RESEARCH PROBLEM

INTRODUCTION
 Generally speaking a research problem is a
situation that needs a solution and for which
there are possible solutions or a question that
researcher wants to answer
 Identification & formulation of a research
problem is the first step of the research process.
 Selection of research problem depends on
several factors such as researcher’s knowledge,
skills, interest, expertise, motivation &creativity
with respect to the subject of inquiry.
 It is believed that most of the good research
studies need lots of time for selection of a
research problem.
 DEFINITIONS
 According to Kerlinger, ‘A problem is an
interrogative sentence or statement that asks what
relation exists between two or more variable. The
answer to question will provide what is having
sought in the research.
 R.S. Woodworth defines problem as ‘a situation
for which we have no ready & successful response
by instinct or by previous acquired habit. We must
find out what to do’, i.e. the solution can be found
out only after an investigation.
 In other words, ‘a research problem is an area of
concern where there is a gap in the knowledgebase
needed for professional practices.
 Stakeholders will potentially benefit from
the knowledge derived from this study
 Results will be applicable
 Results will be theoretically relevant
 Findings will lend support to untested
theoretical assumptions, extend or
challenge an existing theory, or clarify a
conflict in the literature
 Findings will potentially formulate or alter
practice or policies
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HOW TO WRITE THE STATEMENT
PROBLEM
 The problem statement implies some question
that your research will be answering.
 When you set up to write a statement problem
you should know that you are looking for
something wrong… or something that needs
close attention.
 Nevertheless objectivity can be injected by
answering questions such as these
 Is the problem of current interest?
 Is the problem likely to continue into the
future?
 Will more information about the problem have
practical application?
 Will more information about the problem have
theoretical importance?
 How large is the population affected by the
problem?
 How important, influential, or popular is this
population?
 Would this study substantially revise or extend
existing knowledge?
 Would this study create or improve an
instrument of some utility?
 Would research findings lead to some useful
change in best practice?
 Is there evidence or authoritative opinion from
others to support the need for this research?
 The problem statement could close with a
question
Criteria for Research Problem Statements

 The statement of the problem should clearly

indicate what is to be investigated.

 The actual statement may be in a declarative

or in a question form.

 The statement should indicate the variables of

interest and the specific relationship between
the variables that are to be studied.
Identification of a research
problem
 Identification of a research problem is the first
& most important step in research process.
 Generally, a broad area is selected & then a
broad topic is delimited or narrowed down to a
specific one-sentence statement of the
problem.
 This step of the research process is considered
as the most difficult & challenging, & need slots
of time.
 A research problem may come from several
sources
SOURCES OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

 Personal experiences

 Literature sources

 Existing theories

 Previous research

 Academic experiences
 Brain storming

 Intuition

 Consultations

 Social issues

 Professional experience
Identifying
the research problem
 Critical first step in research process
 Directs the entire research process
and decisions you will make
 Being clear about the problem you
wish to address will assist in
focusing your study
 Start with a broad area of
interest/concern which is gradually
refined until you have a research
problem
 Steps in identifying
a research problem
1. Outline areas of interest
Read about your Observe your
interests environment

2. Choose a topic Be curious

Talk to your
Colleagues
Ask questions
Find out what
3. Narrow your topic
others are
doing

4. Identify a research problem

5. Identify the purpose for your study

Areas of Interest

 Start with an area you are familiar with

 Begin broadly and think of things that
interest you in your practice
• What do you find frustrating?
Perplexing?
• What do you think works well?
What could be improved?
 Be creative and try to “think outside the
box”
 Brainstorm about general areas of
interest
 Write down all your thoughts and ideas
Choosing your topic
 Choose one area of interest
as a topic you will focus on
 To help you select a topic consider:
1. Significance/relevance: Is this an
important problem for? Is it timely?
2. Gaps: What is already known about
the topic? Have others already
examined this issue? Is more
research needed?
3. Interest: Is this something you would
like to explore further?
Narrowing your topic
 Refine your topic by becoming more
specific about what you are interested
in
 Pose some questions about your topic
to help you narrow your focus
 Polit & Beck (2008) suggest some
question stems to use to assist in
refining your topic
 What is going on with….
 What is the meaning of…
 What influences or causes…
 What is the process by which….
 What factors contribute to….
 How effective is…..
Errors in Defining the Research Problem

Common
Errors

Problem Definition
Problem Definition is too Narrow
is too Broad •May Miss Some
•Does Not Provide Important
Guidelines for Components of the
Subsequent Steps Problem
•e.g., Improving the •e.g. Changing Prices
Company’s Image in Response to a
Competitor’s Price
Change.
 An example :
 Let us suppose that a research problem in a
broad general way is as follows:
 “Why is productivity in Japan so much higher
than in India”?
 It has a number of ambiguities such as
• What sort of productivity is being referred to?
• With what industries the same is related?
• With what period of time the productivity is being
talked about?
• In view of all such ambiguities the given statement
or the question is much too general to be amenable
to analysis.

