UNIT 6

OVERLOOK
• Identification and formulation of research
problem
• Need and Importance of Theoretical
framework in research
• Review of Literature
• Formulation of objectives and hypothesis
 Identification and formulation of research
problem
What is a research problem?
• It is the topic we would like to address,
investigate, or study, whether descriptively or
experimentally.
• It is the focus or reason for engaging in our
research.
• It is typically a topic, phenomenon, or challenge
that we are interested in and with which we are
at least somewhat familiar
 Sources of Research Problem
 Classroom
 School
 Community
 Own teaching experiences
 Classroom lectures
 Class discussions
 Seminars/workshops/paper presentations
 Internet
 Out-of-class exchange of ideas with fellow students and professors
 Reading assignment
Textbook
Special programme
Research reports
Term papers
 Consultation with
Course instructor
Advisor
Faculty member
• ( I ) Research supervisor. (2) Research
literature. (3) Research funding agencies
 How is a research problem formed?

• The selection of one appropriate researchable

problem out of the identified problems
requires evaluation of those alternatives
against certain criteria, which may be grouped
into:
• Internal Criteria
• External criteria
 Internal Criteria
• Researcher’s interest: The problem should interest the
researcher and be a challenge to him. Interest in a
problem depends upon the researcher’s educational
background, experience, outlook and sensitivity.
• Researcher’s own resource: In the case of a research to
be done by a researcher on his own, consideration of his
own financial resource is pertinent. If it is beyond his
means, he will not be able to complete the work, unless
he gets some external financial support. Time resource
is more important than finance. Research is a time
consuming process; hence it should be properly utilized
• Researcher’s competence: A mere interest in a
problem will not do. The researcher must be
competent to plan and carry out a study of the
problem. He must possess adequate
knowledge of the subject-matter, relevant
methodology and statistical procedures.
 External Criteria
• 1. Research-ability of the problem: The problem should
be researchable, i.e., amendable for finding answers to
the questions involved in it through the scientific
method.
• 2. Novelty of the problem: The problem must have
novelty. There is no use of wasting one’s time and energy
on a problem already studied thoroughly by others.
• 3. Importance and urgency: Problems requiring
investigation are unlimited, but available research efforts
are very much limited.
• Facilities: Research requires certain facilities such,
as wellequipped library facility, suitable and
competent guidance, data analysis facility, etc
• Feasibility: A problem may be a new one and also
important, but if research on it is not feasible, it
cannot be selected.
• Usefulness and social relevance: Above all, the
study of the problem should make a significant
contribution to the concerned body of knowledge
or to the solution of some significant practical
problem. It should be socially relevant.
• Each identified problem must be evaluated in
terms of the above internal and external
criteria and the most appropriate, one may be
selected by a research scholar
Principle Components in the Formulation of a
Problem
• The originating questions (what one wants to
know?)
• The rational- theoretical or practical (why one
wants to have the questions answered?)
• The specifying questions (possible answers to
the originating) questions in term of that
satisfy the rationale.)
 Criteria of a Good Research Problem
• Novelty-It should be sufficiently original so that it does not involve objectionable
duplication.
• Interesting-The problem should be interesting for the investigator himself.
• Importance-If it is not worth-while, if adds to neither knowledge nor lead to any
improvements in the current practices.
• Immediate Application-The investigator should ask himself the question, will my
research help in solving an urgent problem
• Feasibility or Amenability-Feasibility issue of research includes the following
Availability of data
Availability of cooperation
Availability of guidance
Availability of other facilitates
Experience and creativity
Coverage and confidence
Need and Importance of Theoretical framework in research

