Is it possible to prove a research hypothesis?
December 9, 2011
Leilla92
well i have always been taught that you cant prove anything in psychology, you can only disprove it or falsify a hypothesis. According to Karl Popper no theory is completely correct but if not falsified it can be accepted as truth, or beond all reasonable doubt. Any hypothesis can not be proved to be true until all possible antitheses are indisputably disproved. A research hypothesis if formed using the proper scientific method, a good hypothesis should be able to be proved false through testing.
For example if your hypothesis is that “all ravens are black”, this can be tested by observing ravens and statting whether they are black of white. If you see a white raven you will be able to disprove your theory, however if all your ravens are black this does not prove your theory as the next raven you see always has the possibility to be white.
In conclusion a research hypothesis an not be proven true as there is always the option for something to come along that can compromise the hypothesis its self.
Thankyou happy blogging 🙂
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
11 Comments Add your own
Leave a comment
Trackback this post | Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed
Leilla92 
1.
thepsyblog96 |
December 9, 2011 at 8:26 pm
I really enjoyed your choice of topic and blog :), I think you´re right, in science we don´t prove anything we just don´t disprove it which is strange to think about but works. I mean you can show that when you did an experiment these effects happened with those participants but extrapolating it to the outside world sounds like a huge step. I think it´s important to make that distinction that whenever we say anything we should start with research shows and then mention studies. We should never hold anything to be absolutely true even though we may use precise methods for analysis and good research designs.
2.
psuc98 |
December 9, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Good points and liked that you used a picture to demonstrate, made it more fun to read. An example to add to your ideas about things being impossible to falsify are many psychodynamic ideas; for example the idea that being fixated in the oral stage leads to smoking; you cannot prove someone is stuck in the oral stage, you cannot prove what happened in their childhood or how they reacted to it and you cannot prove that this is the sole reason for their smoking. It is impossible to find an absolute truth in many areas as an absolute truth does not change in time, context, between people, etc it always remains the same and to prove a research hypothesis you need an absolute truth. We do not have enough control over variables to prove hypothesises.
Also as something else to consider; the null hypothesis can be proved for example if your hypothesis was all ravens are black your null hypothesis would be not all ravens are black and then by finding a white raven you have proved your null hypothesis.
3. 9th December Comments &la&hellip | December 9, 2011 at 9:11 pm
[…] https://leilla92.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-possible-to-prove-a-research-hypothesis/#comment-48 […]
4.
statsjamps |
December 9, 2011 at 9:15 pm
I liked you blog and i agreed that a good hypothesis can be falsified, if everything was said once you have you have supported you hypothesis then is it proven that certain times of going to bed helps your child do better in school then no other research can falisifie and there nothing to help make hypothesis stronger and developed new findings to help people and from falising something else it might make a new finding help within the world.
5. Comments for week 10 &&hellip | December 9, 2011 at 9:48 pm
[…] https://leilla92.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-possible-to-prove-a-research-hypothesis/#comment-50 […]
6. Comments for Julie «&hellip | December 9, 2011 at 9:54 pm
[…] https://leilla92.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-possible-to-prove-a-research-hypothesis/#comment-47 […]
7.
secretdiaryofapsychstudent |
December 9, 2011 at 10:42 pm
An interesting topic relevant to all of us. Good example of the ravens, I agree that nothing can ever be proved because of the possibility for that to be disproved and this is important particularly in psychology because everyones minds and thoughts are different.
Although your blog is concise, I feel it could be strengthened with a longer word count and more psychological examples, for example, the categorising of mental illness using the DCM-10 and explanations of illness’, there are an infinite number of symptoms that are uncategrorised or categorised incorrectly
8.
psucc8 |
December 9, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Very good blog and i agree with your points. The point about the ravens you have used is very interesting. Basically the black swann theory which states that someone could search for years for black swanns and not find any. Then years later they could find just one black swann and all the research is gone and the hypothesis would be disproved. Its hard to prove a theory, but easy to disprove one.
Obviously you can never actually never prove a theory completely, the only thing you can do is try and get as much evidence together as possible to try and get a strong a argument as possible.
Advances in technology have also been a factor so we are discovering new things about the world all the time so its even harder to create a strong argument and hypothesis. Very good blog however.
9.
prphm |
February 7, 2012 at 6:19 pm
I like the simplicity of your example as it really helped to explain your point clearly and concisely. Also, the points that you make are really good and I would agree. I do think that when writing up research, we should all be extremely careful as to how we describe our findings and make sure that we do not state that we have proven something. As you said, Karl Popper did say that one may only falsify a hypothesis and may never ‘prove’ it, as it would be very naive of a researcher, or anyone for that matter, to believe that they could cover every single possibility to try and disprove a theory and be unsuccessful, as there will always be another way of testing a theory.
Overall thought, I really agree with your points 🙂
10. Homework for TA :) | Do y&hellip | February 7, 2012 at 6:20 pm
[…] https://leilla92.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/is-it-possible-to-prove-a-research-hypothesis/#comment-57 Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Uncategorized by prphm. Bookmark the permalink. […]
11.
ksarah20 |
February 19, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Hey, good blog again! I agree with what you have written and that a hypothesis can’t ever be proven. However I think there are things that you could have written about to add weight to your argument, possibly adding research supporting this statement. Or spoken about how it is not possible to prove a hypothesis but how we can use statistical tests and procedures to gain a significant finding to back up research and show that results aren’t just down to coincidence. 🙂