ESSAY to be Reviewed

IV. Identifying Problems In Quantitative Research

A. INTRODUCTION

Many people criticize quantitative research because researchers have very little ability to
know more details. For example, many quantitative research methods use questionnaires as a
means to find out the percentage of the population that has certain characteristics or thinks about
certain things.

The rigid and fixed nature of quantitative research can also result in relevant variables
being missed entirely. If one were to conduct a qualitative study of a child's intelligence level and
try to determine whether the firstborn was smarter than all subsequent children, they could
measure the child's IQ, and then record whether they were the first, second, third or fourth child.
This might result in a result suggesting that, according to statistics, the firstborn is indeed more
intelligent, and each subsequent child has a lower IQ than the previous one. This appears to be a
relevant finding, but ignores the possible variable that intelligent parents have fewer children.
This could mean that the first and second children have relatively intelligent parents, and the fifth
child has less intelligent parents, so the conclusions of this study are misleading.

B. DISCUSSION

1. Definition of Problem
A problem is generally defined as a task, situation, or person that is difficult to deal with
or control due to its complexity and opacity. In common parlance, a problem is a question
that needs to be answered, or a matter that needs to be examined or proven.

2. Definition of Research Problem

The issue at hand is a research problem. It aids in narrowing the topic down to something
that is feasible for a study. According to Creswell (2012), a research problem is "a general
educational issue, concern, or controversy addressed in research that narrows the topic"
(p. 60). A research problem is a statement about an area of concern, a condition that needs
to be improved, a difficulty that needs to be solved, or a troubling question that exists in
 scholarly literature, theory, or practice and indicates the need for meaningful
understanding and deliberate investigation.
3. Types of Research Problem
In the social sciences, there are four general conceptualizations of a research problem:
a. Casuist Research Problem
This type of problem is concerned with determining what is right and wrong in
matters of conduct or conscience by analyzing moral quandaries using general
rules and careful distinction of special cases.
b. Difference Research Problem
Asks, "Is there a difference between two or more groups or treatments?" When the
researcher compares or contrasts two or more phenomena, this type of problem
statement is used. In the clinical social sciences or behavioral sciences, this is a
common method of defining a problem.
c. Descriptive Research Problem
Asks the question, "what is...?" with the underlying goal of describing the
significance of a situation, state, or existence of a specific phenomenon. This issue
is frequently associated with exposing hidden or understudied issues.
d. Relational Research Problem/ Associate problem

Denotes a possible relationship between two or more variables to be investigated.

The overarching goal is to look into specific qualities or characteristics that may
be related in some way. According to Ridha (2017), an associative problem is a
type of research problem in which the relationship between two or more variables
is questioned. The following are the several types of associative problems:
 Unidirectional Relationship
The association between two or more variables occurring
simultaneously is known as associative problems with unidirectional
relationships. A one-way relationship is not the same as a cause-and-
effect relationship or a reciprocal relationship. It is a link between two
or more variables that happen to appear simultaneously, according to
Ridha (2017)
 Causality
 The association between two or more variables that do not appear
together is known as associative difficulties with causal relationships.
The presence of a variable independent (which affects) and variable
dependent (which is affected) indicates a cause and effect relationship
(influenced)
 Reciprocal Relationship
Associative problems with reciprocity are a sort of problem in which
two variables have a relationship and impact each other, but it's
unclear which is the independent variable and which is the dependent
variable.
4. Sources of Problems

The identification of a problem to study can be difficult, not because there aren't any issues
that could be investigated, but because of the difficulty in formulating an academically
relevant and researchable problem that is unique and does not simply duplicate the work of
others. There are at least three sources of research problems, according to Prof. Winarno
Surakhmad in Saunir (1999):

a. Self-searching, that is looking for problems based on one's own experiences and
expertise. For example:

