RESEARCH PROBLEM VS.

RESEARCH QUESTION
Meaning of Research Problem
The ultimate goal of the research is not only to propose ways of studying things, people, places,
and events, but also to discover and introduce new practices, strategies, or techniques in solving
a problem. The word “problem” makes you worry and pushes you to exert considerable effort in
finding a solution for it. When you feel perplexed or anxious about what to do about something
you are doubtful of or about a question you are incapable of answering, you then come to think
of conducting research, an investigation, or inquiry. You consider research as the remedy for
getting over any problem. When you decide to do research, you begin with a problem that will
lead you to a specific topic to focus on. For instance, you are beset by a problem of year-by-year
flash floods in your community. This problem drives you to think of one topic you can
investigate or focus on for the solution to your community’s flood problem. Perhaps, you can
research only one aspect of the flood problem, like examining only the neighborhood lifestyle in
relation to floods in the area, the need to construct antiflood structures, or the practicability of
more footbridges in the area.

Background of the Problem

You must not rush into gathering ideas and information about your topic. First, spend time
getting background knowledge about the problem that triggered off your research topic to
discover its relation to what the world, particularly the experts, professionals, and learned people
know about your topic. Also, reading for rich background ideas about the problem is also another
way to discover some theories or principles to support your study

Research Questions
The research problem enables you to generate a set of research questions. However, your ability
to identify your research problem and to formulate the questions depends on the background
knowledge you have about the topic. To get a good idea of the problem, you must have a rich
background knowledge about the topic through the RRL (Review of Related Literature), which
requires intensive reading about your topic. Apart from having a clearer picture of the topic, it
will also help you in adopting an appropriate research method and have a thorough
understanding of the knowledge area of your research. A research problem serving as an impetus
behind your desire to carry out a research study comes from many sources. Difficulties in life are
arising from social relationships, governmental affairs, institutional practices, cultural patterns,
environmental issues, marketing strategies, etc. are problematic situations that will lead you to
identify one topic to research on. Centering your mind on the problem, you can formulate one
general or mother problem of your research work. (Punch 2014) To give your study a clear
direction, you have to break this big, overreaching, general question into several smaller or
specific research questions. The specific questions, also called sub-problems, identify or direct
you to the exact aspect of the problem that your study has to focus on. Beset by many factors, the
general question or research problem is prone to reducing itself to several specific questions,
seeking conclusive answers to the problem. The following shows you the link among the
following: research problem, research topic, research question, and the construction of one
general question and specific questions in a research paper

Research Problem:
The need to have a safer, comfortable, and healthful walk or transfer of students from place to
place in the UST campus
Research Topic: The Construction of a Covered Pathway in the UST Campus
General Question: What kind of covered path should UST construct in its campus?
Research questions aim at investigating specific aspects of the research problem. Though
deduced from the general or mother question, one specific question may lead to another sub-
problem or sub-question, requiring a different data-gathering technique and directing the
research to a triangulation or mixed method approach. Referring to varied aspects of the general
problem, a set of research questions plays a crucial part in the entire research work. They lay the
foundation for the research study. Therefore, they determine the research design or plan of the
research. Through sub-questions, you can precisely determine the type of data and the method of
collecting, analyzing, and presenting data.
Any method or technique of collecting, collating, and analyzing data specified by the research
design depends greatly on the research questions. The correct formulation of research questions
warrants not only excellent collection, analysis, and presentation of data, but a credible
conclusion as well. (Layder 2013) Hence, the following are things you have to remember in
research question formulation
Guidelines in Formulating Research Questions
1. Establish a clear relation between the research questions and the problem or topic.
2. Base your research questions on your RRL or Review of 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 or unfamiliarity about the topic, as well as the extent of
their knowledge and interest in it. Convincing solutions to research problems or answers to
research questions stem from their alignment with what the world already knows or what
previous research studies have already discovered about the research problem or topic.
 3. Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise you with your
discoveries or findings. This is true for research questions asked about a problem that was never
investigated upon. 4. State your research questions in such a way that they include all dependent
and independent variables referred to by the theories, principles, or concepts underlying your
research work.
5. Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceded 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 in 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 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