Identification of research problem

Before you start any form of study, get a clear understanding of what a research problem is and
learn to formulate it properly. After defining it, you can start writing your paper. It means
that research problems or questions are the fuel driving the entire scientific process and they
serve as the foundation of any experimental design or method, from case studies to real
experiments.

Why does it matter to researchers? It’s an important problem that you state in your research
paper to define your specific study area and provide a brief synopsis of how you develop a
hypothesis. The quality of a research problem defines your success.

What is a research problem?

It’s a clear and definite statement or expression about your chosen area of concern, a difficulty to
eliminate, a condition to improve, or a troubling problem that exists in theory, literature, and
practice. A research problem indicates a need for its meaningful investigation. It doesn’t state
how to do something and a researcher shouldn’t present a value question or offer a
broad research proposal.

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 that points 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.

The purpose of a problem statement is to:

1. Introduce 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.

How to identify a research problem?

After choosing a specific topic for your academic paper, you need to state it as a clear research
problem that identifies all the issues that you’ll address. It’s not always simple for students to
formulate it. In some fields, they may end up spending a lot of time thinking, exploring, and
studying before getting a clear idea of what research questions to answer.

Some topics are too broad to give a researchable issue. For example, if you decide to study
certain social issues, like child poverty, remember that they don’t provide any researchable
question. These are very broad to address and take a lot of time and resources to become
unfeasible so that your study will lack enough focus and depth.

What is a statement of a research problem?

An adequate statement of your research problem plays an important role in the success of your
academic paper and study. It’s possible to generate a number of researchable issues from the
same subject because there are many issues that may arise out of it. Your study should pursue
only one in detail.

Basic characteristics of research problem

For your research problem to be effective, make sure that it has these basic characteristics:

 Reflecting on important issues or needs;

 Basing on factual evidence (it’s non-hypothetical);
 Being manageable and relevant;
 Suggesting a testable and meaningful hypothesis (avoiding useless answers).

Research is an effort to seek answers to questions confronting the researcher. It seeks answers to
questions, which have not yet been answered. Research helps in the development of
generalizations, principles or theories, which open either new vistas of understanding in the
relevant field of knowledge, or helps in verifying the existing knowledge. The research questions
can be of quantitative or qualitative nature, and both require collecting the relevant data, their
analysis and interpretation so as to arrive at some conclusion which provides the solution to a
problem.

Research is a gateway to new knowledge that obviously depends on how meaningfully the
problem has been identified and research questions have been answered. In the beginning, a
researcher has problem blindedness and perceives a much diffused, vague and a general view of
a problem. Hence, the identification of a problem is the most important and difficult step in the
research process. It is a most thoughtful effort; even a little carelessness on the part of the
researcher spoils the spirit of research. It is a systematic attempt to obtain answers to meaningful
questions about a phenomenon through the application of scientific procedures. Problem
identification and its formulation is inventive and individualistic rather than routine and
mechanical. The identification of a research problem requires a great deal of patience and logical
thinking on the part of the researcher. A beginning researcher finds the task of identifying a
research problem a difficult one. This may be due to his limited knowledge of the research
process and his unpreparedness for identifying the problem. He may also be unfamiliar with the
areas in which research is needed and the procedure he is to follow for selecting a suitable field
for research.

Objectives

 After studying this unit, you will be able to:

 discuss the nature of research problem;
 identify1 select the problem of research;
 list the criteria of selecting a suitable problem of research;
 describe the important sources of problem selection;
 and discuss the nature of research questions.

Nature of a problem

The research process has some important steps. Out of the most crucial steps is the selection of a
problem. The problem of research has to be well focused and pinpointed. If a problem is
meaningfully selected and formulated, it makes subsequent research efforts easier. Problem
identification and its formulation makes the researcher psychologically engrossed, creates a
sense of restlessness, arouses curiosities about finding solution to the problem in his/ her mind.
Problems do not come from a vacuum; they are context specific.

There are two types of research problems: viz. those which relate to the state of nature and those
which relate to the relationship between variables. For example, a problem stated as
"Epistemological Realities in the Panchtantra" is a problem, which discovers the sources of
knowledge in Panchtantra, hence, it is classified in first category of research. If the problem is
stated as "the effect of television viewing on the values of children', the study explains the
relationship between variables i.e. television viewing and values of children, hence, it is
classified in the second category of research. Thus, the problem of research should be such
which will help in theory building, making generalizations, formulating principles that will form
the basis for future generation of knowledge besides making an original conmbution to the
respective field of knowledge.