 Firsthand Knowledge
Don't dismiss your everyday experiences or encounters as interesting problems to
investigate. Consider your own experiences and/or frustrations with a problem that
affects society, your community, your neighborhood, your family, or your personal life.
This can be derived, for example, from deliberate observations of certain relationships
for which no clear explanation exists, or from witnessing an event that appears harmful
to a person or group or that is unusual.
 Literature of Interest
A through review of relevant research related to your overall area of interest can help
you choose a research problem. This may reveal where there are gaps in understanding
or where an issue has been understudied. Research may be conducted to: 1) fill such
knowledge gaps; 2) assess whether the methodologies used in previous studies can be
 adapted to solve other problems; or 3) determine whether a similar study could be
conducted in a different subject area, applied in a different context, or to a different
study sample [i.e., different setting or different group of people]. Furthermore, authors
frequently conclude their studies by mentioning implications for future research; read
the conclusions of relevant studies because statements about future research can be a
valuable source for identifying new problems to investigate. The fact that a researcher
has identified a topic worthy of further investigation validates its worth.

b. Other people, for example, are looking for solutions based on scholars' and practitioners'
experience and knowledge. For example:

 Practitioner Interviews
Formal interviews or informal discussions with practitioners who provide insight into
new directions for future research and how to make research findings more relevant to
practice can lead to the identification of research problems about specific topics.
Discussions with experts in the field, such as teachers, social workers, health care
providers, lawyers, business leaders, and so on, provide an opportunity to identify
practical, "real world" issues that may be understudied or ignored within academic
circles. This method also provides some practical knowledge that may be useful in the
process of designing and carrying out your study.
 Perspectives from Various Disciplines
Identifying a problem that will serve as the foundation for a research study can come
from academic movements and scholarship that originate in disciplines other than your
primary field of study. This can be a mentally stimulating activity. Examining research
from related disciplines that can reveal new avenues of exploration and analysis should
be included in a review of relevant literature. An interdisciplinary approach to selecting
a research problem allows for a more comprehensive understanding of a very complex
issue than any single discipline could provide.

c. Research journals, specifically, prospective researchers can find many issues specified
in published articles, both in the form of books and scientific publications, by reading
critically.
 Theory-Based Inferences
This relates to deductions from social philosophy or generalizations that the researcher is
familiar with in life and society. Through research, these deductions from human behavior
are then placed within an empirical frame of reference. A theory can be used to develop a
research problem or hypothesis that states the expected results in specific empirical
situations. The study asks, "What relationship between variables will be observed if theory
accurately summarizes the current state of affairs?" A systematic investigation can then be
designed and carried out to determine whether empirical data confirm or reject the
hypothesis, and thus the theory.
1. The Research Questions Characteristics
a) Feasible
 A sufficient number of subjects
 A sufficient level of technical expertise
 Affordability in terms of time and money
 A scope that is manageable
b) Interesting: Obtaining the answer piques the investigator's and her friends'
interest.
c) Novel
 Confirms, refutes, or expands on prior findings
 Presents novel findings
d) Ethical: Acceptable for a study that will be approved by the institutional review
board
e) Relevant
 Concerning scientific knowledge
 Clinical and public health policy
 For future study

2. Development and Steps of Research Questions/Problems

A good problem statement begins by introducing the broad area of your research,
gradually leading the reader to the more specific issues you are looking into. The
statement does not have to be long, but a good research problem should include the
following elements:
a. Interesting Subject
The problem should be one that motivates you to address it, but simply being curious
is not a good enough reason to conduct a research study because it does not indicate
significance. The issue you choose to investigate must be important to you, but it
must also be important to your readers and the larger academic and/or social
communities.
b. Accepts Multiple Points of View
The problem must be phrased in a way that avoids dichotomies and instead
encourages the generation and exploration of multiple points of view. A general rule
of thumb in the social sciences is that a good research problem is one that will elicit a
wide range of opinions from a diverse group of reasonable people.
c. Ability to conduct research
This is not a real word, but it represents an important aspect of writing an effective
research statement. It may seem obvious, but you don’t want to be in the middle of a
complex research project and realize you don’t have enough prior research to draw
from for your analysis. There is nothing inherently wrong with conducting original
research, but you must select research problems that can be supported in some way by
the resources at your disposal.
Analytical questions that are well-developed can focus on any of the following:
 Highlights a genuine quandary, area of ambiguity, or point of confusion about a
topic that is open to interpretation by your readers
 Yields an answer that is unexpected and not obvious rather than inevitable and
self-evident
 Provokes meaningful thought or discussion
 Raises the visibility of key ideas or concepts that may be understudied or hidden
 Suggests the need for complex analysis or argument rather than a basic
description or summary
 Provides a focused line of inquiry that avoids eliciting broad generalizations
about the problem.
C. CONCLUSION

