Thesis or Hypothesis

When reading an academic text, it is important to identify the main idea that the writer is trying to convey. Academic papers generally include a thesis or hypothesis, or a combination of both. But what is the difference?

A thesis statement is a theory or statement that is supported by argument mainly using previously researched ideas and findings.

An hypothesis is a statement that requires explanation and research to validate its claim(s) through observation, investigation or experimentation.

By identifying either the thesis or the hypothesis, it is possible to understand the main aim and idea of the text.

The Thesis Statement

One of the main ways an academic will indicate their stance is when they write their thesis statement. This is common in argumentative writing expected in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities and various areas of Economics and Finance.

A thesis statement is the controlling idea of a text which clearly states the stance the writer is taking. It may be written as one or more sentences and included in the introduction, although this is not always the case. A clearly written thesis statement will also indicate the areas of focus for the discussion.

A thesis statement can often be found in the abstract of an academic paper helping the reader to understand if they are interested in, or need to read the complete paper. This can save time and mental energy which could have been spent reading something of little or no relevance to your research.

Let's look at some examples of thesis statements from the abstracts of academic papers.

Example 1

1. Overseas aid, originally conceived as short-term emergency help to enable colonies to become economically self-sufficient, remains, 70 years later, a vital prop to the economies of many developing countries, and is now starting to be supplied by developing-country governments themselves. 2. An important reason for its survival is the tendency of aid flows to be relatively stable and reliable during times of crisis while non-concessional flows (bank lending, bond lending and foreign direct investment [FDI]) are subject to panic outflows. 3. At the beginning, aid disappointed expectations, because too many donors failed to realise how much aid would leak into wasteful consumption; however, during the 1990s and 2000s this waste has been controlled somewhat and aid, on the balance of evidence, has been more productively used, in part because of changes in the structure of aid away from investment in equipment and towards technical assistance, humanitarian operations and budgetary support.

Mosley, P., 2017. Overseas Aid as an Instrument of Development Finance. In Development Finance (pp. 79-110). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

The thesis here states that

aid, on the balance of evidence, has been more productively used

It then continues to explain how and why this has happened.

in part because of changes in the structure of aid away from investment in equipment and towards technical assistance, humanitarian operations and budgetary support.

This part of the sentence gives more detailed information about the areas the authors have focused on, and by doing so gives us the reader a guide to the content discussed which may, or may not be relevant to our needs.

Example 2

Women are still a minority in the economics profession. By the mid-2000s, just under 35 percent of PhD students and 30 percent of assistant professors were female, and these numbers have remained roughly constant ever since. Over the past two decades, women's progress in academic economics has slowed, with virtually no improvement in the female share of junior faculty or graduate students in decades. Little consensus has emerged as to why, though there has been a renewal of widespread interest in the status and future of women in economics and of the barriers they face to professional success. In this paper, we first document trends in the gender composition of academic economists over the past 25 years, the extent to which these trends encompass the most elite departments, and how women's representation across fields of study within economics has changed. We then review the recent literature on other dimensions of women's relative position in the discipline, including research productivity and income, and assess evidence on the barriers that female economists face in publishing, promotion, and tenure. While differences in preferences and constraints may directly affect the relative productivity of men and women, productivity gaps do not fully explain the gender disparity in promotion rates in economics. Furthermore, the progress of women has stalled relative to that in other disciplines in the past two decades. We propose that differential assessment of men and women is one important factor in explaining this stalled progress, reflected in gendered institutional policies and apparent implicit bias in promotion and tenure processes.

Lundberg, S. and Stearns, J., 2019. Women in economics: Stalled progress. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(1), pp.3-22.

The thesis here states that

We propose that differential assessment of men and women is one important factor in explaining this stalled progress

It then continues to explain which policies and behaviours support their thesis.

reflected in gendered institutional policies and apparent implicit bias in promotion and tenure processes

Important points to remember about thesis statements are:

it is the controlling idea of the whole text
not all academic writing includes a thesis statement
not all disciplines require a thesis statement in their academic writing
it may not be included in the abstract
it may be somewhere in the introduction
it is always at the beginning of a piece of writing in English
it is often restated in the conclusion
the thesis statement many consist of one or more sentences.

The Hypothesis

An hypothesis is a statement of a problem or situation that you believe to be significant but that requires further research in order to support your beliefs, current thinking, or even possibly to reject both. It can include observations and data collection and is used most commonly in the physical and natural sciences.

