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Research Problems and Objectives In Language Learning

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Research Problems and Objectives
In Language Learning

By
Mohammad Adnan Latief
adnanlatiefs@yahoo.com

University of Pittsburgh
State University of Malang
2009

1
 Research Problems and Objectives in Language Learning
by Mohammad Adnan Latief

Abstract
Research problems refer to questions raised to be answered through
research projects. Research questions are different from questions raised
by journalists, by classroom teachers, or by a book reader. Research
questions involving one research design is stated differently from those
involving another different research design. Good research questions are
stated clearly, involving clear assessable and accessible variables,
showing clear relationship of the variables to be investigated. Most of all,
the answer to the questions has to give some theoretical as well as
practical contribution. Research questions can be found primarily from
the recommendation of the last part of research reports.

Key terms: research problem, descriptive, evaluative, experimental, ex-

post facto, co-relational, developmental, action research.

The discussion on research problems and research objectives covers definition of

research problems, uniqueness of research problems, content of research problems,
characteristics of good research problems, and possible ways to find research problems.

DEFINING RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Research problems refer to questions raised in a research project which clearly

reflects what kind of answers is expected to be discovered through the process of research
(Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh, 1979:42). The clearest research problems are those stated in a
direct question or in an indirect question (Tuckman, 1999:28). For example, Do the more
frequently students listen to English radio broadcast, the better they achieve in developing
listening skills? Do female high school students achieve English skills better than male
high school students?
The right answer to What is your research problem? is not the difficulties or the
constraints confronted by the researcher, but the questions raised by the researcher in the
research project. If the answer to that question is for example, My research problem is
the subjects did not return my questionaires as expected. this researcher mixed up
research problem with research difficulties/constraints. Similarly, when a researcher

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conducting a research-and-development to develop an instructional material for an
English class, answers the above question, My research problem is the existing English
instructional material does not meet the need of students learning English in high school ,
this researcher also confuses research problems with the classroom problems to solve
through research.

Uniqueness of Research Problems

Questions raised by researchers are different from questions raised by journalists

(news reporter), or questions raised by language teachers. Answers to journalists
questions are obtained from the result of observation; seeing, listening, interviewing the
object in question. They report factual information without necessarily analyzing the
information. Therefore, the product of journalists is news or factual information. Answers
to researchers questions, on the other hand, are not simply factual information, but
inferences based on the result of analysis of the information collected. A question, How
do the English teachers in Islamic Elementary School I Malang teach English to the six
year school students? , for example, is not a research question because the answer to that
question can be answered through observation without necessarily analyzing the data
obtained. The answer may contain factual information about the method of teaching
applied by the teachers, the instructional materials used by the students, the tasks
assigned to students, the size of the classes, the number of meeting hours, etc. which can
be reported without necessarily analyzing the information.
Questions raised by English classroom teachers are about the learning progress and
the learning achievement of their students, like What is the average writing skills of
students in my class? What are the grammatical errors made by students in my class?
What is the percentage of the students in my class who have reached the minimum level
of writing skills?. The answers to these questions can be obtained by formative authentic
alternative assessment and formal summative evaluations. The answers do not require
analysis of the result of the assessment and evaluation and neither do the answers
contribute to the development of knowledge of language classroom instruction. The
results of assessment are used by the classroom teachers to decide the instructional

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activities, to report the students achievement to the parents, to make decision of passing
or failing students.
The questions raised by journalists as well as by classroom teachers are not the kind
of questions raised by researchers. Examples of wrong research questions, using teachers
as well as journalists questions for research questions by students in their research
project for their thesis can be found in many Indonesian libraries.

