What is It

What is a Research Problem?

A research problem is exactly that – a problem that someone would like

to research (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2010). A problem can be anything that a
person finds unsatisfactory or unsettling, a difficult of some sort, a state of
affairs that needs to be changed, anything that is not working aswell as
it might. Problems involve areas of concern to researchers,conditions they
want to improve, difficulties they want to eliminate, questions for which they
seek answers.

Research Questions

Usually, a research problem is initially posed as a question which serves

as the focus of the researcher’s investigation. The following examples of
possible research in education are not sufficiently developed for actualuse
in a research project but would be suitable during the early stage of
formulating a quantitative research question.
 Do teachers behave differently towards students of different genders?
(causal-comparative research)
 How can we predict which students might have trouble learning
certain kinds of subject matter? (correlational research).

There are other kinds of questions, however, that cannot be answered by

collecting and analyzing data. The following are the examples:
 Should philosophy be included in the high school curriculum?
[This is a question of value. It implies notions of right and wrong,
proper, and improper- and therefore does not have any empirical (or
observable) referents.]
 What is the meaning of life?
[This is metaphysical in nature – that is beyond the physical,
transcendental. Answers to this sort of question lie beyond the
accumulation of information].

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 Characteristics of Good Research Questions

Once a research question has been formulated, researchers want to

turn it into as good question as possible. Good research questions possess
four essential characteristics (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2010).
1. The question is feasible (i.e., it can be investigated without expending
an undue amount of time, energy, or money)
2. The question is clear (i.e., most people would agree as to what the key
words in the question mean).
3. The question is significant (i.e., it is worth investigating because it will
contribute important knowledge about the human condition).
4. The question is ethical (i.e., it will not involve physical or psychological
harm or damage to human beings or to the natural or social
environment of which they are a part).

The Purposes of a Problem Statement

1. Introduces the reader to the importance of the topic being studied.
The reader is oriented to the significance of the study and the
research questions or hypotheses to follow.
2. Places the problem into a particular context that defines the
parameters of what is to be investigated.
3. Provides the framework for reporting the results and indicates what is
probably necessary to conduct the study and explain how the findings
will present this information.

Do not confuse a research problem with a research topic. A topic is

something to read and obtain information about whereas a problem is
something to solve or framed as a question that must be answered. A good
research question helps to- guide the research process; construct a logical
argument; write a literature review; plan thesis chapters; and devise efficient
search strategies. A well-defined research question has six properties.

A research question is not the same as a thesis title, research problem,

hypothesis or research focus, although they are interrelated and support
one another.
 A research question summarizes the significant issue your research
will investigate.
 The title consists of the topic and outcome of a research project.
 The research problem explains the knowledge gap your research will
address.
 A hypothesis is a predicted answer to the research question that can
be tested and is based on prior research.
 A research focus specifies the scope or domain of inquiry.

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 The Value of Research in the Area of Interest
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 thatpoints 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.

Any problem that is not significant to the nation or profession is notworth

consideration of the investigator. It is helpful for investigator to keepin mind
the following aspects while selecting the area of problem forresearch –
 The problem to be chosen should be such as to be meaningfully
related to the interest of the investigator himself/herself.
 The problem having alliance with the chain of thinking or research
already in existence can be handled more confidently.
 The ambitious problems covering a wide range of area of interest
should be avoided and the problems of manageable size and limits
should be taken up.
 An important consideration for selecting the problem area relates to
its feasibility in terms of the application of scientific techniques,
availability of resources in terms of money, personnel, and equipment.
When the researcher considers the points mentioned above,
researcher is essentially trying to answer some such questions as – Is
the problem researchable, interesting, research already in existence or
manageable size? Is it a new problem or the work on the problem has
already in existence?

The sources for identification of problem are diverse and would largely
depend upon the area of interest of the investigator and the nature of the
problem under investigation. However, the problem can be identified from –
(a) Advanced study and critical reading.
(b) Analysis and interpretation of the already available evidence,
practices, trends or needs in a particular area.