• A theoretical framework is analogous to the

frame of the house. Just as the foundation
supports a house, a theoretical framework
provides a rationale for predictions about the
relationships among variables of a research
study
It provides a context for examining a problem i.e. theoretical
rationale for:
 Developing hypotheses
 A frame of reference/base for
• Observations
• Definitions of concepts
• Research designs
• Interpretations
• Generalizations
 Serves as a guide to systematically identify logical, precisely
defined relationships among variables
• The theoretical framework plays an important
role in guiding the entire process of the
research study
• Theories are constructed in order to explain,
predict and master phenomena (e.g.
relationships, events, or the behavior.
• A theory makes generalizations about
observations and consists of an interrelated,
coherent set of ideas and models.
Purpose:
• It helps the researcher see clearly the
variables of the study;
• It can provide him with a general framework
for data analysis;
• It is essential in preparing a research proposal
using descriptive and experimental methods.
 Review of Literature
• A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any
other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of
research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description,
summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation
to the research problem being investigated.
• Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of
sources you have explored while researching a particular
topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research
fits within a larger field of study.
• A literature review is a survey of scholarly
sources on a specific topic. It provides an
overview of current knowledge, allowing you
to identify relevant theories, methods, and
gaps in the existing research.
• Writing a literature review involves finding relevant
publications (such as books and journal articles),
critically analyzing them, and explaining what you
found. There are five key steps:
• Search for relevant literature
• Evaluate sources
• Identify themes, debates and gaps
• Outline the structure
• Write your literature review
• Step 1: Search for relevant literature
• Before you begin searching for literature, you
need a clearly defined topic.
• If you are writing the literature review section
of a dissertation or research paper, you will
search for literature related to your research
problem and questions.
• Make a list of keywords
• Start by creating a list of keywords related to your
research question. Include each of the key concepts or
variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and
related terms. You can add to this list if you discover
new keywords in the process of your literature search.
• Keywords exampleSocial media, Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth
• Search for relevant sources
• Use your keywords to begin searching for sources.
Some useful databases to search for journals and
articles include:
• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• JSTOR
• EBSCO
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your
search:
AND to find sources that contain more than one keyword (e.g.
social media AND body image AND generation Z)
OR to find sources that contain one of a range of synonyms (e.g.
generation Z OR teenagers OR adolescents)
NOT to exclude results containing certain terms (e.g. apple NOT
fruit)
Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to
your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can
check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.
• Step 2: Evaluate and select sources
• You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that
has been written on the topic—you’ll have to evaluate which
sources are most relevant to your questions.
• For each publication, ask yourself:
• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models and methods?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the
field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established
knowledge?
• How does the publication contribute to your understanding of
the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?
Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure
you read any landmark studies and major theories in your
field of research.
You can find out how many times an article has been cited
on Google Scholar—a high citation count means the article
has been influential in the field, and should certainly be
included in your literature review.
The scope of your review will depend on your topic and
discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent
literature, but in the humanities you might take a long
historical perspective
• Take notes and cite your sources
• As you read, you should also begin the writing process.
Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text
of your literature review.
• It is important to keep track of your sources with 
citations to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make
an annotated bibliography, where you compile full
citation information and write a paragraph of summary
 and analysis for each source. This helps you remember
what you read and saves time later in the process.
 Step 3: Identify themes, debates, and gaps

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to
understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve
read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:
• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches
become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed
the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to
be addressed?
This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if
applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.
 Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure

• There are various approaches to organizing

the body of a literature review. You should
have a rough idea of your strategy before you
start writing.
• Depending on the length of your literature
review, you can combine several of these
strategies
• Chronological
• The simplest approach is to trace the
development of the topic over time. However, if
you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid
simply listing and summarizing sources in order.
• Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key
debates that have shaped the direction of the
field. Give your interpretation of how and why
certain developments occurred.
• Thematic
• If you have found some recurring central themes,
you can organize your literature review into
subsections that address different aspects of the
topic.
• For example, if you are reviewing literature about
inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes
might include healthcare policy, language barriers,
cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.
• Methodological
• If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields
that use a variety of research methods, you might want to
compare the results and conclusions that emerge from
different approaches. For example:
• Look at what results have emerged in
 qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical
versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural
sources
• Theoretical
• A literature review is often the foundation for a 
theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss
various theories, models, and definitions of key
concepts.
• You might argue for the relevance of a specific
theoretical approach, or combine various
theoretical concepts to create a framework for
your research.
 Step 5: Write your literature review

