Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Lesson 1.3
Steps in Choosing a Research Problem
Contents
Introduction 1

Learning Objectives 2

Warm Up 2

Learn about It! 3

Research Problem 3
Steps in Formulating a Research Problem 4
Identify the Broad Study Area 4
Dissect Broad Study Area 5
Know Your Interests 6
Identify and Study the Research Question 7
Set Research Objectives 7
Factors to Consider in Formulating a Research Problem 8
Interest 8
Concept Measurement 9
Expertise 9
Relevance of the Study 9
Data Source 9
Ethical Standards 10

Key Points 11

Check Your Understanding 12

Challenge Yourself 13

Mini Task 13

Bibliography 16
Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Lesson 1.3

Steps in Choosing a Research

Problem

Introduction
Choosing a research problem is the very start of conducting research. It is the most crucial
and important part of doing research. A good researcher considers a lot of factors in
picking a specific scientific field that he will dedicate most of his time, resources, and
mental energy. For amateur researchers, this step is commonly the major source of errors
and failures in conducting research. It is very important that at this early stage, a
researcher must know the basic steps in choosing a feasible and significant research
problem. In this lesson, students will be guided in choosing a research topic that they could
explore for the rest of the academic period while taking the research course.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Learning Objectives DepEd Competency

In this lesson, you should be able to do the
This lesson serves as an enrichment for
following:
the following DepEd competency:
● Define scientific research problems.
● Identify the steps in formulating a research Differentiate applied and basic research
problems (STEM_RP12-IIa-e-2).
problem.
● Determine the factors to consider in
formulating a research problem.

Warm Up

Post Your Problem 15 minutes

Every person faces a specific problem in life. In this group activity, students will be given
sample problems. For each problem, the group must discuss and complete the table below.

Materials
● marker
● tape
● sheets of paper

Procedure
1. Form groups of five members each.
2. Choose one of the problems below:
a. Lack of taxonomic data on bat species in Polillo Island, Quezon.
b. Plastic pollution and disposal of excessive potato peels from public markets.
c. Lack of existing models in explaining expansion metals in gas pipelines in
Metro Manila.
3. Complete Table 1.3.1. based on the provided research problem.
4. Write your answers in a sheet of manila paper and post the answers on the board.
5. Discuss the research problems with the class.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Data Table
Table 1.3.1. Table of sample problems for research

Problem User User’s Need Insight

Lack of taxonomic data on bat species in

Polillo Island, Quezon.

Plastic pollution and disposal of excessive

potato peels from public markets.

Lack of existing models in explaining

expansion metals in gas pipelines in
Metro Manila.

Guide Questions
1. What are research problems?
2. Why is it important to identify direct users of the output of the project?
3. Do you think it is important to enumerate the user’s need?
4. What is the role of the researcher in providing insights about the problems we face in
society?

Learn about It!

Why picking a research topic is considered as the

hardest and most crucial part of doing research?

Research Problem
A research problem may refer to a question or an issue observed around your
surroundings that need to be addressed in order to look for a solution. Picking a research
problem is the very first step in doing actual research. This step is crucial since the research

1.3. Steps in Choosing a Research Problem 3

Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

problem serves as the core of the whole research as it provides the overall direction of
the research project.

As what was discussed in the previous lesson, a research problem can be derived from the
researcher's curiosity, intention, social aspects, or even through testing things that deviate
from the norm of society. Mostly, these are the topics that are frequently happening or
encountered and not those that only came forth once. These situations require the need for
an empirical investigation that usually involves the scientific method.

Steps in Formulating a Research Problem

Determining the research problem that you want to address is the most essential part of
doing research. This is mainly due to the fact that the quality and relevance of the entire
research work depends on this step. Formulating a research problem can be summarized
into seven major steps.

Identify the Broad Study Area

The very first thing that is needed to do in selecting a research topic is to think of a subject
area of your interest. Science consists of a wide range of scientific knowledge and for this
reason, it is important to pick a specific branch to explore. Some fields that a researcher
might be interested in are Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, or Engineering. It
is necessary to identify a specific field in which the researcher is e willing to work on for a
long time. Choosing a specific field of Science will allow the researcher to narrow down
his/her interest into a more specific piece of knowledge to expand.

Broad areas in STEM

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Dissect Broad Study Area

In this step, the researcher must indicate the specific part of the branch of science to be
explored. Specific sub-areas must be identified and classified based on several factors that
shall be discussed in the latter part of the lesson.

A student researcher may do this by consulting experts in the school. These experts may be
a specific course teacher or scientists working in the same field. This will allow students to
have an overview of what to expect when they decided to explore a specific sub-area of the
selected branch of Science. Reading and studying materials that are related to the field of
interest can also be helpful in dissecting this broad study area. This will provide in-depth
insights as to what aspects of the field of study should be focused on and what possible
problems need addressing.

For example, under Biology, it can still be further divided into Zoology or Botany. To be
more specific, the field of botany can be further divided into plant physiology or plant
pathology. Identifying a specific sub-area of the branch of science allows researchers
to pick more narrow and highly feasible research topics.

