Skill Practice: Distinguishing Between Facts, Theories, Hypotheses and Opinions
University textbooks are full of information. Each piece of information and every claim made differs in terms of its certainty. Facts are the most certain, but they are most often not very interesting because they are mostly simply observations: They don’t explain why. For example, if you are around a sick person, you might get sick. We can test this observation endlessly and discover that it is often the case. This is a fact. But, why do people get sick after visiting other sick people? Modern people now understand that this is due to germ theory. Hundreds of years ago, people had no idea why illnesses spread. In order to find out why, they started to hypothesize. A hypothesis is an idea as to why something occurs. A hypothesis can then be tested. Once it has been extensively tested and people agree that it is true, it becomes a theory.
University textbooks have facts, theories, and hypotheses. Sometimes, they even include the author’s opinions which are personal and can’t be tested. It’s important for the reader to be able to understand if something is a fact, a theory, a hypothesis or an opinion. One reason this is important is that facts and theories are more likely to be on tests. Look at the example below. Underline the part of the sentence that is a fact. Circle the author’s hypothesis.
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People have differing heights and weights, which means that one product may not be comfortable for all people. |
The first half of the sentence introduces a clear fact (that people vary in height and weight). The author uses have to show that this statement is a fact. The second half of the example sentence introduces a hypothesis (one product may not be comfortable for all people). The author uses the word may to show that this is a hypothesis and has not been formally tested enough to be a theory but is a reasonable explanation based on observations. Still, it’s not a fact.
Look at the following clues that something is a fact, theory, or opinion.
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Fact |
Theory |
Hypothesis |
Opinion |
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is/was have/had
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discovered showed demonstrated found |
may might suspect probably possibly theoretically |
think believe argue in my opinion from my perspective strong adjectives
|
Practice
Look at the example below from “Reading 3.”
“Google and Apple both encourage staff to take time each week to work on personal projects. They instituted this program because they suspected that these projects might be useful. After years of doing this, they have found that these personal projects can financially benefit the company.”
- Underline any facts.
- Circle any theories.
- Star any hypotheses.
Now, as you do the next reading, look for places where the author is giving facts, theories, and opinions. Can you notice the difference?
Pre-Reading
Pre-Reading Activity
Look at the words from the reading in the box. Circle any words that are new to you.
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circumstance deliberately encounter isolate precisely primary psychologically technique validation volume |
Discuss the following questions with a partner.
- Why are new products and objects created every year?
- What product do you wish someone would improve or redesign? Why?
- Think of a common object. Why was it designed? What problems does it solve or what process does it improve?
Reading 3: Design Drivers [1]
3.1 Introduction to Design Drivers
All designed objects or design projects have a reason behind them. Very often the reasons may seem quite obvious: to serve a function, to meet some specific need, or to be useful in some way. For most designs there is more than one reason, and some designs can have quite complex sets of motivations. These motivations and reasons are called design drivers.
For example, there are a whole range of reasons for creating a plastic water bottle like the one in Figure 10 – apart from the obvious, functional reason of storing water. These reasons will come from different sources and may not appear until further into the design process.
3.2 Common Design Drivers
Here are a few examples of some common design drivers.
Box 1: Common design drivers
- To meet a need: all people have certain basic needs such as shelter, food and warmth. Meeting these needs often requires creative design and problem solving. In addition, people require more complex systems such as healthcare, education, or access to other services such as telecommunications. Needs are often immediate reasons and very strong drivers for design – everyone has needs that have to be fulfilled.
- To solve a problem: almost every time you come across a problem you use some sort of design process to create a new solution or workaround. Most problems are obvious and are identified when people encounter them. But some problems can be very complex, or might be only a symptom of an underlying problem. A creative designer can deliberately use problem finding and problem framing techniques to identify and develop potential designs.
- To fulfill a desire or demand: desires and demands are perhaps less critical than needs or problems but they are still significant drivers and have arguably become much more important in modern lifestyles globally, as average living standards have increased. These are usually psychologically or socially driven factors, such as the desire to have the same (or better) products as your neighbors.
- To improve something: the need to improve something follows on from the driver of problem solving. Being able to do something better, faster or more reliably are all examples of improvement that can be significant drivers of design. In fact, much of modern product design and development is what is called incremental design, where small changes are made to existing products or systems in order to change them in some way.
- To respond to change: existing solutions to problems, needs or desires are not static – they tend to change as circumstances change. People’s desire to have the latest technology or keep up with the latest fashionable trend is a strong driver for design change. Similarly, new technologies, manufacturing or other opportunities allow designers to update and recreate existing designs. Changes to environmental conditions, such as global warming, may also require a change of approach. Design is rarely a static thing.
