All You Need To Know About Composing a Research Problem

Post By Admin On 24, Mar

A research problem can also be called a research question that every researcher has to set while doing his/her research project to answer. Whether you are going to write a qualitative or a quantitative research paper, the research problem is the main component of the research paper. In this article, you will read about the Research Problem definition, writing guidelines, a list of example research problems and steps for composing a research problem.

A good research paper should be narrow and specific as a research problem also improves the knowledge of the researchers about a specific problem. Before selecting the research problem, you should determine the type of study. To specify the research problem is known as the first step to conducting research.

What is a Research Problem?

Research problems are those questions formulated by researchers to answer assumptions that require investigation. But, most importantly, we need to keep in mind that not every question can become a research problem. Critical minds question everything in their surroundings, but broad questions can be difficult to study. The process of transforming assumptions or questions into a research problem is an arduous task. However, it is not impossible and requires careful drafting.

For example, if a question comes to your mind, which national park is the best? Now, this question is too broad, and it is an opinion or a value judgement. Instead, you should formulate a question that can be answered by collecting data and evidence. For example, what features do the most popular national parks have in common? Now, this question can provide the basis for your project since the common features can be analyzed by collecting evidence.

Sources of the Research Problem

Some researchers are not able to formulate the research problems for their research papers because they don’t know the sources of research problems. Some essential sources of the research problem are explained below;

1) Personal Experience:

The personal experience of a person relevant to a specific situation can become the cause of formulating the research problems. For example, if a researcher wants to formulate a research problem about domestic violence and he is observing domestic violence in society, it will be easy for him to formulate the research problem.

2) Practical Experience:

If you are doing a job relevant to your subject, you will also get lots of ideas as research problems from your practical experiences. For example, if you want to write a research paper about nursing and you are performing your duties as a clinical nurse, you can easily formulate enough research problems for your research paper.

3) Critical Appraisal of the Literature:

As we know that lots of research papers, books, and research articles are available relevant to your subject. You just need to choose the best literature relevant to your interest and try to formulate the best research problems for your research paper. When you critically read the research papers, you will get suggestions from the researcher about further research. You can also use these suggestions while formulating your research problems.

4) Consumer Feedback:

After using a specific product or service, a consumer tries to provide his feedback basis on his experience. You should note down all the feedbacks of the consumers and among these feedbacks, you can easily find out the best suggestions for your research problems.

5) Social Issues:

Lots of issues are present in society. In these issues, there come political issues, healthcare issues, domestic violence, harassment issues and much more. By focusing on these issues and by critically analyzing these issues, you can also find out the best suggestions for your research problems.

6) Consultation with Experts:

In each field, experts are present and these experts have enough knowledge relevant to their fields. You should find out experts relevant to your field and request them to help you in finding the research problems. As experts are keen observers, therefore, they can easily help you in formulating the best research problems.

Components of the Research Problem:

While formulating the research problems for your research paper, you should keep in mind that all the research questions are not research problems. Its reason is that every research problem has some components. These components of the research problem are as follow;

1.  A research problem is relevant to an individual or a group which is facing some kind of problem.
2.  A research problem has some objectives and these objectives are easily attainable.
3. This problem is existing in a specific environment.
4. There are two or more possible outcomes of a research problem.
5. There are two or more courses of action for a research problem.

Characteristics of a Research Problem:

While selecting a research problem for your research paper, you should also keep in mind some specific characteristics of the research problem. These characteristics of the research problem are as follow;

1. A research problem should be stated clearly and concisely.
2. With the help of a research problem, we can easily generate research questions.
3. A research problem should be grounded in theory.
4. The research problem should be relevant to at least one academic field of study.
5. A research problem should have a base in the research literature.
6. There should be a potential significance of the research problem.
7. You can easily research within the given time and given budget.
8. There should be sufficient data available relevant to this subject.
9. The researcher can easily apply its methodological strengths to this problem.
10. This problem should be new. It means that lots of people don’t have written their research papers on this research problem.

Tips to Select a Research Problem

1. When you are going to select a research problem, you should try to use these important tips;
2. You should not select such a subject which is overdone lots of time.
3. You should not select a controversial topic.
4. Also, you should avoid too narrow or too vague problems.
5. You should also select such a problem that is familiar and feasible among the people.
6. While selecting a problem, you should try to give importance to the significance of the subject.

Steps to Formulate a Research Problem

 

Now, it's time to formulate a research problem for your research paper. While formulating a research problem for your research paper, you will have to follow some steps. These steps are explained below;

1. First of all, you should try to develop a research problem in the form of a suitable title.
2. Secondly, you should try to build up the conceptual models of the research problems.
3. Thirdly, you should try to define the objectives of the research problems.
4. Fourthly, you should set the investigation questions for your research problems.
5. After that, you will have to formulate the hypothesis for your research problems.
6. After that, you will have to state the operational definitions of the concepts relevant to the research problems.
7. At last, you will have to state and determine the scope of the studies.

Read in detail on how to formulate a research problem.

Sample List of Research Problems:

It is a real challenge for the researchers to formulate an interesting and intriguing research problem. Its reason is that most of the researchers don’t have an idea about the research problems. Therefore, a list of the research problems is given below;

1. Are children becoming smart due to the use of the internet?
2. What are the hazards of medical marijuana?
3. What are the benefits of weight training?
4. Which are the causes of eating disorders?
5. How to investigate the authority of ADHD and ADD?
6. What is the connection between emotional stability and physical well-being?
7. How technology is declining communication among people?
8. What are the impacts of texting and cell phones on the social lives of people?
9. Which are the limitations of the media?
10. What are the controversial political ads?

How to Get Help for Composing a Research Problem?

Sometimes, there is a possibility that you are not able to find out the best and suitable research problems even by following these essential tips and techniques. Under such a situation, you will have to get help from someone else. The best way to get help for formulating the research problems is the research paper writing services.

These research paper writing services have expert writers. These expert writers have enough experience in research paper writing tasks. Moreover, they have highly qualified writers. You just need to visit these research paper writing services and contact their customer representatives. These customer representatives are available around the clock without any time limitation.

After contacting the customer representatives, you should discuss your problem and they will try to solve your problem as soon as possible. As you want to get the best research problems for your research paper, therefore, you should share your subject and area of interest with them.

Their expert writers will provide a list of the research problems relevant to your subject area. You can select one of them according to your needs and desires. Anyhow, after selecting the best research problems for your research paper, if you are not able to create unique and original content for your research paper, you can also contact them because these expert writers can also provide you with the best research paper writing help.