Expected Answers to Research Problems

Answers to research question are resulted from the analysis of the information
(data) collected and contain knowledge of patterns, rule, regularities of the object being
studied.
For example,
A model of Effective English classroom instructions (Descriptive Qualitative)
An effective and motivating instructional materials for Elementary school
students learning English (Research and Development)
Instructional Strategies using Picture Games that help improve elementary school
students participation in speaking classes (Classroom Action Research)
Learning Reading in small group discussions by junior high school students in
Malang is more effective than in conventional class rooms (Experimental
Research)
The stronger the students are motivated in doing the instructional tasks in learning
Reading, the higher they achieve reading skills (Co-relational Research)
Junior High school students graduating from State Elementary schools achieve
English learning better at the end of their Second year of Junior High school than
those graduating from private elementary schools. (Ex-post Facto)

Those sample answers to research questions, which can be obtained only from the result
of analysis, will contribute to the development of knowledge in English teaching and
learning (Borg, Gall, 1983:86; Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh,1979:47; Vockel, Asher, 1995:19;
Tuckman,1999:28).

Content of Research Problems

The objective of studying (conducting research on) an object of research (an
effective English class in an Elementary School in Jakarta, for example) is to understand
the object. The research finding gives the researcher understanding of what an effective

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English class in the Elementary School in Jakarta is. The researcher is said to have
understanding on the effective English class if he/she can explain the underlying system,
pattern, rule, or law that makes the English class in the elementary school effective.
In fact, nothing in this world runs successfully by accident, without an underlying
law, rule, or pattern. So there is a law of every thing, like a law of health, a law of
friendship, a law of success. Only when these laws are running then the objects function
well. The law of health must be obeyed if we want to live a healthy life. A law of
friendship must be obeyed if we want to keep good friendship. If we want to succeed, in
anything at all, we have to follow the law of success. English instructions, too, can t run
effectively without certain law to be followed. It is these laws that are to be discovered by
researchers. The content of research questions, then, must be about the law to be
discovered.
English class instructions cannot be effective by chance, they must be effective
because a certain law has been applied in the instructional process. The teacher of an
effective English class may not even be consciously aware that a certain law of
instructional effectiveness has been applied. It is a researcher on his effective instruction
who can discover the law of instructional effectiveness that has been applied through his
research. It is this research finding that contributes to the development of knowledge of
English class instructions.

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Research problems plays a very important role in research (Hatch & Farhady,
1982:1, Suyanto:1995 : 20). It usually takes quite a lot of time to find a good research
problem and to state in a clear statement of research problem. It is not the way in stating
the research problem that requires a researcher to spend a lot of time, but because the
researcher has to make sure that he/she knows enough about the topic of the research, the
research problem is of high quality that the answer to be discovered will give some
significance to theory as well as to practice. It is this significance that convinces other
people that the research is worth doing. (Suyanto,1995 : 22, Hopkins, 1980:112). A
researcher on English instructions, for example, has to know a lot about the existing
theory of English instructions, how far other researchers have conducted research on that

5
topic, which contradiction in theory has to be clarified, what part of the theory has to be
confirmed, or what part of the practice has to be improved (Suyanto,1995 : 26). Once a
research problem is selected, the researcher has consequently selected the topic of the
research, the area of the research, sources to collect data from, technique of data
collection, instrument to collect data, and the technique to analyze data. Therefore, stating
research problems is a very important step in research.
In fact, the quality of a research is very much determined by the quality of its
research problem. A bad research problem will not lead to a good research.

CLEAR STATEMENTS OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS

When the research problems are not clearly stated, the researcher will not be able to
choose the right research design. This will make it difficult to conduct the research
project correctly. It may happen in the research report that when the research design and
research results do not match the research problems, then the researcher has to change,
either the research problems or the process of research. Very often, a researcher prefers
changing the research problems to suit the research design and the research results to
repeating the research. This is of course not recommended.

CRITERIA OF GOOD RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Good research problems follow certain criteria as follows.
1) A good research problem is stated clearly, not ambiguously, without technical terms
that make it difficult for readers to understand (Borg & Gall, 1983:87; Ary, Jacobs, &
Razavieh,1979 : 50; Tuckman,1999:28).
For example, a research problem What is the effect of sex to students
achievement in learning English at elementary schools? contain a technical term
the effect which may no be understood easily by readers. A better statement for
that research would be Do female elementary school students achieve better in
learning English than male elementary school students.
A research question What is the correlation between junior high school students
reading skills and their writing skills? contains a technical term correlation
which may not be understood easily by readers. A recommended statement for

6
 that research problem would be Do the better the junior high school students
read in English, the better they write in English?
A research question How is the effectiveness of instructional activities in
language laboratory for senior High school students learning listening? contains
a technical term effectiveness, which may not be understood by readers. A
recommended statement for that research problem would be Do Senior high
school students learning listening in language laboratory achieve better listening
skills than those in conventional classroom using tape player?

