{"id":3050,"date":"2019-02-13T14:47:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T14:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/?p=3050"},"modified":"2019-09-19T13:26:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T13:26:01","slug":"null-hypothesis-importance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Question<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What is a null hypothesis and why does research need one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every\nresearcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict,\ntentatively, the outcome of the research (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016). A null\nhypothesis is \u201cthe result of chance alone\u201d, there\u2019s no patterns, differences or\nrelationships between variables (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016). Whether the outcome\nis positive or negative, the requirement of a null hypothesis in addition of\nyour alternative hypothesis means that your research (and you as the researcher\nas well) is not one-sided (Bland &amp; Altman, 1994). In other words, you and\nthe research are open to the possibility that maybe or maybe not a difference\nbetween the variables exists and open to the possibility that the outcome of\nthe research is due to a reason (alternative hypothesis) or a chance (null\nhypothesis) (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016; Pierce, 2008 &amp; Bland &amp; Altman,\n1994).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After collecting data, the hypotheses must be tested in order to reach a conclusion (Daniel &amp; Cross, 2013). A null hypothesis is tested when the probability of the results are \u201cdue to chance alone\u201d but the data collected reasonably suggest that something (a factor, a reason or other variable) in the studied environment\/population leads to a difference\/relationship\/pattern between them (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016 &amp; Pierce, 2008). A null hypothesis is used to draw conclusions from the collected data when the \u201cprocess of comparing data\u201d with the expected outcome (results) of chance alone (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016). When the result is because of \u201csomething other than chance\u201d, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis comes to play because the data, indirectly, led us to support it (Leedy &amp; Ormrod, 2016). The alternative hypothesis might be the one the researcher wants to be accepted, however, it \u201ccan only be accepted\u201d if after the collected data shows that the null hypothesis \u201chas been rejected\u201d (Pierce, 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bland, J. M., &amp; Altman, D. G. (1994). Statistics\nNotes: One and two sided tests of significance.&nbsp;<em>British Medical Journal\n(BMJ), 309<\/em>, 248-248. doi:10.1136\/bmj.309.6949.248<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daniel, W. W., &amp; Cross, C. L. (2013). Chapter 7 Hypothesis Testing. In&nbsp;<em>Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.citationmachine.net\/bibliographies\/280749450?new=true\">Health<\/a>&nbsp;<em>Sciences&nbsp;<\/em>(10th ed., pp. 214-303). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/msph1blog.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/10\/biostatistics-_daniel-10th1.pdf\">https:\/\/msph1blog.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/10\/biostatistics-_daniel-10th1.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leedy, P. D., &amp; Ormrod, J. E. (2016).&nbsp;<em>Practical Research: Planning and Design&nbsp;<\/em>(11th ed.). NJ:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.citationmachine.net\/bibliographies\/280749450\">Pearson Education<\/a>. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu\/#\/books\/9781323328798\/cfi\/6\/6!\/4\/2\/2\/48@0:0\">https:\/\/digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu\/#\/books\/9781323328798\/cfi\/6\/6!\/4\/2\/2\/48@0:0<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pierce, T. (2008, September). Independent samples\nt-test. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.radford.edu\/~tpierce\/610%20files\/Data%20Analysis%20for%20Professional%20Psychologists\/Independent%20samples%20t-test%2010-02-09.pdf\">http:\/\/www.radford.edu\/~tpierce\/610%20files\/Data%20Analysis%20for%20Professional%20Psychologists\/Independent%20samples%20t-test%2010-02-09.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask an Academic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-13T14:47:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-19T13:26:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Suzanne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Suzanne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?","description":"Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?","og_description":"Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.","og_url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/","og_site_name":"Ask an Academic","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/","article_published_time":"2019-02-13T14:47:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-19T13:26:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Suzanne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Suzanne","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/"},"author":{"name":"Suzanne","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b4837e8a121c20aeb4d3dfd08900ddbc"},"headline":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?","datePublished":"2019-02-13T14:47:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-19T13:26:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/"},"wordCount":440,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg","articleSection":["Research Methodology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/","name":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-13T14:47:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-19T13:26:01+00:00","description":"Every researcher is required to establish hypotheses in order to predict, tentatively, the outcome of the research.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/research-methodology.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"caption":"Scientists looking at DNA helices"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/research-methodology\/null-hypothesis-importance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Does Research Require a Null Hypothesis?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","name":"Ask an Academic","description":"Academic Q&amp;A","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization","name":"Ask an Academic","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","width":1677,"height":1677,"caption":"Ask an Academic"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b4837e8a121c20aeb4d3dfd08900ddbc","name":"Suzanne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c35f4514425509b8d214f596aeacdbc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c35f4514425509b8d214f596aeacdbc0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Suzanne"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}