Chapter Seven:

Research Questions and Hypotheses

Chapter Outline
• Qualitative Research Questions
Example 7.1. A Qualitative Central Question From an Ethnography
Example 7.2. Qualitative Central Questions From a Case Study
• Quantitative Research Questions and Hypotheses
Example 7.3. A Null Hypothesis
Example 7.4. Directional Hypotheses
Example 7.5. Non-directional and Directional Hypotheses
Example 7.6. Standard Use of Language in Hypotheses
• A Model for Descriptive Questions and Hypotheses
Example 7.7. Descriptive and Inferential Questions
• Mixed Methods Research Questions and Hypotheses
Example 7.8. Hypotheses and Research Questions in a Mixed Methods Study
Example 7.9. A Mixed Methods Question Written Using Methods and
Content Language
Research Questions and Hypothesis
• Investigators place signposts to carry the reader
through a plan for a study.
• An important signpost is the research question or the
hypothesis that narrows the purpose statement to
predictions about what will be learned or questions to
be answered in the study.
Qualitative Research Questions
• Qualitative researchers pose research questions
• Not objectives
• Not hypotheses

• Two types of qualitative research questions to focus a study's

purpose:
• Central question
• Broad question that asks for exploration of the central phenomenon
• Subquestions
• Questions that narrow the focus of the study
Writing Qualitative Research
Questions
• Ask 1-2 central questions, these should be broad and ask for an
explanation of the central phenomenon or concept in the
study. Here the intent is to explore the general factors relevant
to the central phenomenon.

• Ask no more than 5-7 sub-questions these will narrow the

study but leave open the questioning.
Writing Qualitative Research
Questions
• Begin with "what" or "how” to convey an open or
emerging design
• Focus on a single phenomenon or concept, what is the one
single concept, that you want to explore?
• Use exploratory verbs as nondirectional rather than
directional words, like affect, influence, impact, determine,
cause and relate
• Use open-ended questions without reference to the literature
or theory
• Specify the participants and research site (unless stated
previously)
A Script for Writing a Qualitative Central Question

• (How or What) is the (“story for” for narrative research;

“meaning of” the phenomenon for phenomenology; “theory
that explains the process of ” for grounded theory; “culture-
sharing pattern” for ethnography; “issue” in the “case” for case
study) of (central phenomenon) for (participants) at (research
site).
A Qualitative Central Question From an Ethnography
Qualitative Central Questions From a Case
Study
Quantitative Research Questions and Hypotheses

• Quantitative researchers pose research questions or hypotheses and objectives to

focus the study's purpose

• Quantitative research questions:

• Questions about the relationships among variables that the investigator seeks
to know

• Quantitative hypotheses:
• Predictions that the researcher makes about the expected relationships among
variables

• Quantitative objectives:
• Indicate a study's goals
Writing Quantitative Research Questions and Hypotheses

• Write questions or hypotheses, not both

• Consider 3 approaches to the variables for a question or hypothesis:
• Compare groups
• Relate variables
• Describe responses
• Specify questions and hypotheses based on theory if possible
• Measure the independent and dependent variables separately
• Generally use demographic information as intervening variables
• Use consistent words and ordering for independent and dependent
variables
Scripts for Writing Quantitative Research Questions
and Hypotheses
• Quantitative research question describing outcomes:
What is the frequency and variation of scores on ____________ (name the
variable) for ______________(participants) in the study?

• Quantitative research question focused on examining the

relationship among variables:
Does _________ (name the theory) explain the relationship between
_________ (independent variable) and _________ (dependent variable),
controlling for the effects of _________ (control variable)?

• Quantitative null hypothesis:

There is no significant difference between _________ (the control and
experimental groups on the independent variable) on _________
(dependent variable).
Forms for Writing Quantitative Research Questions
and Hypotheses
• The use of variables in research questions or hypothesis if one
wants to do:
An experiment or group comparisons
A survey that correlates variables
A descriptive study
• Write research questions and hypothesis that logically follow
from relationship among variables in a theory
• Research questions or hypothesis may indicate cause and
effect logic
• Research questions and hypothesis should have no
redundancies, do not write both
A Null Hypothesis
Directional Hypotheses
Forms for Writing Quantitative Research Questions
and Hypotheses
• If writing hypotheses, use a consistent form:
• Null hypotheses (predict no difference or no relationship)
• Alternative hypothesis or directional hypotheses (predict direction of
difference or relationship)
• Non-directional hypotheses (predict a difference or relationship, but
not its direction)
• Use the same pattern of word order in the questions or
hypotheses to enable a reader to easily identify the major
variables
• If writing research questions:
• First, specify descriptive questions for each important variable
• Next, state inferential questions that relate variables or compare
groups
• Finally, add questions in which variables are controlled
Nondirectional and Directional Hypotheses
Standard Use of Language in Hypotheses
A Model for Descriptive Questions and Hypotheses
Mixed Methods Research Questions and Hypotheses

• Advance both qualitative and quantitative research questions

(or hypotheses) in order to narrow and focus the purpose
statement
• Use guidelines for writing good qualitative and quantitative questions
and hypotheses
• Order questions to match the mixed methods design
• In a two-phase design, order to match the phases
• In a one-phase design, order according to the method given the most
weight
• Include a mixed methods research question that:
• Conveys the methods and procedures
• Conveys the content of the study
• Combines the methods and content
Different Ways to Write Questions and Hypotheses
into a Mixed Methods Study

• Write separate qualitative questions and quantitative questions

or hypotheses:
• At the beginning or as they emerge in phases
• This places emphasis on the two approaches

• Write separate questions or hypotheses followed by a mixed

methods question:
• This highlights the two approaches as well as their combined
strength

• Write only a mixed methods question:

• This emphasizes the integration and not the individual parts
Hypotheses and Research Questions in a Mixed
Methods Study