variable (may be an

object, person, organisation, event, and situation) to give general direction to observations.

Descriptive hypothesis contains only one variable thereby it is also called as univariate

hypothesis.

Ex. Employment opportunity of Commerce graduates is more than the Arts students.

What is the level of commitment of the officers in your organization?

Relational Hypothesis or Directional Hypotheses: It establishes relationship betweentwo variables. Words like positive, negative, more than, less than, are used, then thesehypotheses are directional

Example: 1. The greater the stress experienced in the job, the lower the job satisfaction of employees.

2. Women are more motivated than men.

Non-directional Hypotheses: These are those that do assumea relationship or difference, but offer no indication of thedirection of these relationships or differences.

Ex. 1. There is a relationship between age and job satisfaction

2. There is a difference between the work ethic values ofAmerican and Asian employees.

Causal Hypothesis: It proposes a cause and effect interactionbetween two or more variables.

Ex: Null hypothesis: There will be no change or there will bemore absenteeism as a result of training.

Alternate hypothesis: There will be less absenteeism as a resultof training.

Casual hypothesis: Employee training programme will reduceemployee absenteeism.

• Statistical Hypothesis: A statistical hypothesis is an assumption about a

population parameter. This assumption may or may not be true.

Ex: There is no difference in the data entry input of personnel who are evaluated on a weekly basis

and those who are evaluated on a six months basis.

• Complex Hypothesis: It is the hypothesis which predicts the relationship

between two or more independent variables and two or more dependent variables.

Ex: i. Smoking and other drugs leads to cancer, tension and chest infections

iii. The higher ratio of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy leads to crimes like dacoit,

robbery, rapes, prostitution and killing etc.

• Thank You