Identification of research problem refers to the sense of awareness of a prevalent social

problem, a social phenomenon or a concept that is worth study as it requires to be investigated to
understand it. The researcher identifies such a research problem through his observation,
knowledge, wisdom and skills. But The limited depth of information available to researchers is a
common point of criticism for quantitative research. Opponents contend that focusing only on
numerical data could result in a lack of in-depth understanding. The author investigates strategies
to improve the detection of subtle details in quantitative research methodologies in order to allay
this worry. The intention is to surmount the alleged constraints and reinforce the general validity
of quantitative research methods by exploring techniques for acquiring richer and more thorough
data. problems in quantitative research. There’s a lot of step to identifying problems in
quantitative research, such as theory-based inferences, perspectives from various disciplines,
practitioner interviews, firsthand knowledge, literature of interest, and development of research
question or statement. Besides there are a types of research problems. Basically the
characteristics of a good research problem are include; the problem can be stated clearly and
concisely, the problem generates research questions, it is grounded in theory, it relates to one or
more academic fields of study, it has a base in the research literature and the last one is it has
potential significance/importance.
INTRODUCTION

quantitative analysis methods that vary from offering a basic description of the variables
at play to using intricate statistical modeling to establish statistical relationships between the
variables. For example, many quantitative research methods use questionnaires as a means to
find out the percentage of the population that has certain characteristics or thinks about certain
things.

distinctive goals of qualitative research, it employs non-probability sampling, standard

research designs, and smaller sample sizes. of quantitative research can also result in relevant
variables being missed entirely. If one were to conduct a qualitative study of a child's intelligence
level and try to determine whether the firstborn was smarter than all subsequent children, they
could measure the child's IQ, and then record whether they were the first, second, third or fourth
kid. This could lead to a conclusion that each successive child has a lower IQ than the firstborn,
and that the firstborn is actually more intelligent than the others, based on statistics. Although it
overlooks the potential factor that intelligent parents may have fewer children, this finding seems
pertinent. This could imply that the parents of the first and second children are reasonably
intelligent, while the parents of the fifth child are less intelligent, which would make the study's
conclusions misleading.

B. DISCUSSION

5. Definition of Problem
A problem is generally defined as a task, situation, or person that is difficult to deal with
or control due to its complexity and transparency. A problem is, as the term goes, a
question that has to be answered or a matter that has to be investigated or proven.

Definition of Research Problem

The issue at hand is a research issue. It aids in narrowing the topic down to something
that is feasible for a study. According to Creswell (2012), a research problem is "a general
educational issue, concern, or controversy addressed in research that narrows the topic"
(p. 60). A research problem is a statement about an area of concern, a condition that needs
to be improved, a difficulty that needs to be solved, or a Unsettling query that exists in
 scholarly literature, theory, or practice and suggests the need for meaningful
understanding and deliberate investigation.
6. Types of Research Problem
In the social sciences, there are four general conceptualizations of a research problem:
e. Casuist Research Problem
This type of problem is concerned with determining what is right and wrong in
matters of conduct or conscience by analyzing moral quandaries using general
rules and careful differentiation of special cases.
f. Difference Research Problem
Requests, "Is there a difference between two or more groups or treatments?" This
kind of problem statement is used when the researcher contrasts or compares two
or more phenomena. Within the medical or behavioral sciences, this is a typical
approach to problem definition.
g. Descriptive Research Problem
The question " is...?" with the underlying goal of describing the significance of a
situation, state, or existence of a specific phenomenon. This issue is Often
associated with exposing hidden or understudied issues.
h. Relational Research Problem/ Associate problem

