Types of Hypothesis

1. Explanatory or Descriptive hypothesis: This type of the hypothesis generally involves data about the cause of the process or about the law on which it is based. Hypothesis involving data about the cause is explanatory in approach and the hypothesis involving laws acts descriptive in the approach.

2. Tentative hypothesis: Such a hypothesis is made, when one does not possess complete information and understanding about a certain process or phenomenon. Such a situation, when one is not able to understand the process may occur due to the technical difficulties. It is also possible to test two or more hypothesis simultaneously the hypothesis about the propagation of light, namely, wave theory and the corpuscular theory of light both describe the light’ s phenomenon but among both of these none of them is final hence these can be referred to as tentative in nature.

3. Representative fictions: Some hypothesis are based on the assumptions and depending on the nature of the case, it is not at all possible to prove these assumptions by the direct means such hypothesis is referred to as the representative fictions. The only positive point of these representative fictions is that they are very suitable in order to explain the whole phenomenon.

Problems faced during hypothesis formulation

Formulating a hypothesis is not at all an easy process and is faced with a large number of difficulties. According to Goode and Hatt, the various difficulties faced during the formulation of the hypothesis generally include the lack of the knowledge about the scientific approach of the method involved, as sometimes it becomes impossible to gather the complete information about a particular scientific method. One other major difficulty in the formulation of the hypothesis is the lack of clear theoretical background. Because of this problem of unclear and indefinite background of theory one is not able to arrive to a conclusion easily.

But with time answers to all such problems are available and these difficulties that arise during the hypothesis formulation can be easily removed by having complete and accurate information about the concepts of the subjects involved. Also the hypothesis should not be very long and should be timely in nature.