What is a Scientific Hypothesis?

Steps for making a scientific hypothesis with an example:

1. Identify the research problem: Let's say we want to investigate whether coffee consumption affects the quality of sleep.

2. Conduct background research: We review previous studies and find that caffeine is a stimulant that can interfere with sleep quality, but there are conflicting findings about the effects of coffee on sleep quality.

3. Generate a question: Based on our research, we generate the question: Does coffee consumption before bedtime affect the quality of sleep?

4. Formulate a hypothesis: Our hypothesis is that drinking coffee before bedtime will negatively affect the quality of sleep.

5. Make the hypothesis testable: To test our hypothesis, we can conduct an experiment where we compare the quality of sleep of participants who drink coffee before bedtime to the quality of sleep of participants who do not drink coffee before bedtime.

6. Specify the variables: In this case, the independent variable is coffee consumption before bedtime, and the dependent variable is the quality of sleep.

7. Design an experiment: We design an experiment where we randomly assign participants to either a coffee or no-coffee condition, and measure their sleep quality using a standardized measure.

8. Make predictions: Based on our hypothesis, we predict that participants in the coffee condition will have lower sleep quality than participants in the no-coffee condition.

9. Test the hypothesis: We conduct the experiment and collect data on the sleep quality of participants in each condition.

10. Draw conclusions: Based on our analysis of the data, we find that participants in the coffee condition had significantly lower sleep quality than participants in the no-coffee condition, supporting our hypothesis that coffee consumption before bedtime negatively affects sleep quality.

In summary, the steps for making a scientific hypothesis involve identifying a research problem, conducting background research, generating a question, formulating a testable hypothesis, designing an experiment, making predictions, testing the hypothesis, and drawing conclusions.