indicates a potential connection that needs to be looked into between two or more
variables. The main objective is to investigate specific qualities or characteristics
that may be related in some way. According to Ridha (2017), an associative
problem is a type of research problem in which the relationship between two or
more variables is questioned. The following are the several types of associative
problems:
 Unidirectional Relationship
The association between two or more variables occurring
simultaneously is known as associative problems with unidirectional
relationships. A one-way relationship is not the same as a cause-and-
effect relationship or a reciprocal relationshipAccording to Ridha
(2017), it is a connection between two or more variables that happen to
appear simultaneously.Causality
 The association between two or more variables that do not appear
together is known as associative difficulties with causal relationships.
The presence of a variable independent (which affects) and variable
dependent (which is affected) indicates a cause and effect relationship
(influenced)
 Reciprocal Relationship
Associative problems with reciprocity are a sort of problem in which
two variables have a relationship and impact each other, but it's
unclear which is the independent variable and which is the dependent
variable.
7. Sources of Problems

The identification of a problem to study can be difficult, there aren't any issues that could
be investigated, but because of the difficulty in formulating an academically relevant and
researchable problem that is unique and simply duplicate the work of others. There are at
least three sources of research problems, according to Prof. Winarno Surakhmad in Saunir
(1999):

a. Self-searching, that is looking for problems based on one's own experiences and
expertise. For example:

 Firsthand Knowledge
Don't dismiss your everyday experiences or encounters as interesting problems to
investigate. Consider your own experiences and/or frustrations with a problem that
affects society, your community, your neighborhood, your family, or your personal life.
This can be derived, for example, from deliberate observations of certain relationships,
or from witnessing an event that appears harmful to a person or group or that is unusual.
 Literature of Interest
A through review of relevant research related to your overall area of interest can help
you choose a research problem. This may reveal where there are gaps in understanding
or where an issue has been understudied. Research may be conducted to: 1) fill such
knowledge gaps; 2) assess whether the methodologies used in previous studies can be
adapted to solve other problems; or 3) determine whether a similar study could be
 conducted in a different subject area, applied in a different context, or to a different
study sample [i.e., different setting or different group of people]. Furthermore, authors
frequently conclude their studies by mentioning implications for future research; read
the conclusions of relevant studies because statements about future research can be a
valuable source for identifying new problems to investigate. The fact that a researcher
has identified a topic worthy of further investigation validates its worth.

b. Other people, for example, are looking for solutions based on scholars' and practitioners'
experience and knowledge. For example:

 Practitioner Interviews
Formal interviews or informal discussions with practitioners who provide insight into
new directions for future research and how to make research findings more relevant to
practice can lead to the identification of research problems about specific topics.
Discussions with experts in the field, such as teachers, social workers, health care
providers, lawyers, business leaders, and so on, provide an opportunity to identify
practical, "real world" issues that may be understudied or ignored within academic
circles. This method also provides some practical knowledge that may be useful in the
process of designing and carrying out your study.
 Perspectives from Various Disciplines
Identifying a problem that will serve as the foundation for a research study can come
from academic movements and scholarship that originate in disciplines other than your
primary field of study. This can be a mentally stimulating activity. Examining research
from related disciplines that can reveal new avenues of exploration and analysis should
be included in a review of relevant literature. An interdisciplinary approach to selecting
a research problem allows for a more comprehensive understanding of a very complex
issue than any single discipline could provide.

