Question vs. Hypothesis

Sometimes it gets confusing trying to write a hypothesis.  What is a hypothesis?

• A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work.
• Most of the time a hypothesis is written like this:  “If_____________(I do this), then __________(this)__________will happen. (Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information from your own experiment.)
• Your hypothesis should be something that you can actually test, what’s called a testable hypothesis.  In other words, you need to be able to measure both “what you do” and “what will happen”.  Be specific with what you are testing or measuring.

The hypothesis comes after you have asked a question.  Not every question can be answered by the scientific method.  The hypothesis is key.  If you can state your question as a testable hypothesis, then you can use the scientific method to obtain an answer.

Example:

Question:

What happens to sugar when the temperature is raised?

Do some research about what will happen.  Then, make an educated guess in the form of a statement.

Hypothesis:

Raising the temperature of a cup of water will increase the amount of sugar that dissolves.

I can test this with a simple experiment.  I can use the amount of sugar as my control and the temperature is the variable that will change.