ABSTRACT
The process of arriving at a clearly delineated research problem is sometimes called ‘problematizing’. Although in everyday speech the word ‘problem’ has negative connotations, denoting trouble or some kind of difficulty, in the scientific community it is merely used as a neutral term. During the process of choosing and formulating a research problem, certain mistakes are sometimes made. Often the relation between the main research aim and central question remains unclear, because one of them has not been properly specified, or the two are incongruous with each other. Instead of phrasing a testing research question, it is also possible to formulate a hypothesis. A good hypothesis is one-directional, explicit in terms of the predicted effect and does not allow for ambiguity. Instead of a hypothesis, the researcher can also formulate expectations or make predictions, which are softer terms and less subject to strict requirements.
