RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS

ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

CHAPTER 2
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
& DEFINITION
The first step in the problem solving and decision-making process is to
identify and define the problem. A problem can be regarded as a difference
between the actual situation and the desired situation. This means that in
order to identify a problem the researcher must know where it is meant to be
and have a clear understanding of where it currently is in relation to the
perceived problem.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Studying this chapter shall enable the learners to:

1. define what a research problem is,

2. identify and evaluate a research problem,
3. define a research problem,
4. identify and explain the characteristics of a good research problem,
5. explain the objectives of review of literature,
6. identify the structure of review of literature, and
7. write the literature review

__________________________________________________________________________________

What is a Research Problem?

A research problem is a 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. In some social science disciplines, the research problem is typically posed
in the form of a question. A research problem does not state how to do something, offer a
vague or broad proposition, or present a value question.

A research problem is a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of concern,

a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that
exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice that points to a need for

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation. A research problem does not state
how to do something, offer a vague or broad proposition, or present a value question.

Identifying Research Problem

The research problem is the heart of a study. It is a clear, definite statement of the area of
concern or investigation and is backed by evidence (Bryman, 2007). It drives the research
questions and processes and provides the framework for understanding the research
findings. To begin, you will need to know where to look for your research problem and
how to evaluate when a research problem for success.

Where to Find a Research Problem

Ideas for a research problem tend to come from two sources: real life and the scholarly
arena. First, identifying a research problem can be as simple as observing the
complications and issues in your local workplace. You may encounter ongoing issues
daily in your workplace or observe your colleagues struggle with major issues or
questions in your field. These ongoing obstacles and issues in the workplace can be the
catalyst for developing a research problem.
On the other hand, research problems can be identified by reviewing recent literature,
reports, or databases in your field. Often the section of “recommendations for the future
studies” provided at the end of journal articles or doctoral dissertations suggest potential
research problems. In addition, major reports and databases in the field may reveal
findings or data-based facts that call for additional investigation or suggest potential
issues to be addressed. Looking at what theories need to be tested is another opportunity
to develop a research problem.

How to Evaluate a Research Problem

Once you find your potential research problem, you will need to evaluate the problem
and ensure that it is appropriate for research. A research problem is considered
appropriate when it is supported by the literature, and considered noteworthy, proper,
new, explicit, and researchable. Stronger research problems are more likely to succeed in
publication, presentation, and application.

Supported by the Literature

Your research problem should be relevant to the field and supported by a few recent peer-
reviewed studies in the field. Even if you identify the problem based on the
recommendation of one journal article or dissertation, you will still need to conduct a
literature search and ensure that other researchers support the problem and need for
conducting research to further address the problem.

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

Significant

Your research problem should have a positive impact on the field. The impact can be
practical, in the form of direct application of the results in the field, or conceptual, where
the work advances the field by filling a knowledge gap.

Proper

Your research problem should be related to the current needs in the field and well-suited
for the present status of the issues in your field. Explore what topics are being covered in
current journals in the field. Look at calls from relevant disciplinary organizations.
Review your research center agenda and focused topics. Identifying a current question in
the field and supporting the problem with the recent literature can justify the problem
timeliness.

New

Your research problem should be original and unique. It should seek to address a gap in
our knowledge or application. An exhaustive review of literature can help you identify
whether the problem has already been addressed with your sample and/or context.
Talking to experts in the research area can illuminate a problem. Replication of an
existing study warrants discussion of value elsewhere, but novelty can be found in
determining if an already-resolved problem holds in a new sample and/or context.

Explicit

Your research problem should be specific enough to set the direction of the study, raise
research question(s), and determine an appropriate research method and design. Vague
research problems may not be useful to specify the direction of the study or develop
research questions.

Researchable

Research problems are solved through the scientific method. This means research-ability,
or feasibility of the problem, is more important than all the above characteristics. You as
the researcher should be able to solve the problem with your abilities and available
research methods, designs, research sites, resources, and timeframe. If a research problem
retains all characteristics but it is not researchable, it may not be an appropriate research
problem.

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

Defining the Research Problem

Defining a research problem is the fuel that drives the scientific process and is the
foundation of any research method and experimental design, from true experiment to case
study.

Formulating the research problem begins during the first steps of the scientific process.

As an example, a literature review and a study of previous experiments, and research,

might throw up some vague areas of interest.

Many scientific researchers look at an area where a previous researcher generated some
interesting results, but never followed up. It could be an interesting area of research,
which nobody else has fully explored.

A scientist may even review a successful experiment, disagree with the results, the tests
used, or the methodology, and decide to refine the research process, retesting the
hypothesis.

This is called the conceptual definition and is an overall view of the problem. A science
report will generally begin with an overview of the previous research and real-world
observations. The researcher will then state how this led to defining a research problem.

Characteristics of Good Research Problem

1. The Problem Can Be Stated Clearly and Concisely

Unless the problem can be stated clearly and concisely it is probably a poor problem or a
non-problem. The best way to test the problem statement is to write it into a concise
sentence or paragraph and to share it with others. If the problem cannot be stated in a
clear paragraph it has difficulties and will not endure as a suitable problem. Of course, it
is not easy to express complex issues in simplistic terms and it may take many weeks and
countless drafts before the statement is satisfactory. Good critics are essential. If your
spouse or mother cannot understand it, it is probably flaky.

2. The Problem Generates Research Questions

The problem should generate a few more specific research questions. These turn the
problem into a question format and represent various aspects or components of the
problem. The research questions make the more general statement easier to address and

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

provide a framework for the research. Formulating these questions can be a challenge,
particularly specifying them at the right level of abstraction.

