Components of Research

Chapter 1

Problem Statement

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 Selecting Research Problem*
Criteria
I INTERNAL
1. Researcher’s interest
2. Researcher’s competence
3. Researcher’s own resources, i.e., finance,
Sources
time,etc.
II EXTERNAL 1. Reading
1. Researchability, i.e., amenability (problems 2. Academic
having solutions) experience
2. Importance and Urgency, i.e., relative 3. Daily experience
importance & significance of problem (utility 4. Exposure to field
of findings) situations
3. Novelty or originality 5. Consultations
4. Feasibility 6. Brainstorming
- Availability of data
7. Research
- Suitable methodology
- Co-operation of organisations & individuals
8. Intuition
- Available time
5. Facilities/ infrastructure * Here ‘problem’ is
6. Usefulness and social relevance not ‘trouble’.
7. Research personnel Tina Zainal 2
Have you started to carry out preliminary research?
Begin to identify, access and consult some bibliographical resources. By doing
preliminary research you will start reviewing the existing literature on your topic
and related themes. Try to make a brief note of your findings.

By immersing yourself in the material, you start recognising terminology and

authors that regularly appear, and discovering arguments related to your topic.

You will begin to discover what your topic is all about and to identify different
paths for future exploration as well as recognizing issues which are over-
researched.

Draw up an initial plan for your literature review. This saves time later. Consult
your potential future supervisor for key texts.

What texts and key journals in your area have you read to get an overview of your
topic? Have you identified the words and phrases that best describe your topic?
Concepts and terms (and their meanings)?
FINALLY
What are the significant names associated with your topic?
Which are the important dates and events related to your topic?
Which are the related subjects that might be used when searching for articles and
books?
Have you found too much or too little on an important aspect of your topic? How
will you deal with this? Tina Zainal 3
A good first step is to formulate or ask questions about
the TOPIC.
“What resources are helpful to new and minority drug abuse researchers?”
(To develop a strong research question from your ideas, you should
ask yourself these things☺) :

1. Do I know the field and its literature well?

2. What are the important research questions in my field?
3. What areas need further exploration?
4. Could my study fill a gap? Lead to greater understanding?
5. Has a great deal of research already been conducted in this
topic area?
6. Has this study been done before? If so, is there room for
improvement?
7. Is the timing right for this question to be answered? Is it a hot
topic, or is it becoming obsolete?
8. Would funding sources be interested?
9. If you are proposing a service program, is the target community
interested?
10. Most importantly, will my study have a significant impact on the
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field?
Selection of Research Problem – Dos & Don’ts

1. Research problems cannot be borrowed; researcher has to find his own

problem

2. Guide can only help to choose a subject / topic

3. Right question must be addressed; Having a topic to read about is

different from having a problem to solve. This leads to aimless and
endless gathering of data and no way of knowing when we have enough.
Further, this leads to a struggle to decide what to include in report.

4. Have unbiased & unattached approach; Be objective

5. Be uncommitted (i.e., hanging loose) before selection

6. Have more than one problem to ponder, i.e., keep alternatives

7. Never settle initially itself on a particular approach

8. Interact with experts & practitioners

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9. Avoid superficial & obvious problems
Selection of Research Problem – Dos & Don’ts contd…
10. Avoid overdone subjects & controversial subjects

11. Avoid too narrow or too vague problems (Avoid the risk of
settling on a broad topic with 4 or 5 words)

12.Have a preliminary study (quick) and / or a brief feasibility study (examine

methodology, etc.)

13. Problems should suit your interest, competence & ability

14. Identify gaps through literature survey

15. Check availability of required data and co-operation of people concerned

16. Problem should be novel, significant and useful to practitioners; utility of

the expected findings should be judged

18. Make preliminary outlines, disagree with what is read, draw diagrams to
connect disparate facts, summarize sources, record random thoughts.
Start writing at the very beginning as you go to encourage critical
thinking, to understand sources better and draft more effectively
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 How to tackle the problem?

Questions to be asked when

an idea is born More questions while formulating
problem
1. Is the idea viable ?
The originating question - What
2. Is it practicable ? one wants to know
3. The time factor ?
4. Has it been done before ? The rationale – Why
5. What result is expected ?
6. What do colleagues think ? The specifying the
7. Will a statistician be needed ? question – Possible answers to the
8. What will you personally do ? originating question
(individual’s role in the study)

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????

Still can’t clearly formulate?

Begin early thinking to save time and later panic.

Ask for help: Discuss with others, but then not restrict or
limit your research; Examine whether a smaller part of
bigger part be selected
Look for problems as you read: Gap, error,
misunderstanding, contradictions, inconsistencies,
incomplete explanations; Do more than just pointing out
Look for the problem that your claim solves; work
backward to formulate a better, more interesting
problem than the one that is started
Tip: Most common way research problem is discovered
is by disagreeing with sources; There are standard
contradictions (Booth, 2003)

.
Booth, Wayne C, et. al. The craft of research. 2 ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003
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In order to understand the problem or
need, first we need to know what the ideal
situation would look like.
Think for a moment, if your problem or
need did NOT exist, what would the
situation be like
Describe this for the reader

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TOPIC 1
In order for students to make healthy dietary choices,
parents, the primary educators and providers of food
items, need to have knowledge of the importance of
quality nutritional food and healthy food choices.

TOPIC 2
The mission of the organization is to promote the
appropriate use of technology to assist all students and
staff so that they can become more independent, self-
confident, and productive learners.

