Consider your forensic science research question or problem. All research begins with a question or problem, and forensic science is no different. The question or problem will involve an unanswered issue --- in this case involving forensic science --- and usually involve a "why" such as, "Why does this particular phenomena occur in this way?" or "What does this mean?"
Narrow the research problem to a specific goal. The goal must be as narrow as possible so the variables are reduced, allowing greater cause-effect analysis.
Propose a research plan. The research plan will be a reasonable approach to solving your research problem or answering your research question. When deciding on the research method, consider variables involved in your research question and how those variables are measured. The proposed approach may be presented in a number of steps that resolve sub-problems of the main research problem or question.
Review the research problem and proposal to form your hypothesis. The hypothesis often is presented in two forms; the first hypothesis is an educated or logical guess which provides a possible explanation for the phenomena. For example, a forensic science hypothesis may be that a person died as a result of murder based on the evidence found at the crime scene.
Follow the hypothesis statement with the second form, a null hypothesis, if working with statistical analyses. For example, a null hypothesis would state, using the previous example, that the person did not die from murder, implying the death was by natural causes or suicide.