I'm writing a paper for a college class and the professor told me "Be careful to avoid pre-planned outcomes of your research. Essentially you should be trying to disprove your hypothesis."
What did he mean when he said that I should be "essentially thing to disprove your hypothesis?" How do I disprove my hypothesis?
Thanks.
Anonymous
He means you should be sure to look for all possible evidence AGAINST, as well as FOR, your hypothesis. He means you need to address all possible arguments against your hypothesis and show why they're wrong, or why they're not significant.
Of course, if you find evidence that literally does disprove your hypothesis, you'll need to change your hypothesis.
Caligula
Suppose that your hypothesis is wrong. What sort of evidence of that would you expect to see?
Look for that kind of evidence.