2) The answers expected do not just contain factual information on variables involved, it
must explain the patterns of relationship between the variables, or the system
operating in the object of study. Hopkins (1980:112) said that research is directed
toward developing a body of scientific principles about educational concerns. Makuta
(1981:1) agrees with Hopkins by saying that the game of language acquisition
research can be described as the search for an appropriate level of description of the
learner s system of rules.

A research problem, like How is the teaching of English in a Senior High

school in Malang in the year 2009? would only require factual information
about the activities of the teachers, the qualification of the teachers, the activities
of the students, the instructional materials used, the size of the class, etc The
answer to those questions do not make up an understanding of how the teaching
of English in a Senior High school in Malang is.
A recommended revision for that research question would be, What practices of
Instructional activities show effective results of high school students learning
English in a Senior High school in Malang?

3. Variables involved in the research are indicated clearly in the statement of the
research problem, so from the research problem readers can understand what
variables are to be involved.
A research problem, Do students learning speaking in small group discussions
achieve better than the students learning the same skill in a big conventional

7
 class? indicates two variables; technique of speaking instruction and speaking
skill achievement.
A research problem Do the more novels students read the better they can write
an essay? indicates two variables, the amount of time spent on reading novels
and the skill in writing an essay.
A research problem Do students learning listening in a language lab achieve
better than those learning the same skill in a conventional class? involves two
variables; media of learning and the achievement in learning listening.

Many graduate theses of English Department State University of Malang show

good examples of research problems with clear variables involved.

Wijirahayu, S. (2000:5) uses two variables; students beliefs and learning strategies.
How is the development of the students beliefs about language learning in five
semesters? How is the development of the students language learning strategies in
five semesters?
Sujito (2000:13) states two variables in his research problem; readability level and
readability formula

How is the readability level of the materials for reading instruction used at the
Graduate Program of State University of Malang? Which of the six readability
formulas and of the Cloze tests scored using two kinds of scoring methods is
considered the most predictive and the most sensitive Cloze test?

Kamaluddin (2002:5) uses two variables; collocational ability and collocational

density,

Is there any relationship between the students collocational ability and their
collocational density in writing?

4. The designs of research to be used should be reflected in the research problem (Ary,
Jacobs, Razavieh, 1979:41). Research problems should indicate whether the research
is going to use quantitative or qualitative research design, causal, co-relational,
classroom action research, or development research design.

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 A research question Do the higher the vocabulary knowledge the students have
the better they understand reading texts? Indicates that co-relational design is
going to be used.

A research question Do students learning listening in a language lab achieve

better than the students learning the same skill in conventional classrooms?
indicates that a causal research design is going to be used.

A research question How can games be used as a technique of speaking

instruction to improve the high school students skill in learning speaking?
indicates that classroom action research is going to be used.

3) A good research question relates to the hypothesis to be made to predict the answer
(Borg, 1983:87).
A research problem Do the more students read English novels the better they
can write in English? relates to the hypothesis The more students read English
novels the better they can write in English
A research problem Do students leaning speaking skills in small group
discussions achieve listening skills better than the students learning the same
skill in a big class? relates to the hypothesis Students leaning speaking skills
in small group discussions achieve listening skills better than the students
learning the same skill in a big class.

4) Research problems for students majoring in English as a Foreign language should be

related to the topics of English instruction, literature, or linguistics (Ary, Jacobs,
Razavieh, 1979 : 48;), so that the finding can contribute to the development of
knowledge on these areas.
A research question How successful is the Family planning program in East
Java? is not the topic of interest for students majoring English as a foreign
language.

9
 A research question, Do the bigger the size of the family the students have, the
more successful the students are at school? is not of interest for students of
English as a foreign language.

