What Is a Research Hypothesis?

This step takes a slightly different approach to the issue of research questions by looking at research hypotheses.

Taking this approach does not mean you need to re-formulate your topic or research objective, although you may need to think about them is a slightly different way. This is because a hypothesis often leads your research in a particular direction, typically involving more quantitative research. We will come back to this point later in this step.

Let’s begin with a definition. ‘Hypothesis’ is derived from ancient Greek and means ‘placing under’. In a literal sense, this is what you do with a hypothesis, you place or put it under scrutiny to test if it is true.

A more modern definition of a hypothesis is:

A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.

(Lexico, n.d.)

• Systems of high-performance work practices will diminish employee turnover and increase productivity and corporate financial performance.
• Alignment of a firm’s system of high-performance work practices with its competitive strategy will diminish employee turnover and increase productivity and corporate financial performance.

Your Task

Looking at the example of Huselid’s hypotheses, can you identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Can you design a hypothesis that would support the research objective you designed in Step 2.2?

References

_{Oxford Dictionary. (n.d.). Hypothesis. In Lexico. Retrieved December, 15, 2020, from Web link}

_{Husselid, M. A. (1995). The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38 (3), 635-672. DOI: 10.2307/256741 Web link}