The choice between research questions and hypotheses depends largely on the nature of your research, the research tradition in your field, and the goals of your study. Below is a breakdown of when you should use both:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Exploratory research: If your research is exploratory in nature and aims to understand a phenomenon, develop new theories or identify variables that may be important, research questions are more appropriate. They allow for an open-ended investigation and are often used in qualitative research.

*Exploratory research aims to investigate a new or poorly understood phenomenon. The aim is to gain insights, understand underlying mechanisms or develop new ideas and hypotheses.*

Complex phenomena: If you are dealing with complex or multifaceted issues where you may not be able to make a clear prediction, or if you are exploring relationships that have not been widely studied.

Theory development: If your aim is to develop new theoretical frameworks or concepts, research questions provide the flexibility to explore different aspects of a topic without the need to test specific predictions.

Comprehensive inquiry: When your research needs to address general, overarching questions that can be broken down into more specific sub-questions.

HYPOTHESES

Explanatory research: if your research is explanatory and aims to test a particular theory or relationship between variables, hypotheses are appropriate. Hypotheses provide a clear, testable statement that guides the research.

*Explanatory research attempts to explain the causes and effects of a phenomenon by demonstrating relationships between variables.*

Quantitative research: Hypotheses are commonly used in quantitative research, where the aim is to measure and analyze the relationships between variables. They provide a way of predicting outcomes that can be tested using statistical methods.

Established theories: If your research builds on existing theories or previous empirical findings, you can formulate hypotheses to test certain aspects of these theories or findings.

Specific predictions: If your study is designed to test specific predictions or causal relationships, hypotheses give your research a clear direction and purpose.

In some cases, especially in mixed methods research, you can start with research questions and then develop hypotheses as the research progresses, or vice versa. This approach allows you to explore a topic comprehensively and then focus on testing specific aspects of your findings.

Different academic fields have different norms for the use of research questions or hypotheses. For example, social sciences often use research questions, whereas natural sciences and psychology tend to use hypotheses.