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• Rethinking and discussions about the problem may
result in narrowing down the question to:
 Example
 “What factors were responsible for the higher
labour productivity of Japan’s manufacturing
industries during the decade 1971 to 1980
relative to India’s manufacturing industries?”
 Further rethinking and rephrasing might
place the problem on a still better
operational basis as shown below:
 “To what extent did labour productivity in 1971 to
1980 in Japan exceed that of India in respect of
15 selected manufacturing industries?
 What factors were responsible for the productivity
differentials between the two countries by
industries?”

23/23
 Example:
 With this sort of formulation, the various
terms involved such as ‘labour productivity’,
‘productivity differentials’, etc. must be
explained clearly.
 The researcher must also see that the
necessary data are available.
 In case the data for one or more industries
selected are not available for the concerning
time-period, then the said industry or
industries will have to be substituted by other
industry or industries.
 The suitability of the time-period must also be
examined. Thus, all relevant factors must be
considered by a researcher before finally
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defining a research problem
Narrowing your topic:
Choosing a researchable question
 Narrow down the questions you have
posed by eliminating those that are
not researchable
 According to Brink & Wood (2001)
researchable questions are
 Focused on fact not opinion – answers will
help to describe or explain a phenomenon
 “Now” questions - deal with current,
significant issues
 Relevant - Generate useable information
 Action oriented - usually require you to do
something and provide direction for the
rest of the research process.
 Identifying
the research problem
 To decide on your research problem
consider the potentially researchable
questions about your topic you
identified earlier
 Select one that you would like to
explore in more depth
 In choosing your focus consider
 Your interests
 The literature
 Feasibility of studying the problem
Identifying the research problem
To finalize the research problem consider:
 Significance
 “Researchability”
 Nature of the problem
 Ethical considerations
 Feasibility
 Time
 Funding for the study
 Researcher expertise
 Availability of participants
 Availability of facility and equipment

(Polit & Beck 2008))

Identifying the study purpose
 Clear, concise statement of the goal, aim,
focus, or objective of the study (Burns &
Grove, 2005)
 Should include a description of
 “what” = variables or phenomena of
interest
 “who” = sample or participants
 “where” = setting
PROBLEM STATEMENT
 A problem statement is the description of an
issue currently existing which needs to be
addressed.
 It provides the context for the research study
and generates the questions which the
research aims to answer.
 The statement of the problem is the focal point
of any research. A good problem statement is
just one
 "The frequency of job layoffs is creating fear,
and a loss of productivity in middle
management workers."
The Research Question
 The foundation of the research process
 It all begins with a question
Finding a Research Question
 From where ???????
 Curiosity
 Information Gaps
 Controversy
 Replication
 Literature Review
 Other People
 ...???
Types of Research Questions
 Conceptualize that a research study can ask
three types of questions:
 Descriptive question
 Relationship question
 Comparative question
 This general classification scheme helps not
only with the design of the study, but also in
choosing the type of data analysis procedure
Descriptive Question
 Seeks to describe phenomena or characteristics
of a particular group of subjects being studied
 Answers the question “what is”
• Asking questions of the research participants
• Testing or measuring their performance
 Survey research
 Descriptive research questions simply aim
to describe the variables you are measuring.
When we use the word describe, we mean that
these research questions aim to quantify the
variables you are interested in.
Descriptive Question
 Think of research questions that start with
words such as "How much?", "How
often?", "What percentage?", and "What
proportion?", but also sometimes questions
starting "What is?" and "What are?".
 Often, descriptive research questions focus on
only one variable and one group, but they can
include multiple variables and groups. We
provide some examples below:
Descriptive Question
 Question: How often do Pakistan
university students use Face book each
week?
 Variable: Weekly Facebook usage
 Group:Pakistan university students

 Question:What are the most important

factors that influence the career choices
of Pakistan university students?
 Variable: Factors influencing career choices
 Group:Pakistan university students
 Relationship Question
 Investigates the degree to which two or more
variables are associated with each other

