ABSTRACT
Burns and Dobson (1981, p. 93), authors of a research textbook on experimental psychology and statistics, have stated that: “Columbus had a theory that the world was round. From this theory he hypothesized that if he sailed due West he would arrive at the Indies.” Lawson, Reichert, Costenson, Fedock and Litz (1989, p. 683) have pointed out that Burns and Dobson made a mistake by using the word “theory” in place of hypothesis and “hypothesis” in place of prediction. Although, some researchers may consider this confusion to be merely a question of semantics, Lawson et al. (1989) consider that it weakens the scientific structure of the research:
In reviewing science education research, there seems to be considerable confusion between an hypothesis (a tentative explanation) and a prediction (an expected result). Hypotheses arise in response to the initial causal questions, whereas predictions generally arise deductively from the relationship between the hypothesis and the experimental procedure.
