by Saul McLeod, published 2007

A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a precise testable statement of what the researchers predicts will be the outcome of the study.

This usually involves proposing a possible relationship between two variables: the independent variable (what the researcher changes) and the dependent variable (what the research measures).

For example:

o To investigate the effect of alcohol on a person’s ability to remember words.

In order to write a hypothesis you need to identify the key variables in the study (IV & DV).

For example, if your study was to investigate the affect alcohol has on word remembered, then your IV is the amount of alcohol consumed and the DV is the number of words remembered.

Your hypothesis could be:

o There will be a relationship between the number of words remembered and the amount of alcohol consumed. (Two Tailed)

Or

o The more alcohol consumed the less the words will be remembered. (One Tailed)

How to cite this article: McLeod, S. A. (2007). Simply Psychology; . Retrieved from