All research must start with some tentative generalizations regarding the relationships between two or more variables. The difference between the two is that hypotheses predict an outcome, and research questions do not. You would look at age, gender, education levels, income levels, and other demographic factors, or variables. People over 50 spend more time reading the newspaper than people under 50.
College graduates spend more time reading the newspaper than non-college graduates.
Purposes of hypotheses 1. They provide direction for the study. Help rule out intervening and confounding variables. Allow for quantification of variables. It is important here to make sure operational definitions are being used.