Introducing Research Questions & Hypotheses in a Proposal or Thesis

Introducing Research Questions & Hypotheses in a Proposal or Thesis

1. Why Research Questions and Hypotheses Matter

Not every proposal or thesis explicitly lists research questions and hypotheses, but almost all substantial research projects are guided by them in practice. Even if your discipline prefers to talk about a “problem statement,” “aims,” or “objectives,” there is usually an underlying set of questions you want to answer and, consciously or not, some expectations or assumptions about what you will find. Making these questions and working answers explicit helps you clarify your project for yourself and for your readers.

Research questions and hypotheses perform several important functions:

• They define the focus of your study and delimit what is inside and outside its scope.
• They guide your choice of methods, data, and analytical strategies.
• They provide a framework for your results and discussion chapters, which will usually return to these questions and hypotheses explicitly.
• They give your supervisor and committee a clear set of points on which to offer feedback, both at proposal stage and during the thesis.

For these reasons, many supervisors consider clearly formulated research questions and, where appropriate, hypotheses to be one of the strongest indicators that a student has a manageable, coherent project.

2. What Are Research Questions and Hypotheses?

Research questions are the questions you ask about your topic, problem, or phenomenon in order to structure your investigation. They often begin with phrases such as “How…?”, “To what extent…?”, “In what ways…?” or “What is the relationship between…?” For example:

• How do first-year students experience online feedback in large introductory courses?
• What is the relationship between social media use and sleep quality in adolescents?
• To what extent do policy changes affect access to primary healthcare in rural regions?

Hypotheses are tentative, testable statements that propose answers to those questions. They are grounded in existing research, theory, or natural laws, and express your informed expectations or assumptions. For instance, paired with the questions above, you might propose:

• Students receiving personalised online feedback will report higher satisfaction than those receiving generic feedback.
• Higher levels of evening social media use are associated with poorer sleep quality.
• Policy changes that increase the number of local clinics will improve reported access to primary healthcare.

In some fields, particularly in the natural and social sciences, hypotheses are formalised and tested using statistical methods. In other fields, especially qualitative or exploratory research, you may work mainly with research questions and avoid formal hypotheses. The key is to follow the norms of your discipline and the expectations of your department.

3. Where to Introduce Research Questions and Hypotheses

In a proposal or thesis, research questions and hypotheses usually belong in the introduction, though their exact position can vary. Common patterns include:

• After the problem statement and aims, once you have explained what topic you are investigating and why.
• After a short background section or brief literature overview that sets up the theoretical or empirical context.
• In a dedicated subsection titled “Research Questions and Hypotheses” within the introduction.

The advantage of including them in the introduction is that readers can see from the outset how the rest of the document is structured. When they reach your methodology, they can immediately understand why you chose certain methods. When they read your results and discussion, they can see how each chapter answers the questions or tests the hypotheses you set out at the beginning.

4. Linking Research Questions and Hypotheses to Aims and Objectives

Your aims describe what you hope to achieve overall (for example, “to investigate how X affects Y in context Z”), and your objectives break this aim into concrete steps (“to measure…”, “to compare…”, “to explore…”). Research questions and hypotheses should be tightly connected to these elements.

A useful approach is:

• state a broad aim in one or two sentences;
• list several objectives that operationalise this aim;
• follow with research questions that correspond to these objectives;
• and, in quantitative or mixed-methods projects, present hypotheses that address each question or group of questions.

For example:

• Aim: To examine the relationship between daily physical activity and mental health among university students.
• Objective 1: To measure self-reported physical activity levels and mental health indicators over a 12-week period.
• Objective 2: To analyse the association between changes in activity and changes in mental health.
• Research Question 1: How do daily physical activity levels vary over the semester?
• Research Question 2: What is the relationship between physical activity patterns and self-reported mental health?
• Hypothesis 1: Students with higher average daily physical activity will report better mental health scores than those with lower activity levels.

Presenting these elements together makes the logical structure of your project explicit and helps your committee assess its coherence.

5. Presenting Research Questions and Hypotheses Clearly

Because research questions and hypotheses are central to your project, they deserve careful formatting and wording. Long, dense paragraphs that hide the questions in the middle of the text can be difficult to follow. Instead, many researchers find it effective to display questions and hypotheses in a list.

5.1 Using lists and numbering

Lists make your questions and hypotheses easy to reference later in the thesis. You might write:

Research Questions

1. How do teachers in secondary schools conceptualise inclusive education?
2. What strategies do they report using to support diverse learners?
3. What barriers do they perceive in implementing inclusive practices?

