This is a commonly accepted scientific method. Check the web yourself for more info. The following steps make up the Scientific Method. These steps make up a method which may be used to logically solve problems in many other areas of life.
Hypotheses are possible causes.
A generalization based on inductive reasoning is not a hypothesis. An hypothesis is not an observation, rather, a tentative explanation for the observation. Multiple hypotheses should be proposed whenever possible. Hypotheses should be testable by experimentation and deductive reasoning. Someone in the future with more knowledge may find a case where the hypothesis is not true.