Chapter 2: Research Questions, Hypotheses and Clinical Questions

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following: • Describe how the research question and hypothesis relate to the other components of the research process. • Describe the process of identifying and refining a research question or hypothesis. • Identify the criteria for determining the significance of a research question or hypothesis. • Discuss the purpose of developing a clinical question. • Discuss the appropriate use of the purpose, aim, or objective of a research study. • Discuss how the purpose, research question, and hypothesis suggest the level of evidence to be obtained from the findings of a research study. • Describe the advantages and disadvantages of directional and nondirectional hypotheses. • Compare and contrast the use of statistical versus research hypotheses. • Discuss the appropriate use of research questions versus hypotheses in a research study. • Discuss the differences between a research question and a clinical question in relation to evidence-based practice. • Identify the criteria used for critiquing a research question and hypothesis. • Apply the critiquing criteria to the evaluation of a research question and hypothesis in a research report.