Research involves a number of activities.
- The first step is to identify a problem statement. This should be clear, concise, and accurate; it should also include the question that you want to answer.
- The second step is to define the scope of your research. This means defining the limits of your study, including the population you are studying and any other relevant limits. For example, if you are conducting a survey, you need to make sure that you are only surveying people who live in your area.
- The third step is to design the research. This involves planning out how you will collect data, analyze results, and write up your findings. It also involves choosing the appropriate method(s) for collecting data and deciding whether or not to use an experiment or observational study. These decisions can be based on a variety of factors, such as cost, time, amount of participants required for the study, feasibility, ethics considerations, etc.
- The fourth step is to conduct the research. This involves actually collecting data and analyzing it once it has been collected. You will also need to write up your findings in a report or article that includes all relevant information.
A problem statement is the thesis’s introductory sentence that states the thesis’s overall purpose. It should be focused, concise, and unambiguous. While it can be a topic sentence (as in the case of a book review), it doesn’t have to be.
It should encapsulate the main argument or insight of your thesis and, ideally, be able to stand on its own. It should also capture the reader’s attention by opening with an interesting hook or strong statement of purpose.
The problem statement sets a clear goal for your research, which will guide your writing process and keep you focused on what matters most: presenting your findings in an engaging manner.
Arriving at the Problem
The foremost concern of any researcher’s quest is to find and delineate exactly what the researcher wants to solve and the questions he or she should answer to arrive at a solution. In other words, the research problem provides for a concern or a gap in the existing body of knowledge that brings out intriguing questions and is pertinent enough to be investigated in order to find a solution or address the problem, hence, it is the primary reason why you are pursuing the research.
- Cause and effect: The research problem should consist of a cause and an effect. The statement could describe a loss or a missed opportunity and indicate a cause for the loss and the missed opportunity. The problem statement should describe the cause of the problem and the effect that has been caused. This means it should contextualize the reason why the problem exists in the first place and the researcher should opt for the reason that seems the most likely or compelling and how this particular cause affects the environment of study. The researcher should be aware of the various causes that might produce the same effect which is why an astute reference to research literature is necessary to focus on the right relationship between that cause and the effect.
- Guidelines: The problem statement selection should be guided by some essential aspects – the research problem should be something that the researcher is interested in and it should be possible to be efficiently and effectively pursued. The problem you have undertaken could have an earlier setting, in which case you should ensure that it either rectifies an issue in the earlier problem or brings out a new aspect of the problem unexplored hitherto.
- What it should do: The problem statement should be able to address a gap in knowledge and while addressing the gap should contribute to the existing body of knowledge. The problem statement should be able to provide scope for future research and can be of utility to policy formulation in your domain of study, this will pique interest in your research. The research problem should also ensure that data is available on the matter that it concerts and is promptly available or accessible. The problem should address ethical issues that could arise in its study and how your research will redress the concerns in pursuit of the problem.
Evolving and solidifying of the problem
The statement of the problem briefly addresses the question – “What is the problem that the research will address”?”
How the researcher should evolve it – the problem statement should be molded into a concise sentence(s) that is a targeted and well-defined statement which can be easily understood and explored with understanding of its significance to what is being studied. It should practically provide the reader with a clear purpose if the research you are pursuing.
- Contextualize the problem: The problem should be formulated with a clear, concise and insightful background of the problem dealing with answers to questions like how the problem has been created (cause), what is the effect of the problem (effect) and has there been any practical approach to solving the problem earlier, if so detail the extent of its success and how it can be improved.
- The definition of the problem: The problem should effectively be described in a few lines, in a manner that the reader can understand the problem by reading the statement.
- Relevance of the problem or why it should be addressed: This part of the problem statement should clarify the research into this problem is a necessary to the study domain of your research – the researcher should be aware that it is not necessary that the problem you are trying to research is ground-breaking or going to herald in an unfounded exploration into a topic in your field, what is more important is that it is practical, valid, feasible and relevant to your field of research.
- The problem statement should also be able to address the problem and should delve into an intro to methodology and how you plan to pursue the problem in your thesis. The research objectives are further elaborated from this which presents how you will achieve this.
