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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

“Hypothesis is a statement of the relationship between two or more variables.” Elucidate by giving examples of poverty and illiteracy.

  • UPSC 2016
  • Research Methods and Analysis

Goode and Hatt's classic methodological definition anchors the question directly: a hypothesis is a tentative proposition about the relationship between two or more variables, stated precisely enough to be exposed to empirical test.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • The Basic Structure: Independent and Dependent Variables
  • Reversing the Arrow: Illiteracy as the Independent Variable
  • The Reciprocal Relationship: Why a Simple One-Way Arrow Is a Trap
  • Guarding Against a Spurious Relationship: Naming the Intervening Variables
  • Testing the Hypothesis in Practice

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