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some terrible information. The people wondered why certain
trick is knowing the difference. As patients would get sick more often
the researcher, you need to look at than others. A popular
who the author of the website is “hypothesis” at the time was that
and determine if you trust them. there was something “bad” about
the person that made them more
likely to get sick. This is not a
Hypothesis scientific hypothesis, however,
Now that you’ve asked a question because there is no way to test if a
and conducted some research on person is good or bad.
it, the next step is to suggest an
answer to the question. A
In our smog example, a testable
suggested answer to a scientific
hypothesis could be, “people living
question is called a hypothesis.
in cities with high levels of smog
Sometimes you will hear people
will have more cases of asthma
refer to hypotheses (that’s the than those living in cities with low
plural of hypothesis) as educated levels of smog.” This is an okay
guesses. A hypothesis is a guess,
hypothesis, but it could be better.
because you have not yet done any
Instead of saying, “cities with high
experiments to see if it is correct
(or low) levels of smog” we could
or incorrect, but it is educated do a little more research, and pick
because it is based on the research some actual cities to study.
you did in the last step.
The website www.stateoftheair.org,
ranks cities in the U.S. according to
Good hypotheses do not have to be their levels of air pollution. (Take
right. In fact, some of the most a moment to go to the website.
important scientific research is Who created it? Based on that, do
made when a hypothesis is found you think it’s trustworthy?)
to be wrong. However a good According to the website, the city
hypothesis must be testable. If in the U.S. with the most air
scientists cannot run a test to see pollution is Bakersfield, California,
whether or not the hypothesis is and the city with the least is
correct, it is not a useful Cheyenne, Wyoming.
hypothesis.
For example, many years ago,
before we knew about the
importance of washing your hands,
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