I am having a hard time understanding what a hypothesis is. Anyone able to help me in terms that I might understand?

A hypothesis is a possible explanation for something that a person has seen. Usually a hypothesis can be proved or disproved by experimentation and further observations. For instance, if the house sparrow population has decreased significantly, you can hypothesize that house finches have taken much of the sparrows' food supplies.


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypothesis

Of course, I can help you with that!

A hypothesis is an assumption or a proposed explanation for something that is based on limited evidence. It is essentially an educated guess that can be tested through observations and experiments.

To understand the concept of a hypothesis, let's break it down into steps:

1. Identify a problem or question: Start by identifying something you want to investigate or understand better. This could be something like "Why do plants grow taller in sunlight compared to the dark?"

2. Formulate an explanation: Develop a possible explanation or guess for the problem at hand. For example, you might hypothesize, "Plants grow taller in sunlight because they need light energy for photosynthesis, which is essential for their growth."

3. Make it testable: A good hypothesis must be testable and measurable. This means that you need to define specific observations or experiments that can either support or disprove your hypothesis. In this case, you can measure the height of plants grown in sunlight and compare them to plants grown in the dark.

4. Conduct experiments or gather data: Design and conduct experiments or collect data to observe and gather evidence that either supports or refutes your hypothesis. In the example above, you would grow a group of plants in sunlight and another group in the dark, measuring their growth over a specific period.

5. Analyze the results: Look at the data you collected from your experiments and analyze it. Did the plants grown in sunlight actually grow taller compared to those in the dark? If so, your results would support your hypothesis. If not, it would challenge or reject your initial explanation.

6. Draw conclusions: Based on the results, draw conclusions about whether your hypothesis was supported or disproven. It's important to note that even if your hypothesis is not supported, it does not mean it was a failure. It simply means that you have learned something new and can refine your understanding.

Remember, a hypothesis is not a definite answer, but rather a starting point for scientific inquiry. It allows you to make predictions and test them through experimentation, leading to a deeper understanding of the world.