A hypothesis which, after repeated testing, is not found incorrect becomes a

Concept

In research methodology, a hypothesis is a tentative, testable proposition. When a hypothesis is subjected to repeated testing and is never found false, it accumulates growing empirical support and is elevated in status to a theory - a well-substantiated explanation that organizes and accounts for the observed facts, while still remaining open, in principle, to further testing. A law, by contrast, is a fixed descriptive statement of an observed regularity or relationship (often expressed mathematically); it is a different kind of statement altogether, not something a surviving hypothesis automatically becomes.

Application

The stem describes exactly this situation: a hypothesis that, after repeated testing, is not found incorrect. Following the standard research-methodology hierarchy above, such a hypothesis is elevated to the status of a theory.

Cross-check

• Law describes a fixed relationship among observed variables (for example, a mathematical regularity); it is a distinct category of statement, not the outcome of a hypothesis surviving testing.

• Discovery means finding a previously unknown fact or phenomenon; it does not describe what a repeatedly-tested hypothesis turns into.

• A concept is a basic unit of thought used to construct hypotheses in the first place; it is not itself a testable proposition, so it cannot be the end-point of hypothesis testing.

This confirms the hierarchy consistently: repeated survival of testing raises a hypothesis to a theory.