What's the difference between Theory and Hypothesis?

Question

What's the difference between Theory and Hypothesis?

Answer 1

A theory is a statement that has been supported. It can't be proved as absolute or it would be a fact or a law. But, the evidence supports a theory. The Theory of Evolution is a famous one - it can't be proved either right or wrong but it is scientifically supported.



A hypothesis is a statement that is waiting to be supported, proved, or disproved. A hypothesis is still a hypothesis even if it's ultimately shown to be wrong. A hypothesis is often framed as an "if-then" statement, but it doesn't have to be. We could hypothesize, for example, that "the more education one gets, on average, the more income they earn" which is easy enough to study. We'd not prove though that it is always true since some people get a PhD and don't earn well and some people drop out of college and earn a lot. We'd not be able to state that our hypothesis can become an absolute fact or the "Law of Higher Income" because there are exceptions to the results.



This differs from the research question that may be addressing the same thing as the hypothesis but is framed as a question instead of a statement. That same hypothesis as a research question would be "does individual income, on average, rise as the individual level of education increases?"



We might develop a Theory of Income Improvement as a result of this hypothesis and research question.

Answer 2

Aer you aware that even the RCC has publically accepted evolution? As a deist, I believe evolution is true. BUT, if you actually looked around with an open mind, you may note how many people also state that the theory of evolution is a fact. That seems like a worse mistake to me. Also, why do you care??? I see all of these people patting themselves on the back as being the smartest people ever simply because they accept evolution. You ask them what Boyle's law is, and they have not a clue. Guess what? I have never used the common ancestory of all life in my personal or professional life. I do, however, use Boyle's law. All this bluster is nothing but people trying to feel superior and justify their religions. Jeeit, If you are going to play a little word game to make yourself feel superior, then have at it, but it means nothing. CHANGE is a fact. The daughter is not an exact replicate of the mother is an observed phenomenon. Not even the most die-hard young earth creationist denies this. You are not arguing over this, you are arguing over the common ancestory of all life. Calling evolution a fact then replacing evolution with the theory of evolution is just a verbal shell game. Talk about what you mean or don't talk about it. Given you now have a bunch of people that think a theory is a fact and have actually argued with me about this very thing, is evidence of the detrimental effect of this stupid verbal shell game. In fact, people like you are the problem. I specifically said the "theory of evolution" is not a fact. You replace my "theory of evolution" with "evolution" being a fact. You think you are helping science by educating Creationists, when you are really just hindering science by confusing the LARGE majority that are not young earth creationists. You know the difference between a theory and a fact, so act that way.

Answer 3

Theory: is background information on the subject, that is believed to be correct or accepted, but not necessairly proven. For example, there may be quite a bit of scientific knowledge about how individual neurons operate. This can be shown by previous experimental results. But how very large clusters of neurons interact, is not so well defined.

There are mathmatical theorys, as to what might happen when groups of neurons are interconnected. When the number of neurons and the configuration reaches a certain point, the outcome becomes less certain.



The purpose is often to learn something new, and will be shown by careful experiment. In this case you might try to study the interaction ( Synergy) of large groups of neurons, and try to predict the result.



Hypothesis: is what you expect the result to be. However, often the final results do not fit your hypothesis, and you end up learning somthing new. so the Hypothesis, is what you expect will happen, before you conduct the experiment.

After you have completed your experiment, analyzed the data, and write your concussion, you may suggest further experiments to further investigate and clarify your findings.



Individual neurons are not very interesting, but large groups unexpectedly give rise to new ( emergent) properties, such as awareness. When a group of neurons becomes self aware of its existance and interaction, it is more than just a collection of individual neurons. This is an unexpected result.



When people work individually on a problem, they may encounter difficulties. When people work in groups, the flood of different ideas, can often lead to unexpected solutions, that could not have been predicted.

Answer 4

There is something of a grey area between these words but a theory carries with it a proof of its claims; a hypothesis does not do so to the extent that it can be scientifically proven.

Answer 5

the·o·ry



the·o·ry [th əree, three]

(plural the·o·ries)

n

1. rules and techniques: the body of rules, ideas, principles, and techniques that applies to a particular subject, especially when seen as distinct from actual practice

economic theories



2. speculation: abstract thought or contemplation

3. idea formed by speculation: an idea of or belief about something arrived at through speculation or conjecture

She believed in the theory that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.



4. hypothetical circumstances: a set of circumstances or principles that is hypothetical

That’s the theory, but it may not work out in practice.



5. scientific principle to explain phenomena: a set of facts, propositions, or principles analyzed in their relation to one another and used, especially in science, to explain phenomena





[Late 16th century. Via late Latin from Greek theōria “contemplation, theory,” from theōros “spectator.”]



in theory under hypothetical or ideal circumstances but perhaps not in reality



hy·poth·e·sis



hy·poth·e·sis [hī póthəssiss]

(plural hy·poth·e·ses [hī póthə sz])

n

1. theory needing investigation: a tentative explanation for a phenomenon, used as a basis for further investigation

The hypothesis of the big bang is one way to explain the beginning of the universe.



2. assumption: a statement that is assumed to be true for the sake of argument

That is what would logically follow if you accepted the hypothesis.



3. logic antecedent clause: the antecedent of a conditional statement





[Late 16th century. Via late Latin from Greek hupothesis “foundation, base,” literally “placing under,” from thesis “placing.”]





-hy·poth·e·sist, n

Answer 6

hypothesis is a guess of what will happen before "it" happens.



a theory is more of a way to explain why something happened happened.

Answer 7

hypotheses are more like a prediction of what you think will happen. a theory has proof to it, but not enough to say it actually happened. like the big bang theory. it makes total sense to consider it true, but there's not enough hard evidence to show it really happened. hope this helped!!

Answer 8

hypothesis is normally what you'd use in science. it is a statement like: 'I believe as I hit this wall my wrist will start to hurt'. then you test your hypothesis. (maybe not that one)

Answer 9

there isn't one