Hypothesis:

The  spelling of hypothesis when written  as  "hypotheses"  indicate plural. The hypothesis is a statement or declaration of  the expected outcome of a research study. Often it is called as an educated guess or hunch that the researcher proposes for testing.  It  is based  on  logical-rationale and has empirical possibilities  for  its testing,  i.e. using statistical methods. Hypothesis provides a statement about a specific relationship  to be  tested. Refer  to Example  12 which is  a statement showing the researcher's hunch on the relationship between breathing exercises and post-operative respiratory complications  in patients undergoing surgery. 

Normally,  in  an  hypothesis there are  four  elements: (i) dependent and independent variables,  (ii) some  type of  relationship between independent and dependent variable, (iii) the direction of change,  i.e.  stating  "more  or less",  "higher or lower" increased or decreased, and  (iv) it mentions  the subject,  i.e.  the population being studied. Can you  identify these elements  in the' exercise (Activity 6) given at  the  end of this unit. The type of variables here,  seem to have a cause and effect relationship,  i.e.  the exercise  is  the cause and the effect  is  the reduction  of  respiratory complications. We  cannot absolutely assure this. Remember those innumerable variables, some of which are shown  in  Example  1. These other variables may  also influence reduction  of complications.  In nursing studies it  is  difficult  to  control all variables  as  the subjects and the researchers are also human being and are all-different. You may appreciate that patients, doctors, nurses are heterogeneous in nature and  it is  difficult  to  control human qualities.