What is the difference between a hypothesis and a conclusion in the scientific method?

1 Answer
Dec 30, 2017

#"An hypothesis is what is proposed...."#

Explanation:

#"...and a conclusion is whether that proposal was justified."#

From a dictionary of philosophy (that I happened to pick up last week for £2-00 at a second hand bookstore),

an hypothesis is a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

I suppose the more rigorous scientific definition of hypothesis would include a proposal made on a limited number of experiments, that includes a basis for further experiments.....the which test whether that hypothesis holds.

And after the experiments have been performed, we can test whether the hypothesis was reasonable. If NO, then we throw the hypothesis out. If YES, then we continue to test the truth and extent of the hypothesis with further experiments....