c. Research journals, specifically, prospective researchers can find many issues specified
in published articles, both in the form of books and scientific publications, by reading
Researchers may need to gather both primary and secondary data for some research
designs. Additionally, the methods used to collect data will vary depending on the
research.Theory-Based Inferences
 This relates to deductions from social philosophy or generalizations that the researcher is
familiar with in life and society. Through research, these deductions from human behavior
are then placed within an empirical frame of reference. A theory can be used to develop a
research problem or hypothesis that states the expected results in specific empirical
situations. The study asks, "What relationship between variables will be observed if theory
accurately summarizes the current state of affairs?" A systematic investigation can then be
designed and carried out to determine whether empirical data confirm or reject the
hypothesis, and thus the theory.
3. The Research Questions Characteristics
f) Feasible
 A sufficient number of subjects
 A sufficient level of technical expertise
 Affordability in terms of time and money
 A scope that is manageable
g) Interesting: Obtaining the answer piques the investigator's and her friends'
interest.
h) Novel
 Confirms, refutes, or expands on prior findings
 Presents novel findings
i) Ethical: Acceptable for a study that will be approved by the institutional review
board
j) Relevant
 Concerning scientific knowledge
 Clinical and public health policy
 For future study

4. Development and Steps of Research Questions/Problems

A good problem statement begins by introducing the broad area of your research,
gradually leading the reader to the more specific issues you are looking into. The
statement does not have to be long, but a good research problem should include the
following elements:
 d. Interesting Subject
The problem should be one that motivates you to address it, but simply being curious
is not a good enough reason to conduct a research study because it does not indicate
significance. The issue you choose to investigate must be important to you, but it
must also be important to your readers and the larger academic and/or social
communities.
e. Accepts Multiple Points of View
The problem must be phrased in a way that avoids dichotomies and instead
encourages the generation and exploration of multiple points of view. A general rule
of thumb in the social sciences is that a good research problem is one that will elicit a
wide range of opinions from a diverse group of reasonable people.
f. Ability to conduct research
This is not a real word, but it represents an important aspect of writing an effective
research statement. It may seem obvious, but you don’t want to be in the middle of a
complex research project and realize you don’t have enough prior research to draw
from for your analysis. There is nothing inherently wrong with conducting original
research, but you must select research problems that can be supported in some way by
the resources at your disposal.
Analytical questions that are well-developed can focus on any of the following:
 Highlights a genuine quandary, area of ambiguity, or point of confusion about a
topic that is open to interpretation by your readers
 Yields an answer that is unexpected and not obvious rather than inevitable and
self-evident
 Provokes meaningful thought or discussion
 Raises the visibility of key ideas or concepts that may be understudied or hidden
 Suggests the need for complex analysis or argument rather than a basic
description or summary
 Provides a focused line of inquiry that avoids eliciting broad generalizations
about the problem.

C. CONCLUSION
 Identification of research problem refers to the sense of awareness of a prevalent social
problem, a social phenomenon or a concept that is worth study as it requires to be investigated to
understand it. The researcher The limited depth of information available to researchers is a
common point of criticism for quantitative research. Opponents contend that focusing only on
numerical data could result in a lack of in-depth understanding. The author investigates strategies
to improve the detection of subtle details in quantitative research methodologies in order to allay
this worry. The intention is to surmount the alleged constraints and reinforce the general validity
of quantitative research methods by exploring techniques for acquiring richer and more thorough
data.problems in quantitative research. There’s a lot of step to identifying problems in
quantitative research, such as theory-based inferences, perspectives from various disciplines,
practitioner interviews, firsthand knowledge, literature of interest, and formulation of a research
statement or question. In addition, there are various kinds of research issues. Generally speaking,
a good research problem should be able to be stated succinctly and clearly, generate research
questions, be theoretically grounded, relate to one or more academic fields of study, have a
foundation in the research literature, and, lastly, have potential significance or importance.
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Strauch, R. E. (1975). "'Squishy' Problems and Quantitative Methods." Policy Sciences, 6(2), 175-184.

Apuke, O. D. (2017). "Quantitative Research Methods: A Synopsis Approach." Kuwait Chapter of Arabian
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