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What to Pay Attention to in Developing a Dissertation Hypothesis
While writing a dissertation you almost certainly heard your teacher telling you and reminding you several times to provide a good dissertation hypothesis. What is so special about this hypothesis? Why is it so important? The main steps you should take to create a good dissertation hypothesis are presented further.
1. Define the topic
Naturally, the topic of your work is the basis for the development of the dissertation hypothesis. Here, the point is that the hypothesis is the idea that you will further research in your work. So, if you know the topic, you can clearly formulate the dissertation hypothesis.
2. Make it clear and succinct
Another important step regarding the dissertation hypothesis is to make this point in your dissertation as clear and succinct as possible. The dissertation hypothesis of yours should not be a long paragraph or a word combination. It should be a sentence from which the reader would definitely understand what the purpose of your work is and what you plan to study during your dissertation research.
3. Make it testable
Probably the most difficult about the dissertation hypothesis is making it testable. You have surely heard this multiple times from your instructor: “Make the hypothesis testable! You need a testable hypothesis!” So, what makes your dissertation hypothesis testable? Broadly speaking, a testable dissertation hypothesis means that one can easily answer the question that you indirectly ask in your hypothesis. For example, if the dissertation hypothesis is that People can fly it is obviously that you cannot examine all 6 billion people on Earth to either confirm or reject the hypothesis.
So, it is not testable. On the other hand, if your dissertation hypothesis is that Dissertations are impossible to develop without hypotheses you can test a number of dissertations and clearly see whether your hypothesis is supported or not. So, make it testable!
