Here are some examples of areas of interest, research questions that may emerge and how an hypothesis may be written. Remember that these aren't the ONLY research questions or hypotheses that you could use in each case, they're just examples:

• Your factory workers claim that because their tasks are boring, productively would improve if they could listen to background music. As the factory owner, you are not convinced as you think music will distract them from their tasks and they will make more mistakes…
  Research Question: 'Is factory productivity affected when background music is played?'
  Hypothesis: 'There is no difference in factory production based on the use of background music'
  
  
• You’ve been having a discussion with other students about why you all came to university; you say it was because all your friends decided to go; someone else says it was because their chosen career demanded it and a third student says it was because rich kids always go to university …
  Research Question: 'Is there an association between parental income and attendance at university?'
  Hypothesis: 'Attendance at university is not related to parental income'
  
  
• You’ve been having a discussion with other students about the impact of marketing on product sales. You think that making an attractive ‘banner advert’ is the most important factor, but one of the others thinks it is more to do with where the banner ad it placed rather than what it looks like ...
  Research Question: 'Is there a relationship between product sales and banner advertising?'
  Hypothesis: 'Product sales are not affected by banner location'
  
  
• You’ve been having a discussion with other students about fitness, specifically aerobic capacity. You say that maximal aerobic capacity is related to age but someone else thinks it is more connected to a person’s weight…
  Research Question: 'Can maximal aerobic capacity be predicted based on weight?'
  Hypothesis: 'Weight has no impact on maximal aerobic capacity'
  
  
• You’ve been arguing with some winter-sports friends about how the tint colour of ski goggles affects performance. You favour your blue-tinted goggles but your friend says she’s heard that yellow tint is much better while the guy in the ski shop recommends green tint for best performance…
  Research Question: 'Does the colour tint of ski goggle affect skiing skill and ability?'
  Hypothesis: 'Colour tint does not increase skiing performance'

Notice that in every example, the Hypothesis is phrased in a negative sense - that is, that whatever the area of interest, it makes no difference to the dependent variable - that is, the one that is being counted or measured. This is common practice in research and when the principle hypothesis is phrased in this way it is known as the Null Hypothesis and this is important.