ABSTRACT
The chapter describes hypotheses and research questions including the reasoning behind hypotheses and research questions, when to use what kind of hypothesis and/or research question, how to test hypothesis and/or research questions, defines error, and provides a case study that applies the principles in the chapter. The development of and the testing of hypotheses and research questions is critical to the research process. Hypotheses are statements about the relationships between variables, while research questions are questions about proposed relationships between variables. Data are used to test hypotheses and research questions. To understand the nature of both, we need to know: 1) what are hypotheses and research questions, 2) what do they do, and 3) when do we know if our hypothesis or research question is “right.” The chapter explains dependent versus independent variables, the role of research questions, hypotheses (including null hypothesis and research hypothesis).