- ‘Just because’: while it’s true that very few design offices have the chance to simply design for the sake of it, some do engage in this speculative activity as part of their business. For example, Google and Apple both encourage staff to take time each week to work on personal projects. They instituted this program because they suspected that these projects might be useful. After years of doing this, they have found that these personal projects can financially benefit the company. That’s why these technology companies think these ‘just because’ projects are a great investment. Of course, these individual design projects then have their own drivers, and being able to identify and explore these drivers is important.
Figures 11 and 12 show some examples of these design drivers.
In the list above, you might notice how similar many of the items appear at first. Quite often a project will have multiple drivers, and they may change over the course of the project.
As mentioned at the start of this section, identifying precisely what the primary driver is can be difficult. A project may spend time in the early stages trying to set these out very carefully. These projects recognize that the primary driver has a significant impact on how the later stages of a design progress – affecting decisions, approvals and validation.
3.3 Review of Reading 3
In reading 3, you came across the concept of a design driver, which was defined as follows:
Box 2: Design drivers
Design driver – a factor that motivates the design process, for example:
- to meet a need
- to solve a problem
- to fulfill a desire/demand
- to improve something
- to respond to change
- or ‘just because’
There can be other drivers but these are common to many projects and will serve as a definition for this course.
When you read this section you may have found it difficult to isolate some drivers or to think of examples specific to a single driver. For example, when does a ‘need’ become a ‘problem’ (or a problem become a need)?
In reality, most designs have multiple drivers and motivations behind them. These drivers can also change during a project and even during the lifetime of that design. But most design projects have a primary driver that is the main reason for the project in the first place, and this primary driver almost always involves people.
Reading Comprehension
Choose the best answer to the following questions.
- What are design drivers?
- the functions of the product
- the problems the product fixes
- the reasons for making a product
- the look and feel of a product
- A new company is designing an application to make scheduling medical appointments easier. What are their possible design drivers? (Circle all that apply.)
- to meet a need
- to solve a problem
- to fulfill a demand
- to improve something
- to respond to change
- just because
- What is incremental design?
- studying consumers’ needs and wants
- minor revisions to an existing product
- solution to a design problem
- using new technology in an innovative way
- Which section provides a summary of the whole reading?
- section 3.1
- section 3.2
- section 3.3
- none of the above
- Desires and demands “have arguably become much more important in modern lifestyles globally.”
- fact
- theory
- hypothesis
- opinion
- “Changes to the environmental conditions, such as global warming, may also require a change of approach”
- fact
- theory
- hypothesis
- opinion
Answer the questions in your own words.
- What are some possible design drivers for the plastic water bottle? List three.
- According to the reading, what is the primary design driver for a personal tablet? In your opinion, what are some other possible design drivers?
- The reading said there are other design drivers in addition to the six listed. Brainstorm a few other design drivers.
- Why do project managers try to identify the design drivers of a product before they begin working?
Vocabulary Practice
Complete the sentences below using the words in the box. You may need to change the verbs to fit.
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encounter isolate precisely psychologically technique |
- The work was both physically and _________________________ difficult. He hurt everywhere after he finished and was so tired.
- The team used a special _________________________ to manufacture the product.
- After working on the design for years, they knew _________________________ what they wanted.
- The problems that they _________________________ were completely unexpected.
- The scientists worked to _________________________ the genes that are responsible for eye color from humans’ other genes.
Complete the sentences by matching the two parts.
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6. ______ In any other circumstances, |
a) the commercial’s success was a complete surprise. |
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7. ______ Because their primary concern was the product’s cost, |
b) I’m sure he would have helped you. |
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8. ______ While their advertising strategy may have seemed deliberate, |
c) the team needed to do further testing. |
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9. ______ Although their volume of orders was high, |
d) they still weren’t making a profit. |
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10. ______ In order to validate the engineer’s designs, |
e) it didn’t look very attractive. |
Reading Discussion
Discuss these questions with your classmates.
- How are the design drivers of “solving a problem” and “improving something” different?
- Most projects have many design drivers, but which design driver do you think is the most important? The most common?
- The reading mentions that Apple and Google let their employees to work on personal projects or interests each week. Why do they do that? Would you want to work there? What would be your personal project?
- Download the original, un-adapted version for free at https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/engineering-technology/introduction-design-engineering/content-section-3 ↵