The following abstract states the researchers' hypothesis, as well as their methods and findings.

Example 3

Human visitors have the potential to impact heavily upon the welfare of zoo-housed animals, and the study of the effect has become an established research area in the modern zoo. This effect can be caused not just through the presence of visitors, but also through their behaviour. This study sought to test the hypothesis that visitor number and the associated noise level significantly affected the behaviour of three zoo-housed primate species. This was studied through behavioural observations and measurements of visitor numbers and noise levels around enclosures, as primate species are particularly sensitive to large, noisy crowds of zoo visitors. Changes in behaviour relating to visitor number and noise levels were investigated on a species and individual level. Noise levels had a significant positive relationship with visitor number, and both factors had significant positive and negative effects on stereotypic, locomotory, inactive and feeding behaviours on an individual and species level. However, levels of individuals sitting with their back to the window was unaffected by visitor number or noise. Individual and species differences were seen in reactions to the visiting public, emphasising the complex nature of the study of the visitor effect. The increase in stereotyping and clinging behaviours, and decrease in inactivity suggest a potential negative influence on the welfare of these primates. The mixed results reinforce the notion that the visitor effect is moderated and influenced by many factors, such as husbandry and personality. The current study highlights the need for off show areas for captive primates, and the importance of considering individual differences when attempting mitigation of unwanted behaviours.

Hashmi, A. and Sullivan, M., 2020. The visitor effect in zoo-housed apes: The variable effect on behaviour of visitor number and noise. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 8(4), pp.268-282.

Here the hypothesis is clearly stated.

This study sought to test the hypothesis that visitor number and the associated noise level significantly affected the behaviour of three zoo-housed primate species.

Notice the use of the words This study sought to test the hypothesis that

This expression could be used in your own writing. See the section on chunking for more information.

This is followed by the method.

This was studied through behavioural observations and measurements of visitor numbers and noise levels around enclosures, as primate species are particularly sensitive to large, noisy crowds of zoo visitors. Changes in behaviour relating to visitor number and noise levels were investigated on a species and individual level.

Then the findings.

Noise levels had a significant positive relationship with visitor number, and both factors had significant positive and negative effects on stereotypic, locomotory, inactive and feeding behaviours on an individual and species level. However, levels of individuals sitting with their back to the window was unaffected by visitor number or noise. Individual and species differences were seen in reactions to the visiting public, emphasising the complex nature of the study of the visitor effect. The increase in stereotyping and clinging behaviours, and decrease in inactivity suggest a potential negative influence on the welfare of these primates. The mixed results reinforce the notion that the visitor effect is moderated and influenced by many factors, such as husbandry and personality.

And finally the recommendations.

The current study highlights the need for off show areas for captive primates, and the importance of considering individual differences when attempting mitigation of unwanted behaviours.

The authors' stance can also be present even though this research appears to be scientific or factual.

Hashmi, A. and Sullivan, M., 2020. The visitor effect in zoo-housed apes: The variable effect on behaviour of visitor number and noise. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 8(4), pp.268-282.

*This abstract is clearly written and a good example of how you could organise your own writing in the future.

Practice

Now it's time to focus your activity on texts that you may need to read and understand for your own discipline. Nowadays academic papers from relevant, peer-reviewed, academic journals are the main resource for research for your assignments. You can use your institution's database which will give you access to a wealth of resources, or if you are not enrolled in an institution, you can use Google Scholar which will give you abstracts for numerous texts on all academic disciplines.

Choose a paper from your discipline that is not too difficult for you to understand as they do vary in the complexity of language used. Can you find the thesis or hypothesis that controls and leads the discussion in the paper.

When looking for the thesis statement or hypothesis in an academic paper, remember there is no rule that states if the paper has been written by academics from a Social Science discipline then it will include a thesis and if the authors are from a field in the Sciences, then it will be led by a hypothesis. This is totally dependent on the purpose of the paper.

Remember the key points about a thesis statement are;

it is the controlling idea of the whole text
not all academic writing includes a thesis statement
not all disciplines require a thesis statement in their academic writing
it may not be included in the abstract
it may be somewhere in the introduction
it is always at the beginning of a piece of writing in English
it is often restated in the conclusion
the thesis statement many consist of one or more sentences.

An hypothesis on the other hand

is a statement of a problem or situation
it is believed to be significant but requires further research in order to support beliefs, current thinking, or even possibly to reject both.
can include observations and data collection
is used most commonly in the physical and natural sciences.