working hypothesis译为“工作假说”或“作业假说”，总是感觉有点不那么妥贴。

The Working Hypothesis词典意为：

1. Using the scientific method, before any statistical analysis can be conducted, a researcher must generate a guess, or hypothesis about what is going on.

2. a suggested explanation for a group of facts or phenomena, either accepted as a basis for further verification (working hypothesis) or accepted as likely to be true.

3. a suggested explanation for a group of facts or phenomena, accepted as a basis for further verification.

working hypothesis中的working意为： Serving  as  a  basis  or  guide  for  further  work；(of a theory, etc) providing a basis, usually a temporary one, on which operations or procedures may be carried out；serving  to  permit  or  facilitate  continued  work。

更详细一点的解释如：

1. A working hypothesis is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted as a basis for further reasearch in the hope that a tenable theory will be produced, even if the hypothesis ultimately fails. Like all hypotheses, a working hypothesis is constructed as a statement of expectations, which can be linked to the exploratory research purpose in empirical investigation and is often used as a conceptual framework  in qualitative research.

https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Working_hypothesis

2. A working hypothesis is a proposed solution to a problem that's accepted pending further studies or a better idea. It can be used to take provisional actions so that business can progress while you're still uncertain as to the optimal solution to a problem.

https://simplicable.com/new/working-hypothesis

以上解释或定义可看出，working hypothesis作为一种假说，两个最基本的特征：一是作为进一步或下一步研究工作的基础，二是假说是临时性、暂时性或权宜性质的，是为了方便进一步研究而提出来的，这种假说有可能被证伪。

基于以上两点，我个人觉得，working hypothesis译为“基础假说”或“权宜假说”（“权宜”取其“暂时适宜”之意）可能更好一点。