Question 3

What does “theory” mean?
What does “hypothesis” mean?
What does “paradigm” mean?

Theory is an explanation of something that is supported by facts,observation and experiments in science.In everyday languge theory may be an opinion or a speculation not depend on facts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/theory

Hyphothesis is an explanation for a phenomenon.Hyphothesis is an unimproved idea based on observations.By working on hyphothesis and doing experiments,hyphothesis may become a part of a theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis




Paradigm:The word “paradigm” comprehends a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices constituting a view of reality.The scientific paradigm is like a scientific method but in more specific way.It includes the steps:

1. what is to be observed and scrutinized
2. the kind of questions that are supposed to be asked and probed for answers in relation to this subject
   
3. how these questions are to be structured
   
4. how the results of scientific investigations should be interpreted
   
5. how is an experiment to be conducted, and what equipment is available to conduct the experiment.(Kuhn,1996)

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/paradigm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm#Scientific_paradigm

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd Ed. Chicago and London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN 0-226-45808-3