Definition of Scientific Hypothesis

• 발행기관: 개인저작물
• 저자명: Jin-Su Jeong Yong-Ju Kwon
• 간행물 정보: 『개인저작물 - 사회』제26권 제5호, 637~645쪽, 전체 9쪽
• 주제분류: 사회과학 > 개인저작물
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2006.10.01

영문 초록

This study reviewed and discussed the nature of scientific hypothesis described in philosophy, the philosophy of science, science, and science education. In these descriptions, a hypothesis was defined an one of five types: hypothesis as an assumption, hypothesis as a prediction, hypothesis as a tentative explanation, hypothesis as a tentative law, and hypothesis as a tentative causal explanation. Most scholars agreed that a hypothesis is a proposition or a set of propositions proposed as an explanation for an observed situation. In this view, a hypothesis is a possible answer to or an explanation of a question that accounts for all the observed facts. Also, it is a statement that explains why things happen in nature or an explanation for an observation that can be testes. In the five types of hypothesis meanings, a tentative explanation includes a tentative law and a tentative causal explanation. However, tentative laws are not explanation but description which are general statements drawn from specific experiences by way of a process known as induction. A number of studies also have distinguished hypothesis from assumption, tentative explanation, tentative law, and prediction. Therefore, a hypothesis is concluded to be a proposition or a set of propositions proposed as a tentative causal explanation for an observed situation.

키워드

hypothesis assumption tentative explanation tentative law causal explanation prediction