The different fields in biology

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Know Your Interests

Identifying the specific sub-area is good progress, however, take note that it is almost
impossible for a researcher to study all sub-areas of Science. In this part, it is important that
the researcher must identify his/her own area of interest. The researcher’s preference must
be of high priority in picking a highly specific research problem he/she wants to address. In
the first place, research will require much time and intellect in solving this problem, thus, it
is important to make sure that the topic is within one’s set of interests.

In conducting research, your passion and determination will serve as the primary
investment in doing your study; thus, your own interest should play as the primary
determinant of the research problem. For example, a student chose Computer Science as
his main branch of study. He can still dissect this and pick mobile application development
or deep network modeling as sub-areas. More specifically, the student is interested in using
mobile applications for image processing. With this very specific interest, the student should
only need to pick an aspect of life where this narrow field can be applied.

The fields of science can be further divided into specific fields and each field can be divided
into topics. It helps to identify your field of interest to allow you to find your topic of choice.
For example, computer science may involve programming, hardware, software
development, and many more.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Identify and Study the Research Question

In this part, it is important for the researcher to formulate the actual research question that
needs to be addressed. This must be aligned to the result of the chosen fields from the
previous steps. It is important to take note that both the specific scientific area to deal
with and real-life problems to address are properly identified. A researcher may pick
natural product chemistry as a specific field while looking for a potent anti-diabetic drug
which serves as a specific problem to address. Having these two variables identified will
make sure that the researcher is on the right track towards the finalization of the research
problem. The next step is to study the chosen research question and be more familiar with
the details of the research question.

Set Research Objectives

The research question serves as the general aim of the research. To measure the progress
of the research into a more minimal scale, the researcher must set specific objectives for
the entire project. It is important to consider that these minor objectives must be able
to completely answer the general objective of the project once they are compiled
together at the end of the project. Defining the outline of the research objective provides
a more specific direction to the research in assessing its feasibility at this early part of the
process. This step will then be followed by the actual steps involved in conducting the
research such as making a research design until the entire proposal has been completed.
Table 1.3.2. shows an example of these steps.

Table 1.3.2. Sample research problems based on the steps above

Steps Examples

Broad Field: Biology

Subarea: Taxonomy

Fascinated with bats and the researcher’s province is Polillo

Interest:
Island

Research Problem: Lack of taxonomic data on bat species in Polillo Island, Quezon.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

This study aims to conduct a taxonomic survey of the bat species

Problem Statement:
present in Polillo Island, Quezon.

1. Survey the bat species in Polillo Island, Quezon;

2. describe each species collected from Polillo Island,
Research Objectives:
Quezon; and
3. construct a dichotomous key of the collected species.

Why is it important to have a specific research

problem to address?

Factors to Consider in Formulating a Research Problem

Several factors must be considered in formulating a research problem. This is important to
ensure that the researcher will succeed in finishing the entire project. The following are the
usual things that must be taken into consideration when deciding the research problem
which will be addressed in the research project:

What are the things that one must initially consider

to make sure that he/she will succeed in finishing a
research problem?

Interest
As mentioned in the previous section, it is important to take note of one’s interest in
choosing a research topic. A researcher may pick a project that is not in line with
his/her interest and end up losing the passion to pursue it along the way because of
the lack of interest in the chosen topic. Considering one’s preferences must be a top
priority to avoid meeting this kind of instance.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Concept Measurement
Concept measurement is mainly referring to the feasibility of the entire project that the
researcher wants to do. It is important to make sure that the main concept of the project
can be tested and validated using specific methodologies. Many amateur researchers fail to
consider this and end up changing their topic along the way due to the difficulty in testing
the major concepts of their project. These difficulties can be attributed to several
reasons such as lack of literature, unavailability of materials needed, and financial
concerns.

Expertise
Considering one’s set of skills and expertise is important in choosing a research topic. You
must consider that some skills needed to do your research project may require time
to acquire and your time frame in doing the project is limited. Early researchers who
fail to consider this factor often end up changing their project along the way due to the lack
of skills in doing the project or lack of time in having the skill sets needed for the project.

Relevance of the Study

Each research project has a different weight in terms of its relevance to a specific field. Since
time, effort, and money will be exhausted in addressing a specific project, it is important to
ensure that the topic is of high relevance. This guarantees that all of the researcher’s
investments will not be wasted. Though it is hard to measure significance, it can be done
early in this part by determining the direct beneficiaries of the project and how much
benefit they will get from its results.

Data Source
One of the common hindrances in doing a research project is the availability of data. Early in
this part, the researcher must consider the sources of data needed in doing the study. This
can be done by reviewing the available literature for the topic based on the previous
related projects conducted by other researchers. With this, it is important to know that
choosing a research problem is often accompanied by a literature search to allow the
researcher to become highly familiar with the topic that he/she will be working on and
measure the availability of data that can be extracted from a set of pre-existing literature.

1.3. Steps in Choosing a Research Problem 9

Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Academic journals are among the most important sources of information for research.

