Formulating a research question

An hypothesis is one form of researchable question. It may be defined:

An hypothesis is an explanation of observable 'facts' or phenomena that may be verifiable through investigations that can be reproduced.

So an hypothesis is concerned with an explanation of something previously unexplained. It requires some form of investigative process, and should not be one-off. For the research to be acceptable others must be able to use the same procedure to achieve similar results. Hypotheses that can be tested are quite obviously known as 'testable hypotheses'. In fact we often test not the belief that we have developed into an hypothesis, but its opposite! For example, suppose we hypothesise that men and women will score different marks in their dissertations. It is easier to test this if we take the hypothesis, namely that their marks will be similar. This method of trying to prove the opposite of what you want to show is known as the 'null hypothesis'. Now all we have to do is to see if there are differences in marks.

At this stage it is important to say that, philosophically, not all research has to be concerned with testable hypotheses. However, testable hypotheses provide a research design that can reliably yield high marks. That is because the research arguments are typically easier to follow. Finally, let us look a bit more at the relationship between a research question, a researchable hypothesis and a null hypothesis using an example.

This brings us to issues of research methods and their relationship to researchable questions.