Hierarchy of Hypotheses or Hierarchy of Predictions? Clarifying Key Concepts in Ecological Research

ALEJANDRO GUSTAVO FARJI BRENER; AMADOR-VARGAS, SABRINA

Invasion Biology: Hypotheses and Evidence

CABI press

Año: 2018; p. 19 - 22

Hypotheses and predictions are the core ofscientific research, and are fundamentallydifferent. None the less, predictions are constantlyconfused with hypotheses in the scientificliterature. The hypothetic-deductivemethod starts with a question to whichpotential explanations ? hypotheses ? areproposed. Each hypothesis has expectedoutcomes ? predictions ? that are deducedassuming the hypothesis was true. In thischapter, we point out that the hierarchy-ofhypotheses(HoH) approach is confusing theterms hypothesis and prediction, and furtherexplain why the so-called sub-hypothesesof the HoH approach are in factpredictions. We also propose an alternativeapproach inspired by the HoH approach tohelp arrange predictions by their potentialto disprove the hypothesis.