RESEARCH PROBLEM

 statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved, a

difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly
literature, in theory, or in practice that points to the need for meaningful
understanding and deliberate investigation.

THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

• Introduce the reader to the importance of the topic being studied. The
reader is oriented to the significance of the study and the research questions
or hypotheses to follow.
• Places the problem into a particular context that defines the parameters of
what is to be investigated.
• Provides the framework for reporting the results and indicates what is
probably necessary to conduct the study and explain how the findings will
present this information

TYPES

• Casuist Research Problem -- this type of problem relates to the

determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by
analyzing moral dilemmas through the application of general rules and the
careful distinction of special cases.
• Difference Research Problem -- typically asks the question, “Is there a
difference between two or more groups or treatments?” This type of problem
statement is used when the researcher compares or contrasts two or more
phenomena.
•Descriptive Research Problem -- typically asks the question, "what is...?" with
the underlying purpose to describe a situation, state, or existence of a
specific phenomenon.
• Relational Research Problem -- suggests a relationship of some sort
between two or more variables to be investigated. The underlying purpose is
to investigate qualities/characteristics that are connected in some way.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD RESEARCH STATEMENT?

Compelling topic
Simple curiosity is not a good enough reason to pursue a research study. The
problem that you choose to explore must be important to you and to a larger
community you share. The problem chosen must be one that motivates you to
address it.
Supports multiple perspectives
The problem most be phrased in a way that avoids dichotomies and instead
supports the generation and exploration of multiple perspectives. A general rule
of thumb is that a good research problem is one that would generate a variety
of viewpoints from a composite audience made up of reasonable people.
Researchable
It seems a bit obvious, but you don't want to find yourself in the midst of
investigating a complex research project and realize that you don't have much
to draw on for your research. Choose research problems that can be supported
by the resources available to you. Not sure? Seek out help from a librarian!

SOURCES OF RESEARCH TOPIC

•there are three types of resources or sources of information: primary, secondary, and
tertiary. It is important to understand these types and to know what type is appropriate
for your coursework prior to searching for information.

Primary sources

-Are documents and objects that directly from the period of time you are
studying,they are the originals.

-are original materials on which other research is based, including:

original written works – poems, diaries, court records, interviews, speeches, live news-
feed, letters from that person in history, original newspaper, articles, original pictures,
surveys, and original research/fieldwork, and research published in scholarly/academic
journals or research data

Why should I use primary sources?

 Gives you first hand accounts of what happened

 Questions the creator

 Strengthen your argument

 Help develop knowledge and skills

Secondary sources

- are documents that happen after an event in history,they are not originals.
Sometimes the authors will noyt have witnessed the event themselves. It is a writer’s
interpretation of what happened,it is more likely to contain observations

-are those that describe or analyze primary sources, including:

reference materials – dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, books about diaries,

biographies, books and articles that interpret, review, or sythesize original
research/fieldwork.

Why do we even use secondary sources?

•Secondary sources are used to show new perspectives of events and people from the
time it is written. These sources also can tell us why events occurred . secondary sources
will strengthen your argument

Tertiary sources

-are those used to organize and locate secondary and primary sources. usually act as
pointers to primary and secondary sources

Indexes – provide citations that fully identify a work with information such as author,
titles of a book, artile, and/or journal, publisher and publication date, volume and issue
number and page numbers.

Abstracts – summarize the primary or secondary sources,

Databases – are online indexes that usually include abstracts for each primary or
secondary resource, and may also include a digital copy of the resource.
Background of the problem
• Expands upon the key points stated in the beginning of our introduction but is not
intended to be the main focus of the paper.

• Sufficient background information helps your reader determine if you have a

basic understanding of the research problem being investigated and promotes
confidence in the overall quality of your analysis and findings.

• Can also include summaries of important, relevant research studies.

• Serves as a bridge that links the reader to the topic of your study.

• We must not rush into gathering ideas and information about the topic.

Forms of contextualization may include one or more of the following:

 Cultural -- placed within the learned behavior of specific groups of people.

 Economic -- of or relating to systems of production and management of material

wealth and/or business activities.

 Gender -- located within the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically

associated with being male or female.

 Historical -- the time in which something takes place or was created and how
that influences how you interpret it.

 Interdisciplinary -- explanation of theories, concepts, ideas, or methodologies

borrowed from other disciplines applied to the research problem rooted in
another discipline.

 Philosophical -- clarification of the essential nature of being or of phenomena as

it relates to the research problem.

 Physical/Spatial -- reflects the space around something and how that influences
how you see it.

 Political -- concerns the environment in which something is produced indicating

it's public purpose or agenda.

 Social -- the environment of people that surrounds something's creation or

intended audience, reflecting how the people around something use and
interpret it.

 Temporal -- reflects issues or events of, relating to, or limited by time.

GUIDELINES IN FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Establish a clear relation between the research questions and the problem
or topic.
2. Base your research on your RRL or Review Related Literature because
existing published works help you get good background knowledge of the
research problem and help you gauge the people’s current understanding
about the topic.
3. Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise
you with your discoveries or findings.
4. State your research questions in such a way that they include all dependent
and independent variables referred to by theories, principles, or concepts
underlying your research work.
5. Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceeded by one
question expressing the main problem of the research.
6. Avoid asking research questions that are answerable with “yes” or “no” and
use the “how” questions only on a quantitative research.
7. Be guided by the acronym SMART (specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, time-bound) in formulating the research questions. Applying
SMART, you must deal with the exact answers and observable things,
determine the extent or limit of the data collected, be aware of the
timeframe and completion period of the study, and endeavor to have your
research study arrive at a particular conclusion that is indicative of what
are objective, factual, or real in this world.