1. Hypothesis
Week 6 Class 1
Definition
What makes up our Hypothesis
Hypothesis in Legal Research
Illustration
2. HYPOTHESIS
•A supposed answer, proposition or explanation usually
a re-phrased version of the Problem Statement made
on the basis of Limited evidence (available or
considered content( as a starting point for further
investigation …..
•Supposed answers of the issues addressed
3. Definition
• “A hypothesis can be defined as a tentative
explanation of the research problem, a possible
outcome of the research, or an educated guess about
the research outcome.” Goode and Hatt have defined
it as “a proposition which can be put to test to
determine its validity”
4. • Hypothesis,, is merely a tentative assumption made in
order to draw and test its logical or empirical
consequences
• It is a tentative, testable statement….. A statement to
be a hypothesis must be capable of being tested
• If its validity cannot be put to empirical confirmation,
a proposition, howsoever attractive or interesting
ceases to be a hypothesis
5. What makes up our Hypothesis
• There are following sources which are identifies for
deriving hypothesis
•Cultural value of society
• The cultural prevalent in a society helps to formulate
hypothesis
• American culture, for example, emphasis individualism,
mobility, competition and equality, while Indian culture
emphasis tradition, collectivism, karma and attachment
6. •Therefore, Indian culture values enable us to
develop and test the following hypothesis:
Residential jointness in Indian family has decreased
but functional jointness continues to exist
• Divorce is used as last resort by women to break her
marriage
• Caste is related to voting behavior among Indians
7. •Past Research- Hypothesis is often inspired by past
research. For example, a researcher studies the
example of student unrest will use the finding of
another study that student having there to four
years in college or university had taken more interest
in student’s problem in campus than fresher
•Such hypothesis could be used either to replicate
past studies or revise the hypothesis that the alleged
correlation does not exist
8. • Folk Wisdom- Sometimes researcher get the idea of a
hypothesis from commonly held beliefs
• Discussions and Conversations- Random observations
during conversations and discussions and reflections
on the life as a person throw lights on events and
issues
9. •Personal Experiences- Hypothesis can also be
formulated to the way in which an individual
reacts to culture, science and analogy. Many
often researchers see evidence of some behavior
pattern in their daily life
10. Importance
• It guides the researcher by delimiting the area of
research and keeps him on the right track throughout
his investigation
• A hypothesis, to be worked with, needs to be precise,
specific, and conceptually clear
• It must have empirical referents……. It must also be
related to available research techniques
11. Hypothesis in Legal Research
•it is important to note that hypothesis is not required
in all types of legal research
• A researcher, for example, indulged in exploratory or
descriptive legal research is not required to formulate
hypothesis
• Statement of problem in the form of hypothesis,
invariably, is required in socio-legal research or
empirical legal research, wherein the researcher is
interested in finding ‘link’ between a ‘legal fact’ and a
‘social fact’ or is interested in assessing ‘impact of law’
15. Research design
• After defining a research problem or formulating a
hypothesis, as the case may be, the researcher has to
work out a design for the study
• Research design is the conceptual structure within
which research is conducted
• It is a logical systematic planning of research
• The term research design refers to the entire process
of planning and carrying out a research study
16. Content
• The design stage consists of drawing up the design of
the experiment or inquiry, definition and
measurement of variables, sampling procedures, tools
and techniques of gathering data
• Research design is a blue print of the proposed
research…… However, the blue print is tentative as the
researcher may not be able to foresee all the
contingencies before he starts his investigation
17. Collection of data
•After formulating the research problem (or
reformulating it in the light of literature review) and
preparing a blue print of the research, the researcher
has now to take a decision about the technique(s) to be
employed to collect the requisite information
• He has to, from a wide range of methods of data
collection, ranging from interviews to observations to
document analysis, opt for the most appropriate
method(s) for collecting data
18. •While selecting method(s) of data collection, the
researcher has to take into account the
objectives of his research and the nature and
scope the inquiry
•Data can be primary or secondary. Data collected
by the researcher, by using primary sources, is
primary. The data already collected by some
other agency and available in some published
form is secondary. In either case, the researcher
has to select an appropriate method
19. Analysis of data
•Analysis of data involves a number of closely
related operations, such as classification or
categorization, coding, and tabulation.
•It is the process of arranging data in groups or
classes according to their resemblance or affinity
•Coding involves the assigning of symbols or
numerical to each of the category of responses
so that raw data can be counted or tabulated
20. Tabulation is a means of recording classification
in a compact form in such a way to facilitate
comparisons and show the involved relations
between two or more variables. It is a sort of
arrangement of data in requisite rows and
columns
21. Interpretation of data
• Interpretation is considered as one of the basic components
of research
• It refers to the task of drawing inference from the collected
data…….
• Through interpretation, the researcher attempts to search
for broader meaning of research findings……. He tries to
establish link between the results of his inquiry with those of
another and to establish some explanatory concepts. He,
through his interpretation, endeavors to find and understand
the abstract principle that works beneath his findings
22. Contribution
• The process of interpretation may quite often trigger
off new questions that in turn may lead to further
researches
• In fact, the usefulness and utility of a research lie in
proper interpretation of the collected facts
Interpretation, therefore, must be impartial and
objective.
23. Legal Researcher ---Potentially aims to
Historic Aspect of
a Doctrine
Comparative
Analysis of the
Applicability of
Law
Legal
Inadequacies and
ambiguities
Predict Future
Trends
Social Aspects of
Law
