Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses

• A research problem is a perplexing or enigmatic situation that a researcher wants to address through disciplined inquiry.
• Feasibility involves the issues of time, cooperation of study participants and other people, availability of facilities and equipment, researcher experience, and ethical considerations.
• The problem statement articulates the nature, context, and significance of a problem to be studied.
• A research question is the specific query researchers want to answer in addressing the research problem.
• In quantitative studies, a hypothesis is a statement of predicted relationships between two or more variables.
• Simple hypotheses express a predicted relation ship between one independent variable and one dependent variable.
• Complex hypotheses state an anticipated relationship between two or more independent variables and two or more dependent variables (or state predictions about mediating or moderating variables).
• Directional hypotheses predict the direction of a relationship.
• Nondirectional hypotheses predict the existence of relationships, not their direction.
• Research hypotheses predict the existence of relationships.
• Null hypotheses express the absence of a relationship.
• Hypotheses are never proved or disproved in an ultimate sense—they are accepted or rejected, supported or not supported by the data.