5) A good research problem indicates the area and scope of the research (Borg, 1983:87)
and the more specific the area is, the easier the question should be to formulate
clearly (Hatch, 1982:2). A research problem with too big area or scope will be
difficult to accomplish.

6) The variables indicated must be observable (Tuckman, 1999:28). In quantitative

research, the variables must be assessable, and the relationship to be investigated
between the variables must be clearly indicated so that it can be analyzed statistically
(Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh,1979 : 48). Qualitative Data related to morality, beauty,
belief, for example, can not be used as variables in quantitative research because
those data cannot be assessed quantitatively and therefore the relationship cannot be
analyzed statistically (Tuckman,1999:28).
A question like Are female students of the English department of State
University of Malang more beautiful than the female students of other
department? can not be answered through research.
Similarly a question like, Do the more beautiful students are the better family
they can make? is not a kind of question that can be answered through
research.

DERIVING HYPOTHESIS FROM RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Research problems that require hypothesis involve more than one variabels and
require the answer that explains the relationship between the variables. Research
problems by Masduki (1999:10) and Alfan Zuhairi (2002:8) imply the hypothesis to be
derived from.
Does the group taught vocabulary using individualized vocabulary instruction
gain better score than the group under teacher centered vocabulary instruction?
(Masduki, 1999:10).

10
 Do the students taught by text mapping technique have better reading
achievement than those taught by non-text mapping technique? (Alfan Zuhairi,
2002:8).

Research problems by Suharmanto (2000:10) and Firdaus Sale (2001:9) indicate

clearly the need of measuring the relationship between the variables involved but does
not imply clearly enough what hypothesis can derived from.
Is there any statistically significant difference in the use of strategies in reading an
Indonesian and an English text by College students with good and poor English
achievement? (Suharmanto, 2000:100).

How is the correlation between strategy inventory for language learning and
learners vocabulary achievement? How is the co-relation between learners
learning style and their vocabulary achievement? (Firdaus Sale, 2001:9)

STATING RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND OBJECTIVES

Hatch (1982:4) suggests some steps to state research problems, from identifying
topics to be studied, focusing the scope, reviewing related references, to stating the
research problems.
Research problems and research objectives basically have the same meaning.
Therefore, very often research problems are stated in the same way as the research
objectives. This indicates the important role of research problems and research objectives
in research activities. However, research objectives should be stated differently from the
research problems, as the research problems are stated as questions to be answered by the
researchers, while the objectives are stated as the goal of research to be achieved by the
researchers.
Herbert J. Rubin (1983) in Newman (1997) states that research objectives are more
focused than research problems.
The objective of academic research, whether by sociologists, political scientists,
or anthropologists, is to try to find answers to theoretical questions within their
respective fields. In contrast, the objective of applied social research is to use
data so that decisions can be made.

Following are the examples of statements of research problems and the related
research objectives

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For the research problem Do female junior high school students achieve better in
learning English than male students of the same level? the right statement of the
research objective is to measure the effect of sex to junior high school students
achievement in learning English .

For the research problem, Does the group taught vocabulary using
individualized vocabulary instruction gain better score than the group under
teacher-centered vocabulary instruction? (Masduki, 1999 : 10), the objective of
the research is to measure the effectiveness of individualized vocabulary
instruction .

For the research problem, Do the students taught by text mapping technique have
better reading achievement than those taught by non-text mapping technique?
(Zuhairi,A.2002:8), the objective of the research is to measure the effectiveness
of reading instructional strategy using text mapping

For the research problem, Do high school students learning listening in a

language lab achieve better listening skill than those in a conventional
classroom? the objective of the research is to measure the effectiveness of using
language lab in teaching listening .

For the research problem, Do the more the English Department students read
English novels, the better they can write in English? the research objective is to
measure the co-relation between the amount of reading English novels and
students writing skills .

For the research problem, What English instructional practices show effective
results in students learning English in State Senior High Schools in Malang? the
objective of the research is to identify, describe, and explain models of effective
English instruction in State Senior High schools in Malang .

