When conducting research studies and writing research papers, deciding when to state your hypothesis is an important consideration. The American Psychological Association (APA) provides guidelines on the structure and format of research papers, including where the hypothesis should be presented. This article will explore in depth where to state your hypothesis according to APA standards and provide examples and rationale.
What is a Hypothesis?
A hypothesis is a suggested explanation for an observable phenomenon or a reasoned prediction of a possible causal correlation among multiple phenomena. Stating your hypothesis upfront helps establish the direction and parameters of your research study. It clearly defines what you aim to investigate and informs readers of the potential outcome or conclusion you expect to find based on your previous knowledge and assumptions. Well-formulated hypotheses are testable through systematic data collection and analysis.
APA Guidelines for Stating the Hypothesis
According to the APA Publication Manual (7th edition), hypotheses should generally be introduced in the introduction section of a paper. This establishes the theoretical framework and basis for your research questions. The introduction provides necessary background information and identifies gaps that motivate the need for the current study. It orients readers by explaining what issue or problem will be explored.
Stating the hypothesis at the beginning of the introduction allows readers to follow your line of reasoning for conducting the specific research and formulating potential outcomes. It gives structure and purpose to the subsequent literature review, methods, results, and discussion sections. Clearly communicating your hypothesis up front helps readers understand the context and significance of your findings.
Consider including the following components when introducing your hypothesis in the introduction section:
Define key theoretical constructs and variables relevant to your hypothesis.
Summarize and integrate relevant past research and theoretical perspectives to provide context for expecting certain results.
Explicitly state your hypothesis using clear, testable language (e.g., “It was hypothesized that…”)
Provide a brief rationale for why you predict the relationship or results indicated in the hypothesis based on previous literature and theory.
Some studies may also restate the hypothesis at the beginning of the results section to emphasize what was predicted and set the stage for reporting whether the findings supported or refuted expectations. The main hypothesis statement always belongs initially in the introduction.
Examples of Stating Hypotheses in APA Format
Here are two examples of how to state a hypothesis correctly in the introduction section of a research paper using APA style:
Example 1:
Self-efficacy, or one’s belief in their ability to successfully perform a task (Bandura, 1997), predicts persistence when facing difficulties (Lent et al., 1984). The current study hypothesizes that students with higher self-efficacy will demonstrate greater persistence in an unsolvable anagram task compared to those with lower self-efficacy. Higher self-efficacy is expected to result in students continuing efforts to solve the unsolvable anagrams for a longer duration before giving up.
Example 2:
Prior research has linked early-life stress with impairments in cognitive functioning during adulthood (Lupien et al., 2009; McLoyd, 1998). Based on these findings, it was hypothesized that participants who reported experiencing higher levels of adversity during childhood would perform worse on measures of memory, attention, and problem-solving abilities compared to those who faced less early-life stress. The current study aims to experimentally test this hypothesis.
As demonstrated in these examples, clearly expressing the hypothesis using testable language helps establish the predicted relationship between variables being investigated in the introduction section of the paper. This orients readers to focus on evaluating whether results support or refute expectations.
Situations When the Hypothesis May Be Stated Elsewhere
In some cases, the hypothesis may not need to or should not be stated explicitly in the introduction if it preserves experimental blinding or for other methodological reasons. For example:
Pilot or preliminary studies exploring new paradigms where specific expectations are uncertain. Here stating tentative hypotheses in the discussion may be preferable.
True experiments aim to limit confounding expectancies, so stating hypotheses in methods vs introduction can maintain blinding for participants and experimenters.
Some qualitative studies use an inductive grounded theory approach without a priori hypotheses to allow themes to emerge naturally from the data. In these cases, hypotheses emerge in the discussion based on findings.
For the majority of quantitative experimental and non-experimental research employing deductive reasoning, clearly introducing testable hypotheses belongs in the introduction section to establish theoretical context from the onset. Exceptions should be justified based on the specific methodology employed in the study.
Conclusion
For studies conducted according to the scientific method and reported in APA style, hypotheses are generally proposed at the beginning of the paper’s introduction section to (1) orient the reader as to what issue or problem is being explored; (2) summarize past literature and theory providing a foundation and rationale for predicting certain outcomes; and (3) clearly state the specific prediction being evaluated through the research methodology and analysis. Exceptions may exist for certain preliminary, qualitative, or experimental designs that aim to limit expectancies, but for the vast majority of deductive quantitative research papers, presenting hypotheses in the introduction aligns with APA guidelines. Maintaining a clear line of reasoning from hypothesis through study design, results, and discussion is essential for effective scholarly communication.
Andrew Stroud