Is Research in Literature Hypothesis Driven?

 Introduction:

A hypothesis is a potential explanation to a phenomenon and in a much more rigorous way. It’s the core of research design, after Research Question and Literature Review. A hypothesis should never be regarded as a certain event, and it’s must be theoretical.

If we try to research what result in Nagorno-Karabakh War. We need to follow the steps, Research Question, Literature Review, Theoretical Framework, hypothesis.

Theoretical framework in literature is the most important resource to figure out the hypothesis. The meaning and contribution should start from existing research.

                  Research is one of the necessary components of knowledge; steady and tenacious research that thinks about solving problems depends on scientific standards in seeing and writing. Also, literature as an identifiable object, not as a creative text, finds talent to be investigated from different scientific angles (Literary Research).

Why there is a Need for a Hypothesis in Literary Research?

Original literary research like every original research in other branches of knowledge needs a hypothesis. "The hypothesis is a guess for the research question and is the spontaneous and elementary answer for that". Also, the hypothesis is important from different directions:

·         Correct diagnosis for research background,

·         Explanation of research map,

·         Determining research method, till getting the best answer.

Because literary researches often are descriptive, hypothesis quality in this research has its special logic. Many centuries have passed since the old definition of literature. Today Persian literature in the form of poetry or prose attracts both non-professional and ordinary readers and encourages literary professionals to research literature. Hypothesis making is one of the materials of literary research.

"Hypothesis means "idea" and "conjecture" and in the term, it is the initial and speculative answer that the researcher gives to the problem of research."

 If the literary research is done scientifically and based on the research problem, research background, and research method, it will also include the hypothesis.

Of course, we must pay attention to the nature of literature and its difference from other sciences. The quality of the hypothesis, for example, in natural and experimental research differs from the quality of the hypothesis in literary research. Also, instead of dividing the types of research into explanatory research, descriptive research, and exploratory research, it is better to consider the hypothesis necessary in literary research. Most literary research is descriptive (purely descriptive or descriptive-analytical).

 

Type of Hypothesis in Descriptive Research:

Descriptive research requires a kind of hypothesis that explains the states, conditions, traits, characteristics of objects and persons, situations, phenomena, and events in relation to each other. Therefore, it is not correct to focus on the usual definitions of the hypothesis derived from different books and to rule that literary research does not require a hypothesis or that the hypothesis cannot have a positive effect on literary research.

It should be noted that due to differences in the nature of literature with empirical and natural knowledge, literary research on the application of the hypothesis also has its own expression.

Literary studies and research can be divided into three categories in terms of their goals:

1. Basic research.

2. Applied research (and development research as a branch of it).

3. Practical research.

This model has been used in research proposals of Persian literature, such as theses or dissertations and research projects in this field, by imitating the regulations of research methods in experimental sciences. Often and perhaps always, the literary researcher, by neglecting the meaning of these terms and forcing them to adapt to the types of literary research, uses each of these three titles as the etiquette of his literary research. This is not very true, and the literature researcher, after placing his research in each of these fundamental, applied, and practical classes, is forced to design a model of the hypothesis that literary research cannot respond to and respond appropriately.

Dividing the research into three categories: 

1) Exploratory 

2) Descriptive 

3) Explaining and Limiting the process of hypothesizing to explanatory research has also been a solution to get rid of this bottleneck. It is worth noting that instead of clearing the face of the issue, it followed another plan so that researchers would not have an excuse to ignore the hypothesis.

Conclusion

Although some literary studies, when they relate to the history of literature, resemble historical research or sometimes approach causal research, the main focus of literary research is descriptive research. In descriptive research, as mentioned, hypotheses have their own quality. It should also be noted that the hypothesis differs from the theory. Unfortunately, sometimes negligence has meant theory as well as a hypothesis, conjecture, and conjecture. But the theory is made after the hypothesis. Based on the hypothesis, literary research is formed, and if this research can lead to the solution of a public problem, it will include a general theory that can be accepted or rejected.