STEP FOUR

Adopt, modify or create research questions/hypotheses for your dissertation

The final step in setting the research questions/hypotheses for your dissertation involves either adopting (i.e., Route A: Duplication) or modifying (i.e., Route B: Generalisation) the research questions/hypotheses from your main journal article, or creating new ones (i.e., Route C: Extension), as we mentioned in STEP TWO above. Whilst adopting and modifying the research questions/hypotheses from your main journal article are quiet straightforward, creating new ones from scratch is much more involved, but can be reduced to four steps:

1. STEP ONE
   Choose the type of quantitative research question/hypothesis (i.e., descriptive, comparative or relationship) you are trying to create

2. STEP TWO
   Identify the different types of variable you are trying to measure, manipulate and/or control, as well as any groups you may be interested in

3. STEP THREE
   Select the appropriate structure for the chosen type of quantitative research question/hypothesis, based on the variables and/or groups involved

4. STEP FOUR
   Write out the problem or issues you are trying to address in the form of a complete research question/hypothesis

In the Research Questions and Hypotheses section of the Fundamentals part of Lærd Dissertation, we walk you through each of these four steps in detail. Once you feel confident in your choice of main journal article, route and the research questions/hypotheses that you plan to address, move on to STAGE FOUR: Assessment point.