It has to be further seen whether the nature of research is quantitative or qualitative, since the
problem formulation varies as the nature of research varies. Under this classification various
other type of researches fall. For example, experimental and survey type of researches fall under
quantitative researches whereas historical, ethnic and philosophical fall under the qualitative
research. The following examples will make the distinction between qualitative and quantitative
research more clear.
Quantitative Research

Comparative effect of inductive and deductive methods of teaching on the Research Questions
development of problem solving skills among 8th grade students' (Experimental Research)

'A study of values of secondary school teachers in relation to their socioeconomic status' (Survey
Type Research)

Qualitative Research

'Development of Higher Education in Post-independent India' (Historical Research)

'Multicultural analysis of attitudes towards education' (Ethnographical Research)

'Metaphysical study of the literature of Swami Vivekanand' (Philosophical Research)

The essence of research, moreover, is to arrive at dependable solutions to the problem through a
well thought out scientific procedure. This purpose is only served when the problem:

 aims at arriving at dependable solutions to the problem,

 makes useful generalizations and theory development,
 provides insight into the hypothesis formulation,
 provides the direction for the choice of research design, and
 helps in wiseful choice of statistical or other relevant methods of interpretations.

Kerlinger (1993) states the three criteria of a good problem:

 It should express a relationship between two or more variables.

 The problem should be stated clearly and unambiguously in question form.
 Statement of a problem must be such to imply possibilities of empirical testing.

Hence, a research problem which does not survive the above salient features cannot be
considered useful and worthwhile. A large part of the solution lies in knowing what one is trying
to do. Another part lies in knowing what a problem is and especially what a scientific problem is.

Identification of a research problem

Clear and concise identification of the problem is not an easy matter. Some research studies are
pursued in such a way that it is difficult to determine what the researcher is trying to investigate.
A most challenging situation for a researcher occurs when s/ he feels bewildered and suffers with
diffused perceptions of the situations amenable to research. Identification of a research situation
is an important phase of the entire research process. It demands a great deal of thinking,
searching and speculating on the part of a researcher. It cbnsumes a lot of energy, time and
effort. A beginning researcher finds it very difficult as to how to locate the problem situation.
This may happen because she has limited knowledge of the research process. S/he may be
unfamiliar with the areas in which research is needed and the procedures that he has to follow to
identify a suitable area of research. Novice investigators have an unrealistic, glamorized
conception of research problem. An investigator should follow the following major tasks in
analyzing a problematic situation (VanDalen, 1973):

 Accumulating the facts that might be related to the problem,

 Settling by observation whether the facts are relevant,
 Tracing any relationship between facts that might reveal the key difficulty,
 Proposing various explanations for the cause of the difficulty,
 Ascertaining through observation and analysis whether these explanations are relevant to
the problem,
 Tracing the relationship between explanations that may give an insight ill to the problem
solution,
 Tracing the relationship between facts and explanations, and
 Questioning assumptions underlying the analysis of the problem.

The researcher may face problems in classrooms, in administration of a college and in all other
areas of education such as the teaching-learning process, guidance and counseling, textbooks,
physically and mentally challenged children, etc. A research problem must be firmly rooted in
knowledge. The researcher should first identify a general area in which she wishes to do research
and then immediately set about reviewing the knowledge available in that area.

The researcher must first decide the area of his/ her interest and the purpose of his research
endeavours. It must be the area of research where the researcher is capable of demonstrating
necessary initiative, insight, critical analysis and judgemental capacities.

The identification of a problem situation follows the following procedural efforts on the part of a
researcher.

 The understanding of the known theories, facts and ideas in the field of researcher's
interest structures his/ her problem searching domain. The research focus is sharpened by
what he already knows, what researches in his field have been conducted and what needs
to be discovered.
 A problem situation of research may emerge from the researcher's curiosity 9 1 about
something shared, seen, felt or wondered about or through the natural interest of a
researcher.
 Life situations, relationships established by related researchers and implications advanced
by technological advancements constitute the problem situation.
 New knowledge in the field of researcher's interest coming through the new &rivals of
books, journal and researches extend a situation for research.
 A survey of suggestions for further research given at the end of research reports and
reviews of research projects, the gaps which are there in a particular field of educational
 research are helpful in keeping the researcher informed about what researches are going
on in the field in which he has the competence and deeper understanding.

Sources for selecting a research problem

After the broad area of research interest has been identified, the researcher will proceed towards
narrowing down it to a highly specific and focused research problem. At this juncture, it is not
possible to list all the educational problems that are needed to be researched. The problems do
not germinate in barren brains but rather in minds enriched by varied experiences and fertile
layers of knowledge. Reading educational publications extensively will help to prepare an
intellectual soil in which problem ideas are likely to sprout. There are various sources which are
available to researcher and which help him to identify and specify the meaningful problem of
research. These are mainly:

 Observations or experience
 Already completed work
 Discussion
 Interest and curiosity
 Research Literature
 Controversial and dark areas
 Social change