Scribd
Upload
14 views14 pages

Idetification of Problem

The document discusses the identification and significance of research problems, emphasizing the need for originality, clarity, and researchability. It outlines various sources for selecting research problems, including social issues, personal experiences, and literature reviews. Additionally, it highlights the importance of refining the research problem through a thorough literature review to ensure relevance and contribution to the field.

Uploaded by

shaha waseem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views14 pages

Idetification of Problem

The document discusses the identification and significance of research problems, emphasizing the need for originality, clarity, and researchability. It outlines various sources for selecting research problems, including social issues, personal experiences, and literature reviews. Additionally, it highlights the importance of refining the research problem through a thorough literature review to ensure relevance and contribution to the field.

Uploaded by

shaha waseem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 14

IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEM

PREPARED BY:
DR. Ijaz Ashraf
IMPORTANCE OF PROBLEM
It is very common that we perceive a problem and
through the mechanism of reduction we think that we
can easily solve it. A research problem is not merely the
topic you would like to address, investigate, or study,
whether descriptively or experimentally. The problem
may be a bigger one and need more than one studies to
be conducted to find a solution. A research problem is
the focus or reason for engaging in a research. It is
typically a phenomenon, or challenge that you are
interested in and with which you become familiar
before you actually begin the study.
CONSIDERATION FOR SELECTION OF THE
PROBLEM
1. Searching for the Research Problem
The first question that comes to mind is from where one
should begin the search for a research problem. Some
people say the problems arise and you only need to
recognize them as research problems. While others say that
in academia you can look for problems in literature.
Research problems can be identified by reviewing recent
literature, reports, or analytical work in your field. In many
of the research reports the section of recommendations for
the future studies is provided at the end which suggest
potential research problems.
2. EVALUATION OF THE PROBLEM

It is mostly suggested by the practitioner researchers


that you should identify two or three research problems
initially. A unique, innovative and current research
problem is more likely to succeed in publication,
presentation, and application. The most important
criteria for evaluating a research problem is that it
should be relevant to the practical, field and supported
by a number of recent empirical studies in the field.
3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM

Significance of problem is usually determined on three


levels i.e. field, locale and time. The impact can be
practical, in the form of direct application of the results
in the field, or conceptual, where the work advances the
field by filling a knowledge gap. The significance at
locale means to identify if the problem being chosen is
only relevant and will impact to a particular region,
country or goes beyond that. Third level is the time and
era of the research problem.
4. NOVEL SPECIFIC AND CLEAR

Your research problem should be original and unique. It should


seek to address a gap in existing knowledge or its application.
Duplication of an existing study necessitate discussion of value
elsewhere, but novelty can be found in determining if an already-
resolved problem holds in a new context. Your research problem
should be specific enough to set the direction of the study, raise
relevant research questions, and determine a suitable research
method and design. Unclear research problems may not be useful
to specify the direction of the study or develop research
questions.
5. RESEARCHABLE

Research problems are should be solved through an


empirical research method. This means research-ability,
or feasibility of the problem, is more important than all
of the above characteristics. You as a researcher should
be able to solve the problem with your abilities and
available research methods, designs, research sites,
resources, and timeframe.
SOURCES OF SELECTION OF THE PROBLEM

1. Social Problems
Within social sciences the first way to find out your
research problem is to observe and critically think about
the social phenomenon happening around and trying to
identify a researchable problem. We hear news and we
keep coming to know about current social,
psychosocial, political, educational and economic
issues.
2. PERSONAL INTEREST AND EXPERIENCE

It is not very easy to look around and think critically but


it is even more difficult to build your research problem
around your own experiences and interests. We tend to
be biased in our personal experiences and try to build
arguments around our own beliefs and values. That is
not much appreciated in the empirical research world.
3. THEORY DEDUCTION

Sometimes the social phenomenon that we identified are


already studied by some scholars of the field and they have
given a theory about it.
4. Past Researches and Literature Review
It is highly unlikely that the social problems around us may
be so unique and novel that no previous researches had been
conducted. Once we have a problem at hand we can look into
previous studies literature to find out what and how other
researchers have been exploring around this particular
problem. Sometimes the researchers only have an interest
area and they begin to study literature to identify a problem.
5. REFINING PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Another way of reaching the research problem through


literature review is when you find the previous
researches giving some conclusions and warrants that
are either outdated or not applicable to a geographical or
cultural context. In such situations replication of
previous studies for the purpose of clarification of
contradictory research results or refinement of already
known results is necessary.
REFINING AND STATING THE RESEARCH
PROBLEM
A problem statement in the social sciences should
include a starting point that may help to ensure the
reader will maintain interest over the study, a
declaration of originality that will be strengthened by
the literature review; an indication of the central focus
of the study and then an explanation of the study's
significance or the benefits to be derived from
investigating the research problem.
CONTI…

Before you write your statement of the problem you must begin
with reading. Whether you are an educator, a research student, or
both, you may want to investigate or may be assigned to
investigate a topic through a literature review. Perhaps you have a
research problem in mind and have even written a tentative
research question or two. Whether your problem or topic is
multiple intelligences, class size, or any other, a literature review
may be a worthwhile opportunity to begin to find answers to your
questions.
CONTI…
Compiling and analyzing previous research will always reveal
something to you. If you are interested in a particular topic, a
literature review may reveal simply that little or no research
exists on that topic. Let’s say you wanted to study the effects of
learning strategies on state competency test scores. You are likely
to find very little on that subject, but if you look at research
generally on the outcomes of learning strategies, you will find
quite a bit. You might further discover that while there is a lot on
learning strategies, there is little specifically on test taking. So
you see, by searching and analyzing the literature, you may
pinpoint a particular area where research is needed.

You might also like