Hypotheses

1. Teachers with more training in inclusive education will report greater confidence in supporting diverse learners.
2. Schools with formal inclusion policies will show higher reported use of inclusive strategies.

You can then refer back to these as “Research Question 2” or “Hypothesis 1” in your methods, results, and discussion chapters. Numbering can also reflect your methodological structure (for example, grouping questions according to qualitative or quantitative components).

5.2 Wording research questions effectively

When drafting your questions, aim for clarity and answerability:

• avoid vague verbs like “explore” or “investigate” in the question itself (use them in aims instead);
• include key variables or concepts explicitly;
• ensure that each question can be addressed with the data and methods you plan to use;
• check that questions are not simply yes/no; consider “how,” “in what ways,” or “to what extent” instead.

5.3 Formulating hypotheses

Hypotheses should be specific, testable statements. Good practice includes:

• stating the expected direction or nature of the relationship (e.g., “higher X is associated with lower Y”);
• aligning each hypothesis with theory or prior empirical findings;
• keeping the number of hypotheses manageable; too many can make the project unwieldy.

In purely qualitative or exploratory work, your supervisor may advise you not to formulate formal hypotheses; in that case, focus on strong research questions and clear aims.

6. Outlining the Contents of the Proposal or Thesis

After introducing your topic, explaining its significance, setting out your aims, and presenting your research questions and hypotheses, it is traditional to end the introduction with a brief outline of the document that follows. This is often called a “chapter overview” or “roadmap.”

In a thesis proposal, the outline might cover only the sections included in the proposal (for example, literature review, methodology, timetable), or it may also sketch out the planned structure of the final thesis (for example, chapters on background, methods, results, and discussion). In the introduction to the thesis itself, the outline should describe the organisation of the entire completed document.

A typical paragraph might read:

“The remainder of this proposal is organised as follows. Chapter 2 reviews the literature on X and identifies key gaps that the present study seeks to address. Chapter 3 describes the methodology, including the research design, sampling strategy, data-collection instruments, and planned analysis. Chapter 4 presents a detailed timetable and discusses anticipated limitations and ethical considerations.”

In the thesis, the equivalent paragraph would refer to the final results and discussion chapters as well.

7. Organising the Introduction and Working with Guidelines

The introduction can be one of the most challenging chapters to organise, because it has to do a great deal of work: introduce the topic, justify its importance, state the aims and objectives, present research questions and hypotheses, and outline the structure of the document. Not all projects need every element in the same way.

University or departmental guidelines may:

• require you to use specific section headings (e.g., “Background,” “Research Questions,” “Significance”);
• specify which elements belong in the proposal and which belong in later thesis drafts;
• recommend a certain order for presenting problem, aims, questions, and overview.

Where guidelines are flexible, it is often helpful to divide your introduction into clearly labelled subsections. This makes the text more accessible and helps examiners quickly locate key information. A possible structure might be:

1. Background and Problem Statement
2. Aim and Objectives
3. Research Questions and Hypotheses
4. Scope and Limitations
5. Structure of the Proposal/Thesis

If you are unsure about the best structure for your discipline, discuss it with your supervisor and, if necessary, with other members of your thesis committee. They can often suggest what could be rearranged, expanded, or condensed to produce a clearer, more logical introduction.

8. A Practical Checklist for Your Introduction

As you revise your proposal or thesis introduction, consider the following questions:

• Have I clearly identified the topic, problem, or phenomenon I will study?
• Have I explained why this topic is significant in theoretical, practical, or social terms?
• Have I articulated a clear aim and a manageable set of objectives?
• Have I stated research questions that align with my aims and are feasible given my methods?
• If appropriate for my discipline, have I formulated hypotheses that are specific and testable?
• Have I presented questions and hypotheses in a readable form (for example, as numbered lists)?
• Have I provided a concise outline of the proposal or thesis structure at the end of the introduction?
• Does the sequence of sections in my introduction follow institutional guidelines or well-established practice in my field?

If you can answer “yes” to most of these, your introduction is likely to give readers a solid understanding of your project’s direction and design.

9. Conclusion

Research questions and hypotheses are not mere formalities to satisfy a template; they are central tools for defining, focusing, and communicating your research. When you take the time to express them clearly in your proposal or thesis introduction, you sharpen your own understanding of your project, make it easier for your supervisor and committee to support you, and create a coherent structure that will guide your methods, results, and discussion.

By integrating well-crafted research questions and hypotheses with a clear statement of aims and a brief roadmap of the chapters to come, you transform your introduction from a general description into a precise plan. This strong foundation will support you through the rest of the writing process and help your readers follow your work from the first page to the last.