• Like any other academic text, your literature

review should have an introduction, a main
body, and a conclusion. What you include in
each depends on the objective of your
literature review.
Introduction
• The introduction should clearly establish the
focus and purpose of the literature review.
• Dissertation literature reviewIf you are writing the
literature review as part of your dissertation or
thesis, reiterate your central problem or research
question and give a brief summary of the scholarly
context.
You can emphasize the timeliness of the topic (“many
recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or
highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has
been much research on x, few researchers have
taken y into consideration”).
• Body
• Depending on the length of your literature
review, you might want to divide the body into
subsections. You can use a subheading for
each theme, time period, or methodological
approach.
• As you write, you can follow these tips:
• Summarize and synthesize: give an overview of the main points
of each source and combine them into a coherent whole
• Analyze and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers—
add your own interpretations where possible, discussing the
significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of
your sources
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transition words and 
topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts
• Conclusion
In the conclusion, you should summarize the key
findings you have taken from the literature and
emphasize their significance.
Dissertation literature review:If the literature review is
part of your thesis or dissertation, show how your
research addresses gaps and contributes new
knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on
existing theories and methods to build a framework
for your research.
Formulation of Research objectives
• Research objectives are the goals that you set
in your study, that you want to achieve
through your study. It informs the readers
what you want to research and how far you
want to go. It also informs the readers about
the scope and extent of the study.
• A statement of research objectives can serve to guide the activities of
research. Consider the following examples.
• Objective: To describe what factors farmers take into account in making
such decisions as whether to adopt a new technology or what crops to grow.
• Objective: To develop a budget for reducing pollution by a particular
enterprise.
• Objective: To describe the habitat of the giant panda in China.
• In the above examples the intent of the research is largely descriptive.
• In the case of the first example, the research will end the study by being able
to specify factors which emerged in household decisions.
• In the second, the result will be the specification of a pollution reduction
budget.
• In the third, creating a picture of the habitat of the giant panda in China.
• An objective is measurable and operational. It
tells specific things you will accomplish in your
project.
The objective should be as clearly and crisply
stated as possible. Usually only one or at the
most two objectives should be tackled in one
study. 
• The objectives should be:
•    Usually one or two
•    Clearly spelled out
•    Realistic and measurable
•    Achievable in a reasonable frame of time
•    Tailor the study design to achieve the
objective(s)
• Characteristics of Objectives:
1.    Specific
Precisely what you intend to accomplish
2.    Important
Indicate the relevance/importance
3.    Measurable
What you would do/measure
4.    Practical
Solution to a problem
5.    Realistic
6.    Feasible
7.    Evaluable
• The objectives should be SMART.
•    Specific
•    Measurable
•    Achievable
•    Relevant
•    Time bound
 HYPOTHESIS
• The word hypothesis consists of two words: Hypo +
thesis = Hypothesis. ‘Hypo’ means tentative or
subject to the verification and ‘Thesis’ means
statement about solution of a problem. The word
meaning of the term hypothesis is a tentative
statement about the solution of the problem.
Hypothesis offers a solution of the problem that is to
be verified empirically and based on some rationale
• The hypothesis is a clear statement of what is
intended to be investigated. It should be specified
before research is conducted and openly stated in
reporting the results. This allows to Identify…
• the research objectives;
• the key abstract concepts involved in the
research; and
• its relationship to both the problem statement
and the literature review.
 TYPES
• Simple Hypothesis: This predicts the
relationship between a single independent
variable (IV) and a single dependent variable
(DV). For example: Lower levels of exercise
postpartum (IV) will be associated with greater
weight retention (DV).
• Complex Hypothesis: This predicts the
relationship between two or more independent
variables and two or more dependent variables.
• Directional Hypothesis: This may imply that the researcher
is intellectually committed to a particular outcome. They
specify the expected direction of the relationship between
variables i.e. the researcher predicts not only the existence
of a relationship but also its nature
• Considering the example, a researcher may state the
hypothesis as, ‘High school students who participate in
extracurricular activities have a lower GPA than those who
do not participate in such activities.’ Such hypotheses
provide a definite direction to the prediction.
• Null Hypothesis: This is a hypothesis that proposes no
relationship or difference between two variables. This is
the conventional approach to making a prediction. It
involves a statement that says there is no relationship
between two groups that the researcher compares on a
certain variable.
• For example, ‘There is no difference in the academic
performance of high school students who participate in
extracurricular activities and those who do not participate
in such activities’ is a null hypothesis.
• It is denoted as H0.
• Alternate or Research Hypothesis: This hypothesis proposes a
relationship between two or more variables, symbolized as H1.
For example, if a researcher was interested in examining the
relationship between music and emotion, s/he may believe that
there is a relationship between music and emotion.
• H1 (the research/alternate hypothesis): Music at a fast tempo is
rated by participants as being happier than music at a slow
tempo.
• H0 (the null hypothesis): Music at a fast tempo and at a slow
tempo is rated the same in happiness by participants.
• The two hypotheses we propose to test must be mutually
exclusive; i.e., when one is true the other must be false.
• Type I Error: A type I error, also known as an
error of the first kind, occurs when the null
hypothesis (H0) is true, but is rejected. It is
asserting something that is absent, a false hit
• The rate of the type I error is called the size of
the test and denoted by the Greek letter α
(alpha). It usually equals the significance level
of a test. In the case of a simple null
hypothesis α is the probability of a type I error.
• A type II error, also known as an error of the
second kind, occurs when the null hypothesis
is false, but erroneously fails to be rejected. It
is failing to assert what is present, a miss.
• The rate of the type II error is denoted by the
Greek letter β (beta) and related to the power
of a test (which equals 1−β).