How to Make an If-and-Then Hypothesis

Write an if-then hypothesis about a house plant.

No one can predict the future, but anyone can anticipate it. What the stock market will do tomorrow is impossible to say with certainty, but you can certainly hypothesize what an ice cube will do on a hot summer sidewalk if you know the properties of ice and water. An if-then hypothesis is an anticipation of the future. It posits the conditions underlying an event, then makes a succinct statement connecting those conditions to a future event. Writing an if-then hypothesis requires insight and thought.

Things You'll Need

• Pencil
• Paper

Instructions

1. Think of a possible explanation for a situation or event. Remember that the explanation should be testable. For example, a possible explanation for the wilting of a house plant is dehydration.

2. Write an if-statement relating the event you have thought of and its possible explanation. For example, write: "If wilting of house plants is related to dehydration...."

3. Note that the first part of your if-statement, the situation or event, is what scientists call a "dependent variable." It is a result that you can measure. For example, you can look at a house plant and see whether it is wilted.

4. Note also that the second part of your if-statement, the tentative cause of the situation or event, is what scientists call an "independent variable." You can control an independent variable. For example, you can change a house plant's hydration by watering it or not watering it.

5. Think of what will happen if you change your independent variable. For example, you decide that preventing dehydration in a house plant by watering the plant regularly will eliminate wilting.

6. Complete your if-then hypothesis by placing a comma after your if-statement, writing the word "then," then writing your statement of what you think will happen if you change your independent variable. For example, write: "If wilting of house plants is related to dehydration, then preventing dehydration in a house plant by watering the plant regularly will eliminate wilting."

References

• Department of Defense Education Activity: Experimental Design
• Savannah College of Art and Design: Writing Hypotheses: A Student Lesson
• Edmunds School District: Hypothesis