Research in social sciences involves various subjects and tools, starting with the formulation of a research question or a hypothesis that needs to be tested and verified. Both research questions and hypotheses share similarities, but they also have differences that should be emphasized to help those involved in social research use the appropriate tool.
Key Takeaways
- Quantitative research generally favors hypotheses, while qualitative research prefers research questions.
- Hypotheses are predictive in nature and anticipate the relationship between variables, while research questions are more general and pose questions rather than predicting outcomes.
- Hypotheses are more specific than research questions and suggest relationships between variables in a tentative manner, such as suggesting an association between employee productivity and flexible hours of work.
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://whats-different.com/distinguishing-between-research-questions-hypotheses/&media=https://whats-different.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Difference-Between-Interpersonal-and-Intrapersonal-Conflict_Figure-2.jpg&description="The distinction between a research question and a hypothesis lies in the former being an inquiry that seeks to explore or examine a topic, while the latter is a proposed explanation or prediction that is testable through experimentation or observation." Learn the difference here.){kind=link}