A hypothesis is a position put forward as a preliminary, conditional explanation of a particular phenomenon or group of phenomena, an assumption about the existence of some phenomenon. Testing statistical hypotheses are the accepted standard for the analysis of empirical data in the social sciences if the resulting effects or relationships are not noticeable and an assessment of the reliability of statements about their presence or absence is required (Pandey & Pandey, 2021). Without this, no practical effect can be established in any of the social sciences. One of the paradoxes of the development of the experimental method is connected with this: deterministically formulated statements about causal dependencies are evaluated probabilistically (Pandey & Pandey, 2021). It is assumed that in natural conditions, the established dependence should make its way through a chain of accidents or unplanned influences from these side variables. It is not the hypothetical relation between variables itself and not the truth of the psychological explanation that is assessed probabilistically, but the reliability of the fact that the expected dependence is empirically established.
The scientific method of proving hypotheses is the main one in any science. Nevertheless, alternative methods of testing hypotheses include the method of Rene Descartes: “Never take anything for granted, of which you are obviously not sure; in other words, diligently avoid haste and prejudice and include in your judgments only what seems to my mind so clear and distinct, which in no way can give rise to doubt ” (Descartes, 2019). The meaning of the philosophical, epistemological method of Descartes is that the process of cognition relies only on absolutely reliable knowledge and uses completely reliable logical methods to obtain new, also reliable knowledge.
References
Pandey, P., & Pandey, M. M. (2021). Research methodology tools and techniques. Bridge Center.
Descartes, R. (2019). Meditations on first philosophy and discourse on the method. Naxos.