The research hypothesis may be regarded as central to all research endeavours. Note that in some disciplines, research hypotheses are usually not included. It may be presented in form of a statement. it is often appropriate to use the Null hypothesis which simply states that no relationship exists between a given set of variables. It acts as an evidence of the degree/level of achievement of the research objectives and questions. It therefore clarifies the research question and links it to statistical analysis. he null hypothesis is the basis of all statistical tests of significance. While research questions highlits how interesting and researchable an idea is , the research hypothesis links the results to the goals of the research endeavour. All the best! Philippa

Bahtilla - it depends on exactly what you mean by hypothesis in your question? I sense that you mean a research idea, question, statement or hypothesis. They mean and do different things. A hypothesis is a 'statement of intent' and usually refers to quantitative approaches - especially experimental and quasi-experimental - but also non-experimental - such as correlation.

If your question means 'what is the need of research questions, statements etc' - then research cannot occur without them. They are formed out of the critical literature search and literature appraisal process that identified the knowledge deficits/gaps to be addressed in the study. The questions/hypotheses etc also determine the methodology required to address the question. On completion of findings - the questions etc are referred back to as the initial probe and it is determined to what extent the outcomes address them.

The attached chapter on developing questions and hypotheses may assist.

Thank you Doc Whitehead, l know that a thesis or a research paper must have research objectives and questions. My problem is, why do we include hypotheses in some studies? Please I need reasons. Thank you!

I think the research objectives and questions would be sufficient to tackle the research problem. On the other hand, some researchers start their studies with a prior hypothesis/hypotheses. In this case, they would like to include the hypothesis /hypotheses.

The research hypothesis may be regarded as central to all research endeavours. Note that in some disciplines, research hypotheses are usually not included. It may be presented in form of a statement. it is often appropriate to use the Null hypothesis which simply states that no relationship exists between a given set of variables. It acts as an evidence of the degree/level of achievement of the research objectives and questions. It therefore clarifies the research question and links it to statistical analysis. he null hypothesis is the basis of all statistical tests of significance. While research questions highlits how interesting and researchable an idea is , the research hypothesis links the results to the goals of the research endeavour. All the best! Philippa

I agree with @Dawood Mahdi and @Philippa Ojimelukwe

Bahtilla - as Phillippa has eluded to - you would need hypotheses to drive your methodology which, if you were to use hypotheses, would be quantitative and statistical in design. Phillippa - hypotheses are not central to all research endeavours. Take all qualitative research for instance. That's about half of all research that is out there.

Thanks to everyone for your contribution.

An hypothesis, just like research questions, is very central in research, especially in methodology. However, it is not required to have an hypothesis if you have clearly stated research questions. "The major purpose of hypothesis testing is to choose between two competing hypotheses about the value of a population parameter. For example, one hypothesis might claim that the wages of men and women are equal, while the alternative might claim that men make more than women."

I think hypothesis is not mandatory for all research paper. If someone wants he can add it.

Dear it is an intelligent guess in the study and which is added to help in conclusion of the study by using statistical tolls to make decision by testing the hypothesis.

Mr. Emmanuel, that's not the reason why we use hypotheses. Hypotheses are used in quantitative research. They are used when the research questions are not enough to solve the issue we are investigating.