Ethical Standards
The last of the factors that should be considered in choosing a topic is ethical standards.
This is particularly important in those projects that involve human and animal
samples. Some institutions set a specific standard when it comes to handing data from
those sample materials. At the same time, some ethical standards that must be considered
at this phase are the novelty of the project you are doing to ensure that it does not
overlap with pre-existing projects available somewhere.

Remember
In choosing the research problem, it is always important to start in
the general field you want to explore and try to narrow it down to
the most specific research problem as possible.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Key Points
___________________________________________________________________________________________

● A research problem may refer to a question or an issue observed around your

surroundings that need to be addressed to look for a solution.
● A researcher must identify the broad field of science, its specific subarea, and
personal interest in narrowing down research problems to address.
● A researcher must initially consider his interest, skills, ethical standards, and
resources in choosing a research problem.
● Several other factors must be considered in formulating a research problem. These
include the availability of data, feasibility, relevance, and others.
● The objectives of the project need to be addressed by the end of the research.

Workflow for choosing a research topic

___________________________________________________________________________________________

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Check Your Understanding

A. Identify the factors that must be considered in each given scenario

involved while choosing a research topic.

_____________ 1. The use of human materials for data collection.

_____________ 2. To do the research, it involves coding skills in python language.
_____________ 3. The school only allows fish models for research purposes.
_____________ 4. Your groupmate chooses a Chemistry topic but you have a failing
grade in that field.
_____________ 5. Your chosen topic is a duplicate of an existing literature.
_____________ 6. The project you picked lacks in existing literature support.
_____________ 7. Only a few people will benefit from the project you are doing.
_____________ 8. Your project requires bacterial culture and you have no idea how to
do it.
_____________ 9. The project must be done in a highly sterile environment.
_____________ 10. Your project needs global data for the distribution of a fish species.

B. Complete the table based on the given research problem.

Research Problem Examples

Broad Field:

Specific Subarea:

Interest:

Plastic pollution and disposal of excessive potato

Research Problem:
peels from public markets.

Problem Statement:

Research Objectives:

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Challenge Yourself

Answer the following questions.

1. Why do you need to consider your interest in choosing a research problem to

address?
2. What do you think is the most important factor to consider in choosing a research
project?
3. How can you limit the scope of a research problem you will choose?
4. What is the problem of having a broad research problem?
5. Do you think it is important to consider the expertise of your group mates in doing a
group research project? Why?

Mini Task

Set Your Scope

Aside from setting specific goals and knowing the significance of the project, a good
researcher must also know how to properly set the scope and limitations of the project. This
is often the initial part of drafting the research design of the study.

Materials
● worksheet
● a device with an internet connection

Procedure
1. The previous mini tasks should have allowed you to pick one research topic to focus
on. You must be done setting the research statement and objectives of the project.
2. As part of the early research design preparation, you must set the general scope and
limitation of the project you will be doing. To do this, you must set some of the
parameters needed in the study.
a. Target samples
b. Target Sample size

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

c. Materials
d. List of Methods for hypothesis testing
e. The time frame for the study
3. Perform the task by completing Worksheet 1.3.. You can print the worksheet or edit
the template by clicking the link below.
a. Take note that you need to log in to your Gmail account after you click the
link. Then, select “Make a copy.”
b. Rename the file as specified by your teacher. You can move the file to your
desired location in your Google Drive.

Mini Task 1.3 Setting the General Scope and Limitation of the
Research
Quipper Limited, “Mini Task 1.2: “Setting the General Scope
and Limitation of the Research,” (June 27, 2020),
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NDjAGzDrP_RC1v-LBz
HHMqXl2dBGGnisAr_Lid1XMe8/copy, last accessed on June
27, 2020.

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Worksheet 1.3. Setting the General Scope and Limitation of the Research

Identifying the Scope and Limitation of Research

Research Problem:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Research Statement: __________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Research Objectives:

1. ____________________________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Scope and Limitation:

❏ Target Sample: _____________________________________________________________________
❏ Sample Size: ________________________________________________________________________
❏ Materials to Use:
❏ ___________________________________
❏ ___________________________________
❏ ___________________________________
❏ ___________________________________
❏ Methods to Use for Hypothesis Testing:
❏ ___________________________________
❏ ___________________________________
❏ ___________________________________
❏ Time Frame for the Study: _______________________________________________________

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Unit 1: The Scientific Problem

Bibliography
Alip, E. M. 1955. Fifty Years of Philippine Progress: A Study in the Making of a New Nation.
The Journal of History, 3(1). Retrieved from
http://ejournals.ph/form/cite.php?id=4577.

Good, C. V. and Douglas, E. 1954. Scates, Methods of Research—Educational, Psychological,

Sociological, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.

Hillway, T. 1964. Introduction to Research, 2nd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Kaldewey, D., and Schauz, D. 2018. Basic and Applied Research: The Language of Science
Policy in the Twentieth Century. Bonn: Berghahn Books, University of Bonn.

Kothari, C.R. 1984. Quantitative Techniques, 2nd ed., New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt.
Ltd.

1.3. Steps in Choosing a Research Problem 16