What Defines an Hypothesis?

Question

What is an Hypothesis? I know the answer because I have taken the time to look it up on dictionary.com, merriamwebster, wikipedia, answers, google, yahoo, and ask.com. So please NO COPY & PASTE. Cause not only will I make sure your answer is taken off, you will not get a chance at that great 10 pts for best answer.

My question goes: Does a hypothesis have to be an if-then statement? Please give a VERY good reason for why or why not. If possible, give as many examples/details as possible, these help me in deciding who should get best answer award.
Copy&paste=0pts Hardwork=10pts Knowing you've made someones day, priceless.

An if-then statement is like:
If the sky is cloudy, then it will rain.
You should be answering the question rather than asking questions.

Can i get an answer supporting the fact that hypothesis do not need to be if-then statements?

Answer 1

A hypothesis is a guess about the outcome of some experiment or set of conditions.

It can be an if-then statement, EX: If I mix these two compounds, then I will get this product. It can also be a since-then statement: EX: Since it is cloudy, then it will rain.

Furthermore, hypothesis must have some way to be tested.

Answer 2

A hypothesis is a suggested explanation of a phenomenon or reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. The term derives from the ancient Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". The scientific method requires that one can test a scientific hypothesis. Scientists generally base such hypotheses on previous observations or on extensions of scientific theories.


Usage
In early usage, scholars often referred to a clever idea or to a convenient mathematical approach that simplified cumbersome calculations as a hypothesis; when used this way, the word did not necessarily have any specific meaning. Cardinal Bellarmine gave a famous example of the older sense of the word in the warning issued to Galileo in the early 17th century: that he must not treat the motion of the Earth as a reality, but merely as a hypothesis.

In common usage in the 21st century, a hypothesis refers to a provisional idea whose merit needs evaluation. For proper evaluation, the framer of a hypothesis needs to define specifics in operational terms. A hypothesis requires more work by the researcher in order to either confirm or disprove it. In due course, a confirmed hypothesis may become part of a theory or occasionally may grow to become a theory itself. Normally, scientific hypotheses have the form of a mathematical model. Sometimes, but not always, one can also formulate them as existential statements, stating that some particular instance of the phenomenon being studied has some characteristic and causal explanations, which have the general form of universal statements, stating that every instance of the phenomenon has a particular characteristic.

Any useful hypothesis will enable predictions, by reasoning (including deductive reasoning). It might predict the outcome of an experiment in a laboratory setting or the observation of a phenomenon in nature. The prediction may also invoke statistics and only talk about probabilities. Karl Popper, following others, has argued that a hypothesis must be falsifiable, and that a proposition or theory cannot be called scientific if it does not admit the possibility of being shown false. By this additional criterion, it must at least in principle be possible to make an observation that would disprove the proposition as false, even if one has not actually (yet) made that observation. A falsifiable hypothesis can greatly simplify the process of testing to determine whether the hypothesis has instances in which it is false.

It is essential that the outcome be currently unknown or reasonably under continuing investigation. Only in this case does the experiment, test or study potentially increase the probability of showing the truth of an hypothesis. If the researcher already knows the outcome, it is called a consequence — and the researcher should have already considered this while formulating the hypothesis. If the predictions are not assessable by observation or by experience, the hypothesis is not yet useful, and must wait for others who might come afterward to make possible the needed observations. For example, a new technology or theory might make the necessary experiments feasible.

Answer 3

A hypothesis is just an educated guess formed after testing a question.

Answer 4

A phenomenon always exists. If you sense that at some degree then you feel other way existance of that. That we call hypothesis.

Answer 5

A hypothesis is an educated guess.

Answer 6

You need to explain your hypothesis in order to support your argument .

IF-- only females can get pregnant
THEN--The patient Sydney in labor and delivery is a girl

Answer 7

My hypothesis on the matter is that you may have too much time on your hands.

Answer 8

I do not know what you mean by an if-then statement...

i am slightly confused about what you are asking

Answer 9

a dictionary defines a hypothesis, actually a dictionary defines almost any damn word.

Answer 10

It is just a theory!