Week 3 – Aims, Objectives and Hypotheses

1. Introduction
Being able to clearly articulate the aim and objectives of your research is very important as
these will help you understand and capture the direction of the research, the connection
between the research and the issues/problems that motivate it and the steps to be taken in
order to answer the research question(s).

This week’s notes will explain what research aims and objectives are, and will guide you through
the basic steps and considerations involved in developing your research aim(s) and objectives.
The notes will also introduce you to the concept of research hypothesis and will explain the role
of research hypotheses in quantitative research.

1.1 Topic Learning Outcomes

During this topic you should be able to achieve the following learning outcomes:

LO1. Understand the importance and relationship between aims, objectives, hypotheses and
research problem

LO2. Examine criteria, techniques and methods to formulate aims, objectives and research
hypotheses

LO3. Devise the aims, objectives and hypotheses for the research problem formulated for your
research project

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 2. Research aim
The research aim is a brief statement - usually one sentence - of the purpose of the research. In
other words it is a brief way to express what you are trying to achieve with your research. The
aim of the research is closely related to the research question(s) and it is a broad statement of
the objectives of the research. The aim of the research is brief and concise and it does not
outline specific steps of the research process. We can use the research question from last
week’s notes to demonstrate some examples of how the research aim is formulated.

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Table 3.1 Examples of research questions and research aims

Research idea Research question Research aim

Media campagne How effective is a media The aim of this research is to assess
following product campaign designed to increase the effectiveness of a media
recalls consumer trust in company X campaign by company X designed
following a series of product to increase consumer trust
recalls? following a series of recalls of its
products

Graduate To what extent and in what type The aim of this research is to
recruitment via the of context is internet-based understand situations within which
internet recruitment and selection of internet-based recruitment and
graduates effective and why? selection of graduates is effective
and why

Supermarket In what ways does issuing The aim of this research is to

coupons as a coupons at supermarket explore how the issue of coupons
promotional device checkouts affect buyer at supermarket checkouts affects
behaviour? buyer behaviour

Challenger banks How has the emergence of The aim of this research is to
and small business challenger banks impacted upon explore how the emergent of
small business financing and challenger banks has impacted
why? small business financing and why

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 3. Research objectives

As stated above, the research aim does not outline the steps that you are going to take in order
to address the research problem. This is done by the research objectives, which outline the
direction that you are going to take to achieve the deliverables of the research project. If you
are going to have a basic research question for your research followed by a small number of
smaller, break-down questions, then the research objectives should be associated with these
smaller, break-down questions. The research objectives are complementary to the research
question and research aim and they offer a way to break down the research question and aim
into smaller, more manageable and focused steps and actions that will allow you to achieve the
purpose of your research project.

You can use the following criteria/questions to help you devise your research objectives
(Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2015):

● Transparency - What does it mean?

● Specificity - What I am going to do?
● Relevance - Why I am going to do this?
● Interconnectivity - How will it help to complete the research project?
● Answerability - Will this be possible?
● Measurability - When will it be done?

Another way to evaluate your research objectives is to use the SMART criteria (CMI, 2020;
Lawlor, K.B. & Hornyak, M.J., 2012; Platt, 2002):

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 ● Specific: this criterion is about describing the expected outcomes of the research in a
focused and detailed manner
● Measurable: this criterion will help you evaluate whether the research objectives have
been met
● Achievable: this criterion has to do with availability of resources/data to complete the
research
● Relevant: this criterion has to do with appropriateness of the research
● Timely/Time-bound: this criterion is relevant to the ability to accomplish the research
objectives within required time-frames
Figure 3.1 below offers a graphical representation of the process of formulating research
questions, aim(s) and objectives.

Figure 3.1 Formulating research questions, aim(s) and objectives

Source: Adapted from Business Research Methodology (n.d.)

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 4. Research hypotheses

Depending on the epistemological position that you will adopt for your research, you may be
required to develop research hypotheses that will guide your research. A research hypothesis is
an informed assumption or prediction capturing the relationship between two or more
variables that the research will seek to test or confirm. Collis & Hussey (2013, p. 259) define a
research hypothesis as “a proposition that can be tested for association or causality against
empirical evidence (data based on observation or experience)”. Developing research hypotheses
is relevant to quantitative research, but this does not mean that if you are conducting
quantitative research, you must develop research hypotheses. Developing hypotheses is not
very common in qualitative research, and hypotheses are relevant to qualitative research only
as speculations, not as assumptions or predictions that should be confirmed by the research
(Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2015; Bryman & Bell, 2007). If research hypotheses are relevant
and developed, then the research question captures the problem statement and the hypothesis
is an informed prediction about what the answer to the question is going to be.
Hypotheses should derive as a combination of observation/experience/speculation and an
underlying theoretical framework. In other words, a hypothesis should not just be a speculation
that one comes up with through observation and experience, but a prediction that is informed
by relevant theory. A research hypothesis should be focused on the problem statement, it
should contain the variables between which association or causation will be tested as well as
the relevant population, it should be presented in a declarative form, and it should be testable
and verifiable.
Figure 3.1 below demonstrates the process for generating a research hypothesis through the
operationalisation of the research question.

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Figure 3.1 Generating a research hypothesis

Source: Sekaran & Bougie (2019)

References:

Bryman & Bell, (2007) Business Research Methods. 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press. UK: Oxford.

Business Research Methodology (n.d.) Formulating research aims and objectives. Available at:
https://research-methodology.net/research-methodology/research-aims-and-objectives/
[accessed: 03/10/2021].

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CMI (2020) Setting SMART objectives Checklist 231. Available at:
https://www.managers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CHK-231-Setting_Smart_Objective
s.pdf [accessed: 18/08/2021].

Collis, J. & Hussey, R. (2013) Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and
postgraduate students. Macmillan International Higher Education. England: London.

Lawlor, K.B. & Hornyak, M.J. (2012) Smart goals: How the application of SMART goals can
contribute to achievement of student learning outcomes. Development in Business Simulation
and Experiential Learning, 39, pp. 259-267. Available at:
https://scholar.google.gr/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1&q=SMART+GOALS%3A+HO
W+THE+APPLICATION+OF+SMART+GOALS+CAN+CONTRIBUTE+TO+ACHIEVEMENT+OF+STUDEN
T+LEARNING+OUTCOMES&btnG= [accessed: 18/08/2021].

Platt, G. (2002) Smart objectives: What they mean and how to set them. Training Journal, pp.
23-26.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2015) Research Methods for Business Students. 17th Ed.
Pearson Education. England: Essex.

Sekaran & Bougie (2019) Research Methods for Business: A skills building approach. 8th ed.
John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.