How to Write an

Effective Problem
Statement
A problem is a statement about an area of
concern, a condition to be improved upon, a
difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question
that exists in theory or in practice that points to
the need for meaningful understanding and
deliberate investigation.
Key takeaways:
 A statement of the problem is used in research
work as a claim that outlines the problem
addressed by a study.
 A good research problem should address an
existing gap in knowledge in the field and lead
to further research.
A good research problem should have the
following characteristics:

 It should address a gap in knowledge.

 It should be significant enough to contribute
to the existing body of research
 It should lead to further research
 The problem should render itself to
investigation through collection of data
 It should be of interest to the researcher and
suit his/her skills, time, and resources
 The approach towards solving the problem
should be ethical
All research questions should be:

 Focused on a single problem or issue

 Researchable using primary and/or
secondary sources
 Feasible to answer within the timeframe
and practical constraints
 Specific enough to answer thoroughly
 Complex enough to develop the answer
over the space of a paper or thesis
 Relevant to your field of study and/or
society more broadly
How to structure the SOP?
 Begin with a paragraph stating the main
problem or objective of your research.
 After the paragraph, break down the
main problem or objective into specific
subproblems or sub-objectives;
 Sub-problem should be stated in such a
way that it is not answerable
by either yes, no, when and where.;
 Sub-problems should include all the
independent and moderate variables which
are reflected in the conceptual framework;
 Sub–problems should be arranged in
logical order and extensive in coverage and
must be mutually exclusive in its dimensions.
 The problem should state the data that
can be obtained.