Tool for Success—Writing a Hypothesis—continued
Step 2. How Do You Write a Hypothesis?
A hypothesis contains the words, if and then. If = the cause, and then = the effect. In the following statement the cause and the effect are in bold.
If lung cancer is related to cigarette smoke, then people with a high exposure to cigarette smoke will have a different frequency of lung cancer.
Notice there is no mention of a higher or lower frequency of lung cancer. An experiment should not be designed with an expected outcome. Your initial question or prediction has an expected outcome. However, the hypothesis is written to be outcome-neutral.
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