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 The research problem in a classroom Action research, How is the effective direct
instruction model to enhance the students content-area reading skills through
summary writing? (Rohmani Nur Indah, 2002:11), the research objective is to
produce an instructional strategy of summary writing technique that can enhance
the students content-area reading skills .

Similarly, for the research problem, How can the skill of writing recount texts of
the second year students of SMP Negeri 3 Nganjuk in 2007/2008 academic year
be improved through implementation of interactive experiences? (Sumidi,2008),
the research objective is to produce an instructional strategy using interactive
experiences to improve the skill of writing recount texts of the second year
students of SMP Negeri 3 Nganjuk in 2007/2008 academic year .

In the research problem, What material in teaching reading is effective to the

different-aged students of Pondok Pesantren Darul Hikmah Peunaga Rayeuk
Meulaboh Aceh Barat? (Tarmizi R., 1999:4), the researcher wants to develop
instructional reading materials for different-aged students of Pondok Pesantren
Darul Hikmah Peunaga Rayeuk Meulaboh Aceh Bara .

MORE EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Following are some more examples of research problems in the area of English
instruction, literature, and linguistics, also some examples of research questions in
classroom Action Research, Research-Development, experimental research, correlational
research, descriptive research, and some examples of research questions that only require
factual information.

Examples of Research problems in Language Instruction

Following are examples of research problems by Ekosiagianto, B. (2002:7), Anwar,
K (2000:3), and Sulistyowati, E (2003:4) in English instruction
How to develop a test for measuring reading comprehension of the SEGPUM?
(Ekosiagianto, B. 2002:7)

13
 How to develop English Syllabus based on the needs of the students and inputs
from other informants such as academic staff and teachers (Anwar, K. 2000:3)

What are the teachers belief concerning Communication Approach? How do they
apply Communication Approach in their classroom? What are their problems when
applying Communication Approach? What do the teachers do to overcome the
problems? (Sulistyowati, E. 2003:4)

Examples of Research Problems in linguistics

Following are examples of research problems on Linguistics by Sukirno (2003:4),
Alfino, J. (2002:7), and Erlyana A. F. (2001:7)
How do the words or phrases in The Jakarta Post advertisements headlines
convey persuasion? (1) What classes of words are used in The Jakarta Post
advertisements headlines that convey persuasion? (2) What types of meaning are
contained in The Jakarta Post advertisements headlines that convey persuasion?
(3) In terms of the relationship between the headline, the products, and the
illustration, what patterns are found in The Jakarta Post advertisements
headlines that convey persuasion? (Sukirno, 2003:4)

How do implicatures appear in Panitahan? (1) What are linguistic forms of the
Panitahan containing implicatures? (2) What figurative languages are used in
Panitahan containing implicatures? (3) What are the meanings of the
implicatures in the Panitahan? (4) What language functions do the implicatures
in Panitahan include? (Alfino, J. 2002:7)

How does a child of a multilingual community use the declarative sentences of his
Indonesian? (1) What are the forms of the Indonesian declarative sentences
produced by a child living in a multilingual community in terms of the number of
the sentence clauses? (2) What are the form variants of his Indonesian declarative
sentences based on the types of a sentence predicate and a sentence clause
relationship? (3) What sentence elements of his Indonesian declarative sentences
are switched by vernacular codes and structures? (Fardhani, A.E. 2001:7)

Examples of Research Problems in Literature.

Following are some examples of research problems on literature by Mulyoso (1999:
9), Ntou, K.(1999:13), and Riansih, R. (2002:7)

(1) What are the types of myths used in English poetry? (2) What are the
characteristics of the MEP as a system of sign in terms of iconicity, indexicality,
and symbolism, (3) What are the functions of the MEP? (Mulyoso, 1999: 9)

(1) What are the metaphorical symbols used the poem, Robert Frost? (2) How
does the poem convey its message? (Ntou, K. 1999:13)

14
 What kinds of values are found in the behavior patterns of the main character
during the era of industrial revolution in England? (1) What kind of personal
values are found in Great Expectation and Oliver Twist as reflected by the
behavior of the main characters during the era of Industrial Revolution in
England? (2) What kind of social values are found in Great Expectation and
Oliver Twist as reflected by the behavior of the main characters during the era of
Industrial Revolution in England? (Riansih, R. 2002:7)

