NOS: Hypotheses - where do they come from?

Where do scientists come up with their hypotheses? There is a notion out there that there is some objective process that sicentists undergo to churn out solid hypotheses. This is not entirely true. Scientists are governed by their past training, and their value systems. They are no different than you and I in this regard. A hypothesis is nothing more than an attempt to answer a question. The hyppothesis must make sense in terms of the available literature and any observations that the scientist is able to find.

Consider 2 people with different scientific backgrounds say a biologist and a chemist. If these two are faced with the same data, both may form a hypothesis. However, the chances that they will be the same is remote because the researchers' point of view is different. The validity of these hypotheses will be determined by the test(s) that will be conducted subsequently.

Consider the debate over vegetarian vs meat eating lifestyles. If I was to present a graph that indicated that meat eaters lived longer that vegans, each group would undoubtedly look at the data differently - because of their convictions. So the reasoning behind science is not always objective, but the sicentific process is such that false hypotheses tend to be discarded when tested properly. Note: Properly!