 Whilst we refer to this type of quantitative

research question as a relationship-
based research question, the word relationship
should be treated simply as a useful way of
describing the fact that these types of quantitative
research question are interested in the causal
relationships, associations, trends and/or interacti
ons amongst two or more variables on one or
more groups.
 We have to be careful when using the
word relationship because in statistics, it refers
to a particular type of research design,
namely experimental research designs where it
is possible to measure the cause and
effect between two or more variables; that is,
it is possible to say that variable A (e.g., study
time) was responsible for an increase in
variable B (e.g., exam scores).
 we typically start a relationship-based
quantitative research question, "What is the
relationship?", usually followed by the
words, "between or amongst", then list the
independent variables (e.g., gender) and
dependent variables (e.g., attitudes towards
music piracy), "amongst or between" the
group(s) you are focusing on. Examples of
relationship-based research questions are:
 Question:What is the relationship between
gender and attitudes towards music piracy
amongst teenagers?
 Dependent variable:Attitudes towards music
piracy
 Independent variable:Gender
 Group: teenagers
 Question:What is the relationship between
study time and exam scores amongst
university students?
 Dependent variable:Exam scores
 Independent variable:Study time
 Group:University students
 Question:What is the relationship
amongst career prospects, salary and
benefits, and physical working conditions
on job satisfaction between managers and
non-managers?
 Dependent variable:Job satisfaction
 Independent variable:1. Career prospects
2. Salary and benefits
3. Physical working conditions
 Group:1. Managers
2. Non-managers
Comparative research
questions
 Comparative research questions aim to
examine the differences between two or more
groups on one or more dependent variables
(although often just a single dependent
variable).
 Such questions typically start by asking "What
is the difference in?" a particular dependent
variable between two or more groups.
Examples of comparative research questions
include:
 Question:What is the difference in the
daily calorific intake of American men and
women?
 Dependent variable:Daily calorific intake
 Groups:1. American men
2. American women

Question:What are the differences in
usage behaviour on Facebook between
British male and female university
students?
 Dependent variable:Usage behaviour on
Facebook (e.g. logins, weekly photo uploads,
status changes, commenting
on other users' photos, app usage, etc.)
 Group:1. Male, British university students
2. Female, British university students
Difference Question
 Seeks to make comparisons between or within
groups of interest
 Often associated with experimental research
• Is there a difference between the control group and
the experimental group?
 Comparison of one group to another on the basis
of existing characteristics

 Example
 Does participation in Special Olympics affect the
self-esteem of adults with mental retardation?
(Major, 1998)
Criteria for Selecting a Problem

 Interest
 Most important
 Significance
 Theoretical value
 Practical value
 Timeliness
 External review
 Manageability
 Expertise, time, resources
 Free from personal bias
Problem Distillation
 The process of refining the question or idea
into a problem and making it sufficiently
specific so that it is amenable to investigation
 This process should lead to the development of
a “statement of the problem” that is clear,
concise, and definitive
Statement of the Problem
 A very specific statement which clearly
identifies the problem being studied; will
usually identify the key variables as well as
give some information about the scope of the
study
 May be in either question or declarative form
 May include inherent sub-problems, if
appropriate
 Formulation of problem statement takes place
after an initial review of related literature and
the distillation process
Problem Statements
 “The problem of this study was to …”
 “This study was concerned with …”
 “This study is designed to …”
 “The purpose of this investigation is to …”
Sample Problem Statements
1. The problem was to investigate the effects of
exercise on blood lipids among college-age females.
2. This study was designed to determine the
relationship between stability performance and
physical growth characteristics of preschool children.
3. The present study was designed to identify those
characteristics which differentiate between students
who binge drink and those that do not.
4. The problem of the study was to determine is there
is a relationship between self-efficacy and self-
reported alcohol usage among middle-aged adult
females.
Limitations
 Limitations are very similar to delimitations,
but they tend to focus on potential weaknesses
of the study
 Examples include
 sampling problems (representativeness of
subjects)
 uncontrolled factors and extraneous variables
 faulty research design and techniques
 reliability and validity of measuring instruments
 compromises to internal/external validity
Limitations continued
 Possible shortcomings of the study . . . usually
cannot be controlled by the researcher
 the researcher will, of course, try to eliminate
extremely serious weaknesses before the study
is commenced
 May be a result of assumptions not being met
 No study is perfect; the researcher recognizes
the weaknesses
Assumptions
 Assumptions are basic, fundamental conditions
that must exist in order for the research to
proceed
 Basic premises required in the study... the
researcher does everything possible to increase
the credibility of the assumptions, but does not
have absolute control
 Assumptions could be made about (1) the
motivation of the subjects, (2) whether
subjects responded truthfully, (3) the validity
of the measuring instrument, and (4) whether
subjects followed directions correctly