hypotheses
Proposed scientific explanations
Hypotheses is the plural of hypothesis—a proposed explanation or educated guess that can be tested.
In scientific method, hypotheses are formulated before experiments: The researchers developed several hypotheses about the drug's mechanism.
Outside science, the word applies to any provisional assumptions: We're operating on different hypotheses about what went wrong.
Capable of being disproven
- testableAble to be examined
- empiricalBased on observation, not theory
- experimentSystematic investigation procedure
- evidenceFacts supporting truth
observation · phenomena · prediction · verification · refutation · Popper · deduction · induction
Academic argument requiring defense
- premiseFoundation for logical argument
- argumentReasoned case or dispute
- contentionAssertion or rivalry
- postulateAssumed starting point
assertion · claim · statement · supposition · assumption · axiom · proposal · formulation
Uncertain and provisional
- speculativeBased on conjecture
- conjecturalBased on incomplete evidence
- preliminaryBefore the main part
- exploratorySeeking to discover
unproven · working · proposed · trial · uncertain · inconclusive · conditional · contingent
Unproven theorizing or risky investment
- assumptionUnverified belief accepted as true
- suppositionBelief without proof
- hunchUnproven inner sense
- presumptionBelief held without proof
inference · surmise · postulation · guesstimate · prediction · estimation · approximation · theorizing
Systematic testing of ideas
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- variablesChangeable elements in equations
- controlsOperates or regulates
- sampleSubset for study
testing · findings · conclusions · investigation · study · empirical · qualitative · quantitative
falsifiable
Capable of being disproven
- testableAble to be examined
- empiricalBased on observation, not theory
- experimentSystematic investigation procedure
evidence · observation · phenomena · prediction · verification · refutation · Popper · deduction · induction · correlation
thesis
Academic argument requiring defense
- premiseFoundation for logical argument
- argumentReasoned case or dispute
- contentionAssertion or rivalry
postulate · assertion · claim · statement · supposition · assumption · axiom · proposal · formulation · position
tentative
Uncertain and provisional
- speculativeBased on conjecture
- conjecturalBased on incomplete evidence
- preliminaryBefore the main part
exploratory · unproven · working · proposed · trial · uncertain · inconclusive · conditional · contingent · assumptive
speculation
Unproven theorizing or risky investment
- assumptionUnverified belief accepted as true
- suppositionBelief without proof
- hunchUnproven inner sense
presumption · inference · surmise · postulation · guesstimate · prediction · estimation · approximation · theorizing · guesswork
experimentation
Systematic testing of ideas
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- variablesChangeable elements in equations
- controlsOperates or regulates
sample · testing · findings · conclusions · investigation · study · empirical · qualitative · quantitative · replication
theory
Explanatory set of principles
- modelRepresentation or paradigm
- frameworkUnderlying support system
- paradigmGoverning framework of thought
principle · abstraction · corollary · proposition · axiom · postulate · theorem · deduction · induction · conceptual
- lab notebooksentries, observations, procedures, raw data, data tables
- sciencebiology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology
- STEMscience, engineering, mathematics, math, technology
- researchstudy, research papers, researching, archive, peer review
- Science stufftheories, discoveries, inventions, experiments, formulas
- experimentsexperiment, experiments, test, tests, trials
hypothesesfacts
Verifiable pieces of truth
certainties · truths · laws · axioms · certitudes
hypothesesdata
Facts for analysis
observations · evidence · proof · measurements · results
hypothesesconclusions
Judgments reached through reasoning
findings · determinations · verdicts · resolutions · proven results
- working hypothesisTestable assumption guiding inquiry
- continuum hypothesisClaim about cardinal sizes
- Red Queen hypothesisPerpetual adaptation to survive
- null hypothesisAssumed no relationship exists
- Sapir-Whorf hypothesisLanguage influences worldview theory
- hypothesis testingStatistical method for evaluating claims
hypothesis, hypothesize, hypothesized, hypothesizing, hypothesizes, hypothesise, hypothesises