MY ICT WORKSHOP PRODUCTS

 LEARNING OUTCOMES

• To understand the concept of Research Problem

• To know about the different steps of Problem Formulation 

• To identify different Sources of Research Problem     

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Problem Formulation and Sources of Research Problem

  Formulation of a research problem means to state the problem in a way that is researchable. It means to shape the research topic in a manner that it becomes ready for scientific investigation.

Research Problem

  It is a statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question about that exists in scholarly literature, in theory or in practices that points to the need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation. A research problem does not state how to do something, offer a vague or broad proposition or present a value question. A research problem is a specific issue or gap in existing knowledge that we aim to address in our research. We may choose to look for practical problems aimed at contributing to change, or theoretical problems aimed at expanding knowledge. Some research will do both of these things, but usually the research problem focuses on one or the other.

 Purpose of Research Problem

  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 hypothesis to follow. Places the problem into a particular context that defines the parameters of what is to be investigated. 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. 

Identification of 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 to formulate. 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.

Characteristics of Research Problem

• Reflecting on important issues or needs 

• Basing on factual evidence 

• Being manageable and relevant 

• Suggesting a testable and meaningful hypothesis 

Steps in Formulating a Research Problem

  Following are the steps,

1. Identify Broad Field

• Identify broad field is a great ideas to thinking about the subject area of your interest 

• You should identify the field in which you would like to work a long time

• It will help you tremendously to get an interesting research topic

2. Dissect the Sub-areas

• In this stage, researcher need to dissect and specify his/her research broad study area into some subareas

3. Select Interested Sub-Area

• Impossible to study all subareas. That’s why we must identify our area of interest. 

• We should select issues in which you are passionate about.

• Interest must be the most important determinan.t

• Once we select our study of interest, we should delete other subareas in which you do not feel interested.

• Keep in mind that if we lose our interest in our research study it won’t bring any results eventually.

4. Raise Research Questions

• In this step, we should point out our research questions under the area of interest as we decided in the previous stage

5. Formulate Objective

• Set out conspicuously our research root objectives and sub-objectives. Research objectives essentially come from research questions. 

6. Assess Objective

• We should evaluate our objectives to make sure the possibility of attaining them through your research study.

• Assess our objectives in terms of time budget, resources, and technical expertise at our hand

• We should also assess our research questions in light of reality

• Determine what outcome will bring our study. If we can accurately the purpose of the research study it will bring significant results in the long run.

• In fact, research objectives determine the value of the study we are going to work out.

7. Double Check

• Before we go on research work we should review all steps in formulating a research problem and all the things that we have done till now for the purpose of our research study.

• Numerous studies have demonstrated the ability of independent double checks to detect up to 95% of errors. Based on this, an error rate of 10% can be reduced to 0.5% by introducing an independent double-check process.

Figure 1

  The following figure shows the steps in formulating Research problem

 

 

Sources of Research Problem

  The Sources of research problem is the situation that causes the researcher to feel apprehensive, confused and ill at ease. It is the demarcation of a problem area within a certain context involving the WHO or WHAT, the WHERE, the WHEN and the WHY of the problem situation. The Researcher is problem blind. It means that although there are so many problems around him/her but she/he is unable to see.

Figure 2

  The following figure shows the different sources of Research Problem

    

Table 1

  The following table shows some of the research problem

Sources                                       Purpose

Personal Experience - Day to day personal experience

Seminar/Conference -  Rich in ideas and covers all the areas.

Informal Sources -  Informal sources are not a good              (Newspaper, TV, Radio)

Consultation with - Significant problem to be studied and help Experts

Existing Theories        -  Theory development and testing

Practical Experience  - Get ideas from our own experience

Social Issues                - global, contemporary, social or political issues

Reference

  https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/research-problem

  https://www.slideshare.net/BhagwatRaut/sources-of-research-problem