Examples of Research Problems in Research-Development

Following are examples of research problems by Lestari, L.A. (2002:6), Usadiati,
W. (1999:4), dan Tarmizi, R (1999:4).that require a certain product for the answer, like
syllabus, instructional materials, tests, etc. Very often in Research and Development, only
research objectives are stated.
To develop instructional materials that can be used as a textbook in the teaching
of writing scientific essays at the Graduate level. (Lestari, L.A 2000:6)

How can a suitable model of ESP reading materials for the students of the
Extension Program of the Faculty of Agriculture, Brawijaya University be
developed? (Usadiati, W.1999:4)

What material in teaching reading is effective to the different-aged students of

Pondok Pesantren Darul Hikmah Peunaga Rayeuk Meulaboh Aceh Barat?
(Tarmizi, R., 1999:4)

Examples of Research Problems in Classroom Action Research

In Classroom Action Research, the research problem requires a certain developed
instructional strategy that has proved effective in solving certain classroom problems.
Following are examples of research problems in classroom Action Research by Hidayati,
S (2002:7), Sugiono, J. (2000:7), and Indah, R. N (2002:11).
What is the most suitable technique in teaching using the Listening Materials
developed for SMU Program by Kasihani et al to increase the Listening ability of
MAK 3 Malang students? (Hidayati, S. 2002:7)

(1) How large is the students vocabulary size after using the vocabulary model
developed? (1) How is the model? (Sugiono, J. 2000:7)

How is the effective direct instruction model to enhance the students content-area
reading skills through summary writing? (1) How is the effective model of
explanations on summary writing to enhance the students content-area reading
skills? (2) How is the effective model of guided practices in summary writing to
enhance the students content-area reading skills? (3) How is the effective model

15
 of independent application of summary writing to enhance the students content-
area reading skills? (Indah, R. N. 2002:11).

Examples of Research Problems in Descriptive Research

Following are examples of research problems in descriptive research by Wijirahayu
(2000:5), Suherman, L. (2000:9) and Prijambada, V.L. (1999: 11).
(1) How is the development of the students beliefs about language learning in five
semesters? (2) How is the development of the students language learning
strategies in five semesters? (Wijirahayu, S. 2000:5)

(1) How is the readiness of Elementary Schools which have offered English as a
local content subjects? (2) What are the problems faced by the Elementary Schools
which have offered English as a local content subject? (Suherman, L. 2000:9)

How is the studentss vocabulary produced in their composition? (1) What is the
students vocabulary size? (2) What vocabulary errors are found in the students
compositions? (Prijambada, V.L. 1999:11)

Examples of Research Questions in Evaluative Research

Some research questions require an evaluation on instructional materials, on tests,

or on the implementation of an instructional activity. Tutyandari, C. (2003:11), Yandri
(1999:10) and Sujito (2000:13) use research problems requiring this kind of evaluation
research.
What do the reading tests actually test? (1) What reading subskills are tested in the
preparation books of International Standardized English language tests? (2) To
what extent do these reading tests measure the cognitive dimension based on the
Barret Taxonomy? (Tutyandari, C. 2003:11).

How much do the textbooks meet the requirements of good English text books for
Elementary Schools? (1) How much do the textbooks meet the requirements of
good English text books for Elementary Schools in terms of material presentation
aspects? (2) How much do the textbooks meet the requirements of good English
text books for Elementary Schools in terms of mechanical aspects? (3) How much
do the textbooks meet the requirements of good English text books for Elementary
Schools in terms of communicative aspects? (Yandri, 1999:10)

(1) How is the readibility level of the materials for reading instruction used at the
Graduate Program of State University of Malang? (2) Which of the six readibility
formulas and of the Cloze tests scored using two kinds of scoring methods is
considered the most predictive and the most sensitive Cloze test? (Sujito, 2000:13)