Research Topics to be Avoided

1. Controversial topics
-These are topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, which
tend to be biased or prejudicial. Facts cannot support controversial
topics
2. Highly technical subjects
-For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advance study,
technical knowledge and vast experience is very difficult.
3. Hard-to-investigate subjects

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 -A topic or a subject is hard to investigate if there is no available data
or reading materials about it and such materials are not updated
(obsolete).
4. Too broad subjects
-A subject or a topic that are too broad will prevent the researcher
from giving a concentrated or in-depth analysis of the subject matter
of the research paper.
5. Too narrow subjects
-The subjects are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough
searching or reading for information about the subject is necessary.
6. Vague subjects
-Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear
insight or focus on your study. For instance, topics like “Some
Remarkable Traits of a Negrosanon”, “Several Comments on a Modular
System in the Department of Education”. So, avoid using indefinite
adjectives such as some, several, many, etc.

Research Background

Research background is a brief outline of the most important studies that

have been conducted so far presented in a chronological order. Research
background should also include a brief discussion of major theories and
models related to the research problem. When writing research background, you
also need to demonstrate how your research relates to what has been done
so far in the research area.
Once the research area is selected, the literature review is commenced
in order to identify gaps in the research area, and the research aims, and
objectives need to be closely associated with the elimination of this gap in the
literature.

Example:
Background of the Study

Learning is an interaction process between students and teachers and

study material in teaching learning process (UUSPN No.20, 2003). In other
word, learning is a process to help the students to study well. The media and
the method of learning process in transferring the material will be an
important factor to get the best result. The methods of delivery to students
there are different kinds, one of them the lecture method. The lecture method
is explanation and narrative verbally by teacher in the class, while the role of
student is listening carefully, and noted of which presented by the teacher
(Surahmad, 2003). The lecture method has disadvantage that the interaction
to be centered on teachers so teachers cannot know with certainty how far
students understand about the material (Muhammad, 2011). Seen here that
the lecture method is learning more dominated by teacher as the "the
transferor" science, and students were more passive as the "recipient" of
science.

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 The material of the solar system actually is complex, such as discusses
about all of planets in the solar system and satellite. It also discusses about
meteors, comets, asteroids, and space objects other (Prihantono, 2013). This
material is usually presented using textbook. The material of solar system
presented in form of images and text that dominated with theory
explanation. To clarify the understanding of the solar system material, need
information technology support that can be applied to this material. It was
difficult we find in the past before the rapidly growing information
technology. The sophistication technology lies in the ability of technology to
combine real and virtual condition which the results are displayed in real-
time.

Because of that, the writer tries to make an application as an interactive

media to help elementary school students to study about solar system based
on android mobile. Researcher chose android because Android is the one
desired society platform besides blackberry platform and IOS that most
popular of Smartphone. Almost all of ages used android platform, from young
until old ages (antaranews.com, 2011). This application consists of solar
system materials like: planet, space objects, earth, and moon movement that
applied in interesting graphic to support learning process, soit will raise the
student’s desire in understanding the material. To support this application the
writer also makes interactive questions, to know how far the student’s
capability in understanding the material by using this application.
Source: http://eprints.ums.ac.id/26117/3/Bab_1.pdf

Scope and Delimitation

The scope and delimitations of a thesis, dissertation or research paper

define the topic and boundaries of the research problem to be investigated.

The scope details how in-depth your study is to explore the research
question and the parameters in which it will operate in relation to the population
and timeframe.

The delimitations of a study are the factors and variables not to be

included in the investigation. In other words, they are the boundaries the
researcher sets in terms of study duration, population size and type of
participants, etc.

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 Sample phrases that help express the scope of the study:
The
coverage of
this study…
The study
covers…
The focus of the study is…

Source: https://www.discoverphds.com/blog/scope-and-delimitations

Example: SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

Out of 189 second year accounting students at Saint Mary’s University, 100 students
were used as a sample in conducting the survey.
This study limits its coverage on the second-year accounting students only. Its main
purpose is to identify the common problems that they encounter and to propose possible
solutions regarding this problem.
This study considers every aspect of students’ personal information that has animpact
on their academic performances such as their parents educational background, their
parents’ income, their gender, age, and home location. Each of the respondents are given
same questionnaires to answer. And this study focuses on the current second year
students at the present school year, 2008-2009

Source: https://www.scribd.com/doc/12760820/Scope-and-Delimitation