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Problem Formulation

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Shamindi Pathirathna
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22 views14 pages

Problem Formulation

Uploaded by

Shamindi Pathirathna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Formulating a

Research Problem
CS3962 Research and Report Writing
Surangika Ranathunga
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Research Problem
▪ A clear statement of what challenge/problem you
are trying to address
▪ Better if it addresses a felt need
–Can do just for a fun of doing research
▪ If you clearly understand the problem, half the
problem is solved!

3
But… why do you need a research
problem?
▪ It justifies your research contribution
▪ The world will have one less of a problem once
you have finished your research :D
▪ It gives focus, direction, and goals for your
research work

4
Problem Formulation – step 1
▪ Set up the stage – clearly set the background
▪ For you yourself do not know what you are
doing!
▪ For some of your readers/evaluators may come
from different research backgrounds

6
Problem Formulation – Step 2
▪ State the general problem (what)
▪ Also why that problem should be solved
(motivation)
▪ Problem and Motivation may be written together

7
Characteristics of a Good Problem
▪ Interesting
–Keep researcher interested in it throughout the
research process
–Will it lead to generation of new knowledge,
understanding, or tools?
–What others think about it?
▪ Relevant
–Is the problem significant enough in today’s context?
▪ Clear (unambiguous)
–Has well defined boundaries & assumptions

8
Characteristics (Cont.)
▪ Focused
– Depth vs Bredth
▪ Researchable
– Can be accomplished using a scientific method
▪ Right balance between Research & Development
– At BSc level R can be small & D can be large
– Manageable/feasible/practical
– Fits the level of researcher’s skill set
– Time, resources, tools
▪ Low Risk Low Gain vs. High Risk High Gain
– Is it free of unknown hazards/dangers?
▪ Ethical

9
How can a good research problem be
defined?
▪ If you are lucky (or my be not), your supervisor
will give you the research problem and papers to
read
▪ In some cases, supervisor will give you a generic
research problem
▪ Or you may have an initial idea
▪ In case 1 or 2, you will have to refer to literature
and identify a gap in the research
– This gap can be formulated in to your research problem

10
Problem Statement
▪ Address following 3 questions in a suitable order
– What are you planning to do?
– Why is it important?
– How are you planning to do it?

▪ Write a single paragraph


▪ Refine it as you understand the problem better

11
Problem Statement – Examples
▪ How to develop a peer-assisted software patch distribution system to
share patches or updates in P2P style without being exposed to potential
attackers.
▪ How to auto-scale computing resources in a PaaS cloud environment
based on current workload and resource usage, while predicting the
workload to reduce cost and to meet desired QoS and SLA goals.
▪ Given a set of drivers D and jobs J, how to automatically schedule drivers
while maximizing customer satisfaction, efficiency, profit, and driver
satisfaction?
▪ How to describe the types of incentives provides by IT companies to their
employees.
▪ How to find out the opinion of the employees about the fitness & health
facilities provided by local IT industry.
▪ How to ascertain the impact of training on employee retention.
▪ How to compare the effectiveness of different loyalty programs on repeat
clientele.

12
Pitching Research Problem
▪ Elevator Pitch
–Short speech or conversation
–Make listener want to hear more
–Secure an invitation for a longer
conversation
–See resources on LMS
▪ Why at BSc?
–Enable you to formulate a clear
research problem
–Should be understood by a listener
with a basic background in related
areas
–Pitch your next business idea

13
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Resources
▪ Some slides were borrowed from Dr Dilum
Bandara’s presentation for he previous batch
▪ Starting your research
– http://dilum.bandara.lk/resources/starting-your-research/

▪ Elevator Pitch
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6O98o2FRHw
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq0tan49rmc
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI8XOGubJyY

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