Bill Gardner / Your thesis and the scientific method

The scientific method revolves around hypothesis testing. When this applies to to your thesis research, it simply means: Do you have a hypothesis, or are you just churning through a series of activities until you feel you've "done enough"?

A hypothesis tells what you are proposing to do, and what you think will happen. It helps you think through where the challenges lie, what resources you need, and what constraints are involved. It also forces you to think about testing:

How can we, the readers, judge whether your hypothesis was proven or not? What is the "right" answer? What will "success" look like?

What measurements will you need to accumulate and analysze in order to demonstrate success in a statistically significant fashion?

Do you have enough data, or do you know where to acquire it and how to preprocess it?

When can you stop development and testing? What is "enough"?

What will it mean if you get a negative result? Will you revise your hypotheis, or look for flaws in your development, testing, and/or analysis?

When you go to write your thesis, your hypothesis can appear in the introduction as a thesis statement . Some advisors and committee members are extremely keen to see such a statement.

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