COMMON PROBLEMS WITH HEI RESEARCH

(or why they are not publishable)

AND POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS
1. research idea is not scholarly enough
 developmental and intervention studies
 assessment or feasibility studies

Examples:
 Developing research culture in a private Higher
Education Institutions: The XXX University Experience
 Needs assessment of the employees of Company XXX
 The comparative efficiency and cost effectiveness of the
selected academic programs in five State Universities and
Colleges
2. there’s no problem at all or it is ill-defined
- research with clear objectives but has no clear
PROBLEM
- objective-based vs. problem-based research
- the purported problem is not really a PROBLEM or is
not very well established

When is a ‘problem’ a PROBLEM?

If it is clearly arising from or framed vis-à-vis current
literature (valid publications).
3. ‘fixation’ to local issues and problems without
much regard for global body of knowledge:
insufficient review and framing within existing literature
(not grounded on or touching base with issues raised in
the discipline)

4. the key elements of the research paper are not

aligned/integrated: PROBLEM, OBJECTIVE/S,
METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION

5. methods (research logic) faulty, inappropriate or

insufficient

6. low significance or contribution of study to the

discipline (no novelty, no ‘bite’)
INTERVENTIONS

1. Refocus literature search and review on valid

publications (refereed journals)

KEY: Start with the literature and then look for a research
problem there. Don’t start with a research problem and
then look for the literature.

NOTE: If problem/proposal is not literature-based (i.e.,

VALID PUBLICATIONS), the output is not also
literature-bound (not PUBLISHABLE).
INTERVENTIONS

II. Put emphasis on FRAMING OF PROBLEM or

PROBLEM CONCEPTUALIZATION (problem as the
cornerstone of a proposal)

 Ensure that proposals have real problems arising from or

touching base with issues in the disciplinal literature.
Basic steps of PROBLEM CONCEPTUALIZATION:

STEP 1. Choose a tentative topic area in your own discipline.

STEP 2. Survey the literature (valid publications).

Questions to answer:
 What studies were done on this topic? What’s known and
not known?
 What did these studies look at? Issues? Findings? Methods?
Locus? Limitations?
STEP 3. Identify ‘problem signals.’

 Are the findings conclusive?

 Are there unresolved issues? Controversies?
 Are there deficiencies in data and method?
 Are there areas not tackled?

STEP 4. State your research problem.

STEP 5: State your tentative research title (to be finalized

only if the Methods sections is crafted).
INTERVENTIONS (next):

III. Ensure the research’s significance in terms of its

contribution to the LITERATURE in the discipline
= mainly DISCIPLINAL/ACADEMIC rather than practical

NOTE:
 If the problem is arising from the literature, then the
study’s findings will have significance/contribution to the
literature.

 The study’s problem and the study’s significance/

contribution are tightly linked.
 RESEARCH PROBLEM vis-à-vis RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION
A problem revolves around:
- a gap in the literature on the
topic
- a controversy in the claims
made by various studies
- a deficiency or error in data
and interpretation
- a deficiency in method or
design
- a lack of integration in data,
methods
research contribution
(novelty):
- a new study
- a solution to the controversy
- additional data; rectified
data; re-interpretation
- a superior method; an
improved design
- a synthesis of data, methods
INTERVENTIONS (next):

IV. Shift research proposal assessment from FORM to

SUBSTANCE

Things to consider:
 A CLEAR PROBLEM (issue)
- Is there an issue being addressed? Is there a well-defined
problem? Is it framed within the existing literature?

 AN ARGUMENT (thesis)
- Does the proposal propound a thesis vis-à-vis the
problem? This is to be seen in the research’s objective/s and
hypothesis/es.
A NOVEL/DISTINCT CLAIM (scholarly significance/
contribution)
- Does it promise to contribute something new to the
existing discourse on the topic?

A SOUND EVIDENCE/ARGUMENT (method/design: logic)

- Can the claim be adequately supported? Is it well argued?
Are the methods and analysis sound?

 ALIGNMENT OF ELEMENTS (CONCEPTUAL FRAME)

- Are the literature review, the problem, the objectives and
hypotheses, and the methods all aligned?

 AN AUTHORITATIVE/REPRESENTATIVE reference list

- Is the list of references exhaustive and up-to-date?
V. Get familiar with scholarly literature

- Read, read and read journal articles

 how problems are framed
 how objectives and methods are fleshed out
 how arguments are structured
 how articles are written

- The more we read, the more we get critical! And the better
we will be prepared to write our own research proposal.
- Choose good articles and model proposals after them