Explain the management dilemma or the business problem that the research would attempt to solve. Your research question must relate to the business reason for the research. For example, “Why have sales of used cars been declining at a rate of 5% per month since July 2012 at Smith Motors?” is a valid research question because you can investigate it with research.
A hypothesis must state an “educated guess” about why you think something is happening; think about cause and effect. For example, “Sales are declining at Smith Motors due to road construction around our dealership” is a hypothesis because it offers a possible cause for the problem. “Sales are declining at Smith Motors” is not a hypothesis because it does not offer a possible cause for the problem.