16
Examples of Research Questions in Experimental Research
Research questions raised by Pranoto, R.A. (2002:8), Masduki (1999:10), and
Zuhairi, A. (2002:8) require experimental research designs.
(1) To what extent can the students taught using Individualized Vocabulary
Instruction acquire more words of aviation technical vocabulary than the students
taught using ISD instruction? (2) Do the students taught using Individualized
Vocabulary Instruction perform better in short term retension test of receptive
acquisition of aviation technical vocabulary than the students taught using ISD
instruction? (3) Do the students taught using Individualized Vocabulary
Instruction perform better in long term retension test of receptive acquisition of
aviation technical vocabulary than the students taught using ISD instruction?
(Pranoto, R. A 2002:8)

Does the group taught vocabulary using individualized vocabulary instruction

gain beter score than the group under teacher centered vocabulary instruction?
(Masduki, 1999 : 10).

Do the students taught by text mapping technique have better reading

achievement than those taught by non-text mapping technique? (Zuhairi, A.
2002:8).

Examples of Research Problems in Expost Facto Research

Ex-post facto research design does not require any treatment, like in experiment. It
only measures the difference in the dependent variable. Suharmant (2000:100) gives an
example of research problem for expost facto research.
Is there any statistically significant difference in the use of strategies in reading
an Indonesian and an English text by College students with good and poor
English achievement? (Suharmanto, 2000:100).

Examples of Research Problems in Co-relational Research

In co-relational research, the variables involved are all continuous. Discret variables
separate people (like sex, ethnic group, profession), while continuous variables rank them
(like age, IQ, achievement). The co-relational research does not measure the effect of one
variabel to another variabel, but measures how two or more variabels co-relate.
Following are examples of co-relational research problems Sale, F. (2001:9) and
Kamaluddin (2002:5)
(1) How is the correlation between strategy inventory for language learning and
learners vocabulary achievement? (2) How is the corelation between learnrers
learning style and their vocabulary achievement? (Sale, F. 2001:9)

17
 Is there any relationship between students collocational ability and their
collocational density in writing? (Kamaluddin, 2002:5).

Examples of Research Problems Requiring Answers of Factual Information

When a research question requires an answer containing only factual information,
the research does not contribute to the development of knowledge, nor to the
improvement of practice. Following are the examples of research questions by Sjandri, G.
(2000:8), Suleman (1999:3) and Masduki (2002:4) that only require factual information
for the answer.
(1) Do the English teachers at MTsN Malang I use visual Media during the
teaching-learning process in the classroom? (2) If so, what kinds of visual media
do the English teachers use during the teaching-learning process in the classroom?
(3) What are the functions of visual media used by the English teachers during the
teaching-learning process in the classroom? (4) What are the students attitudes
towards the use of visual media during the teaching-learning process in the
classrom? (5) How do the English teachers get the visual media they are using
during the teaching-learning process in the classroom? (6)What difficulties do the
English teachers have in operating and making the visual media? (Gusmaizal
Sjandri, 2000:8)

How is the implementation of the teaching of English at MTs N Malang I? (1)

What instructional preparation does the teacher make? (2) What instructional
materials does the teacher use? (3) What instructional media does the teacher use?
(4) What kind of instructional activities are done by the teacher? (5) What
assessment does the teacher use to measure the students achievement? (6) What is
the achievement of the students? (Suleman, 1999:3)

How is English taught at Lembaga Bimbingan Belajar (LBB) in Malang? (1) What
is the qualification of the English teachers at LBB in Malang? (2) What kinds of
teaching preparation are made by the English teachers at LBB in Malang? (3)
What kinds of materials are used by the English teachers at LBB in Malang? (4)
What kinds of teaching-Learning activities are conducted by the English teachers at
LBB in Malang? (5) What kinds of evaluation are conducted by the English
teachers at LBB in Malang? (6) What kinds of facilities are used to support the
Teaching-Learning process at LBB in Malang? (Masduki, 2002:4)

CONCLUDING REMARK
Research problems and research objectives determine the quality of research. Good
research problems and good research objectives always lead to better process and results
of research than poor research problems and poor research objectives. Therefore, research

18
problems and research objectives must be stated very clearly. Research problems and
objective indicate the scope of the research, the variables involved, the hypothesis to be
derived from, and the design of the research,

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