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Obviously the current situation is not ideal.
Now that you have defined the ideal for
the reader, you can let them know what
the problem or need is.
Describe the current situation. Remember
as a researcher you are dispassionate
and non-judgmental. Stick to the facts
about the current situation.
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TOPIC 1
Asian children are overweight and the incidence of chronic
illness is higher than at any time in our nation’s history. While,
parents have abundant information at their fingertips,
students’ lack of knowledge of quality, nutritional food choices
is at an all time low.

TOPIC 2
The computer applications class and technology class are the
only classrooms with their own computer technology. All
other classes are required to share one computer lab of thirty
computers and sixty mobile laptop computers for a student
population of over 1,100.

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Your reader now knows what the ideal
situation would be, and how the current
situation is different from the ideal.
Explain the consequences of not
correcting this situation. If you did not
undertake this research and the situation
remained uncorrected, what would be the
negative results?
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TOPIC 1
When parents, and in turn students, continue to
make unhealthy food choices because of their
lack of knowledge an “undue burden of poor
health” continues to be placed on the next
generation (Weston Price Foundation, 2007, ¶ 6).

TOPIC 2
The current situation, of limited technological
resources, causes a roadblock to classroom
projects and student learning opportunities.

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The reader now understands what the
ideal would be, why the current situation
is not ideal, and the consequences of not
correcting the current situation.
All that is left is to explain the solution you
propose to test and how it will help correct
the current situation.

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TOPIC 1
In order to determine the nutritional knowledge/lack of nutritional
knowledge of parents and students enrolled in BlahBlah Virtual
Academy, a ‘pre-test’ survey will be administered to both parents
and students. Upon completion of a series of monthly ‘nutrition
workshops’ via ClassConnect (a virtual classroom) a ‘post-test’ will
be administered to those that participated in the workshop.

TOPIC 2
One solution would be to supply students with laptop computers for
use in the classroom. This would allow flexibility of instruction and
curriculum, allowing for an e-Learning environment.

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You have four statements to make in this
problem statement but they should NOT be
labeled statement 1, statement 2; or Ideal
Situation, Current Situation.
The problem statement should be in paragraph
form with the ideas flowing from one phase to
the next seamlessly.
Examples used on previous slides are shown as
full problem statements in the slides which
follow.

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 TOPIC 1 – FULL EXAMPLE

In order for students to make healthy dietary choices, parents, the primary
educators and providers of food items, need to have knowledge of the
importance of quality nutritional food and healthy food choices. Children are
more overweight and the incidence of chronic illness is higher than at any time
in our nation’s history. While, parents have abundant information at their
fingertips, students’ lack of knowledge of quality, nutritional food choices is at
an all time low. When parents, and in turn students, continue to make unhealthy
food choices because of their lack of knowledge an “undue burden of poor
health” continues to be placed on the next generation (Weston Price
Foundation, 2007, ¶ 6). In order to determine the nutritional knowledge/lack of
nutritional knowledge of parents and students enrolled in “BlahBlah” Virtual
Academy, a ‘pre-test’ survey will be administered to both parents and students.
Upon completion of a series of monthly ‘nutrition workshops’ via Class Connect
(a virtual classroom) a ‘post-test’ will be administered to those that participated
in the workshop.

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 TOPIC 1 – FULL EXAMPLE

The mission of the organization is to promote the appropriate

use of technology to assist all students and staff so that they can
become more independent, self-confident, and productive
learners. The computer applications class and technology class
are the only classrooms with their own computer technology. All
other classes are required to share one computer lab of thirty
computers and sixty mobile laptop computers for a student
population of over 1,100. The current situation, of limited
technological resources, causes a roadblock to classroom
projects and student learning opportunities. One solution would
be to supply students with their own laptop computers for use in
the classroom. This would allow flexibility of instruction and
curriculum, allowing for an e Learning environment.
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 All examples are used with the permission
of former students. Names and locations
have been removed.
The following reference is listed in one of
the examples.
Weston A Price Foundation (2007),
Children's Health. Retrieved October 17,
2007 from
http://westonaprice.org/children/index.html
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SYMPTOMS OR PROBLEMS ????

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Symptoms or Problems ?
Twenty-year-old neighborhood swimming
association:
• Membership has been declining for years.
• New water park -residents prefer the
expensive water park????
• Demographic changes: Children have
grown up
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 Problem Definition
Organization Symptoms Based on Symptom True Problem

Twenty-year- Membership has Neighborhood Demographic changes:

old been declining for residents prefer the Children in this 20-
neighborhood years. New water expensive water year-old
swimming park with wave pool park and have neighborhood have
association in a and water slides negative image of grown up. Older
major city. moved into town a swimming pool. residents no longer
few years ago. swim anywhere.

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 Symptom Potential Issues Research Questions
Low customer Sales rep territories are What factors influence customer
service ratings too large? Training is service ratings?
inadequate
Stock-outs are Shelf space increases What is the relationship between shelf
higher than have lowered retail space and retail sales?
last year inventories?
Sales are lower Forecasting techniques What variables are the best predictors
than expected are inadequate? of sales?
Churn-rate is Wireless coverage is What factors are related to churn
highest in the poor? Prices are too rate?
market high? Service
provider employees
are unfriendly?
Labour costs Employee sick days are Do flexible schedules create
are higher too high? Productivity increased labor efficiency (lower
than the is low? labour costs)?
competition’s

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