Research Question and Hypothesis Development
After selecting your dissertation topic, you need to nail down your research questions. Importantly, whether your study utilizes a quantitative or qualitative approach, research questions need to be at least two things: interesting and researchable. Now, your committee will likely view your research questions as interesting if your questions underscore a well-defined problem that has a high level of significance, such that examining the problem will contribute to the field in some novel way. Additionally, you will know your questions are researchable if you can confirm that the data are readily available to you, that the constructs can be operationalized into variables, and that the topic is manageable in size. The examples below provide additional context around quantitative and qualitative research questions.
Quantitative Research Question Example
Imagine you want to examine whether a given social environment influences people's personalities. This idea presents an interesting problem because both social environment and an individual's personality represent constructs that researchers can easily measure by investigating any number of distinct components. For instance, is the social environment driven by the country one lives in? Perhaps it's the generation in which one grew up? Another component that contributes to the definition of social environment as a construct, and the one we will use in this example, is the birth order within a family. Similarly, researchers can measure personalities in a multitude of ways using one of many approved tests.
Of course, in addition to identifying the variables that define a construct, how your variables of interest relate to each other should be explained, typically by predicting outcomes or showing differences between groups.
Based on this scenario you are requested to research on the following topics and formulate the required hypothesis
1. Differentiate quantitative and qualitative research
2. Provide suitable examples about your research
3. Construct null and alternative hypothesis
4. Suggest the method used for testing the hypothesis
5. Give reason for your suggestions