3. It Is Grounded in Theory

Good problems have theoretical and/or conceptual frameworks for their analysis. They
relate the specifics of what is being investigated to a more general background of theory
which helps interpret the results and link it to the field.

4. It Relates to One or More Academic Fields of Study

Good problems relate to academic fields which have adherents and boundaries. They
typically have journals to which adherents relate. Research problems which do not have
clear links to one or two such fields of study are generally in trouble. Without such a field
it becomes impossible to determine where, in the universe of knowledge, the problem
lies.

5. It Has a Base in the Research Literature

Related to the former points, a well-stated problem will relate to a research literature.
Tight problems often relate to a well-defined body of literature, written by a select group
of researchers and published in a small number of journals. With some problems, it might
at first be difficult to establish the connections and literature base, but there should be a
base somewhere.

6. It Has Potential Significance/importance

This is the important ‘so what’ question: Who cares once you solve the problem? Assume
that you have solved the problem and answered the questions and then ask yourself if you
are any further ahead. At the very least, the problem must have importance to the
researcher, but ideally it should also be of consequence to others.

7. It Is Doable Within the Time Frame, Budget

There are logistic factors in terms of your ability actually to carry out the research. There
is no point pursuing a problem which is not feasible to research. Do not do a study of
education in India unless you have the means to go there and collect data ̶ which may
require years to collect. This factor helps explain why few theses relate to longitudinal
data. The only exceptions come from research shops where there is a long history of
collecting and studying data on a defined population. Terman’s study of genius (1954) in
which a defined sample was traced over 30 years, is a good example.

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

8. Sufficient Data Are Available or Can Be Obtained

In some cases, there are insufficient data to address the problem. Historical persons may
have died, archival materials may be lost, or there may be restrictions on access to certain
environments. As noted, it is difficult to conduct research on a distant country unless you
can go there and collect local data. One under-used approach is to use an existing
database. Some data banks have been developed over many years and contain many
opportunities for exploration of new questions and issues.

Reviewing Literature

What is Review of Literature?

Literature reviews may be a great way to help you to come up with your research idea,
but they are also, among other things, a means of ensuring that your brilliant idea hasn’t
already been researched by someone else. If you have this awful realization part way
through your data collection or analysis, you may have spent a great deal of time
conducting a study that was pointless. Time spent on your literature review is time well
spent.

A literature review has four main objectives:

It surveys the literature in your chosen area of study

It synthesizes the information in that literature into a summary

It critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge;

by showing limitations of theories and points of view; and by formulating areas for
further research and reviewing areas of controversy

It presents the literature in an organized way

A literature review shows your readers that you have an in-depth grasp of your subject;
and that you understand where your own research fits into and adds to an existing body
of agreed knowledge.

Here’s another way of describing those four main tasks. A literature review:

demonstrates a familiarity with a body of knowledge and establishes the credibility of

your work;

summarizes prior research and says how your project is linked to it;

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

integrates and summarizes what is known about a subject;

demonstrates that you have learnt from others and that your research is a starting point
for new ideas.

Writing the Literature Review

A literature review should be structured like any other essay: it should have an
introduction, a middle or main body, and a conclusion. It is demonstrating your ability to
critically analyze the literature in your study area. This indicates that your research idea is
based on a good understanding of previous research in the area, and it also demonstrates
your ability to highlight the existing gap or any disagreements in the research area that
your study addresses.

Introduction

The introduction should

-define your topic and provide an appropriate context for reviewing the literature;
-establish your reasons – i.e. point of view – for reviewing the literature;
-explain the organization – i.e. sequence – of the review;
-state the scope of the review – i.e. what is included and what isn’t included. For
example, if you were reviewing the literature on obesity in children you might say
something like “There are many studies of obesity trends in the general population.
However, since the focus of this research is on obesity in children, these will not be
reviewed in detail and will only be referred to as appropriate.”

Main body

The middle or main body should

- organize the literature according to common themes;

-provide insight into the relation between your chosen topic and the wider subject area
e.g. between obesity in children and obesity in general;
-move from a general, wider view of the literature being reviewed to the specific focus of
your research.

Conclusion

The conclusion should

-summarize the important aspects of the existing body of literature;

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5

 RESEARCH: METHODS & PRACTICAL SKILLS
ROGELIO T. ARTAJO, Ph.D.

-evaluate the current state of the literature reviewed;

-identify significant flaws or gaps in existing knowledge;
-outline areas for future study; and
-link your research to existing knowledge.

Trzeciak and Mackay (1994) observe a few useful "ingredients" that form part of a
conclusion. Again (as with introductions) it will not always be necessary or desirable to
include all the elements they mention. However, you will probably want to use some of
these in some combination, in order to conclude your work.

-A summary of the main part of the text

-A deduction made based on the main body
-Your opinion on what has been discussed
-A statement about the limitations of the work
-A comment about the future based on what has been discussed
-The implications of the work for future research
-Important facts and figures not mentioned in the main body

Pallant (2009) sees five basic ingredients of a conclusion as follows, though these will
not always be used in the same conclusion:

-A summary of the main points (being careful not to repeat exactly what you have written
before)
-Concluding statements
-Recommendations
-Predictions
-Solutions

These recommendations probably apply more to discussion essays than they do to other
kinds of assessed writing at university. For example, if you are writing a business plan or
discussing a law scenario, or answering an examination question, you may not need the
above elements, unless the question specifically asks you for them or unless it is known
that it is expected of you in the discipline you are working in.
However, you will generally need a final section to indicate that you are 'rounding off' the
discussion. Always be very careful to check what the conventions are in the discipline
you are working in, and ideally, it is best to look at examples of past students' work so
that you can see what you are aiming for.

Artajo, R.T (January 2020) Methods of Research ISBN 978-621-8195-03-5