A Good Research Question/Goal/Hypothesis(es)/Objectives

Some definitions:
Research Question: a sort of "preamble" to your hypothesis(es). Something that interests you and will drive/guide your research. A single good research question will keep you interested for the duration of research, be grounded in one field or discipline, feasible within the constraints of the available resources, distinguished between what you will research, and is flexible. In qualitative research this might be known as a "research problem". Posing a direct question will make the subsequent hypothesis(es) or research questions more grounded, focused, purposeful, and directional. It is my personal opinion that the larger research question need not be explicitly stated.

Hypothesis(es) (or subsequent research questions): ways of explaining something previously unexplained. It is a form of a research question. It can be verifiable through investigations that can be reproduced. Hypotheses that can be tested are known as "testable hypotheses". The method of trying to provide the opposite of the hypothesis (what you want to show) is known as "null hypothesis".

These definitions follow the practical approach to research (specifically step 1 and 2):
1. Identify a good research question
2. Formulate some questions (or hypotheses) that can be researched
3. Design the research investigation
4. Selected the most appropriate materials or sample to study and the tools to use
5. Gather the data
6. Analyze these data using pre-defined criteria (e.g., statistics)
7. Report on the results in the dissertation

Where goals and objectives fit in is step 3.
Research Goals: outline the strategy that best positions the investigation (research) to confirm or reject the hypothesis.

Research objectives: get you actionable information and knowledge (e.g., recommend, approve, formulate). In qualitative research these might be known as "research tasks".

Adapted from: Dissertation Success

Thus, thereby, and therefore

There isn't a verdict out on what the proper uses are of these. However, I have tried to replace these words with certain phrases to see if they still make sense. Obviously, your context matters, but it seems "thereby" is the least preferred option of the three because it usually implies a process (time-dependent).

So try replacing
therefore with "for this/that",
thus with "consequently",
and
thereby with "by doing so"or "by this/that".

Does your sentence still make sense? If it does then you have a winner! If it does not, reword trying to not use thus, thereby, or therefore, which you should probably be trying to do anyways.

If I don't write it down, does it matter?

If your like me then you read for efficiency and immediacy, kind of like a crime scene investigator. Turns out there is a name for that, "power browsing". If your also like me than you read get most of your information online. Power browsing online is re-engineering the way our brains reads, and therefore thinks. So how does this affect writing.

To the history! When Nietzche was losing his sight he bought a typewriter and learned to touch type (typing without looking at the keyboard). Nietzche's writing style changed because of this new writing medium. Friedrich A. Kittler noted that Nietzsche's prose "changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rehtoric to telegram style".

So we know that our brains (neurologically) are reprogrammed when adapting to new mediums of writing. So what has that done to my writing? When I was a boy I wrote poetry, even through undergraduate school I frequently got the comment, "Too flowery, write like a scientist". It makes sense that I wrote most of my papers in pen on paper until my undergraduate, when I was forced (in order to become a scientist) to adopt the new medium -the computer. If my brain had not reprogrammed I would not be a scientist, but what did I lose?

Bringing me to my big question, "if I don't write it down, does it matter?" I know, very "If a tree falls in the forest......" philosophy. But we did lose something in the transition from pen and paper to computer based (later uploaded online) writing, that being creativity. Thinking like a computer (or the internet) stifles creativity. If I were going to blame someone for my stifled creativity it would be Frederick Winslow Taylor. Freddy will be the topic of another post, because if your like me (a power browser), this is where you would stop reading.

Ideas generated for this post thanks to the stunning article, Is Google making us Stupid?

Criteria versus Criterion

There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones.

You can have one criterion or many criteria. Don’t confuse them.

-BeeDictionary

Others: Plural/Singular
data/datum
media/medium
phenomena/phenomenon