The Problem Statement in the Research Paper

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The Problem Statement in the Research Paper

• The problem provides the context for the research
  study and typically generates questions which the
  research hopes to answer.
• In considering whether or not to move forward
  with a research project, you will generally spend
  some time considering the problem.
• In your paper, the statement of the problem is
  the first part of the paper to be read we are
  ignoring the title and the abstract.
• The problem statement should "hook" the reader
  and establish a persuasive context for what
  follows.

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• You need to be able to clearly answer the
  question "what is the problem"? and "why is this
  problem worth my attention"? At the same time,
  the problem statement limits scope by focusing on
  some variables and not others. It also provides
  an opportunity for you to demonstrate why these
  variables are important.

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Problem Importance

• The importance of the problem should receive
  considerable and persuasive attention. Clearly
  indicate why your problem is an important one by
  answering questions such as these
• Is the problem of current interest? Is it
  topical?
• Is the problem likely to continue into the
  future?
• Will more information about the problem have
  practical application?
• Will more information about the problem have
  theoretical importance?
• How large is the population affected by the
  problem?
• How important, influential, or popular is this
  population?
• Would this study substantially revise or extend
  existing knowledge?
• Would this study create or improve an instrument
  of some utility?

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Problem Importance

• Would research findings lead to some useful
  change in best practice?
• Is there evidence or authoritative opinion from
  others to support the need for this research?
• The problem statement should persuasively
  indicate that major variables can be measured in
  some meaningful way

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Problem Statement Question

• The problem statement should close with a
  question. Typically, the question contains two
  variables, a measurable relationship, and some
  indication of population.
• The purpose of the literature search that follows
  is to answer the research problem question. If
  the literature cannot answer the question, the
  research is needed to do so.
• An example question might be "What is the
  relationship between the grade point average of
  UTK juniors and their use of the library"? The
  information needed is (1) grade point average and
  (2) some measure of library use.

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A bad example might be "What is the best way to
teach bibliographic instruction"?

• This is insufficient because
• What are the variables?
• What will be measured?
• What relationships will be examined?
• What is the population?
• The title and the problem statement question are
  often nearly identical. For example, in the good
  example above, the title of this research project
  would be something like this "Library
  Circulation Use by University of Tennessee
  Juniors and Their Grade Point Average"

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• Before you begin writing a grant proposal, take
  some time to map out your research strategy. A
  good first step is to formulate a research
  question.
• A Research Question is a statement that
  identifies the phenomenon to be studied. For
  example, What resources are helpful to new and
  minority drug abuse researchers?

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To develop a strong research question from your
ideas, you should ask yourself these things

• Do I know the field and its literature well?
• What are the important research questions in my
  field?
• What areas need further exploration?
• Could my study fill a gap? Lead to greater
  understanding?
• Has a great deal of research already been
  conducted in this topic area?
• Has this study been done before? If so, is there
  room for improvement?

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• Is the timing right for this question to be
  answered? Is it a hot topic, or is it becoming
  obsolete?
• Would funding sources be interested?
• If you are proposing a service program, is the
  target community interested?
• Most importantly, will my study have a
  significant impact on the field?

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As a generic reference, the following process can
be helpful in refining and concretizing your
ideas

• Ask yourself Why is this research important?
  What have other people done? What have they
  found?
• Based on this information, formulate a specific
  research question.
• Develop a hypothesis/hypotheses that stems from
  your research question.
• Indentify the specific aims, that is the steps
  you are going to take to test your hypothesis.

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• A strong research idea should pass the so what
  test.
• Think about the potential impact of the research
  you are proposing.
• What is the benefit of answering your research
  question?

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• Who will it help (and how)?
• If you cannot make a definitive statement about
  the purpose of your research, it is unlikely to
  be funded.

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• A research focus should be narrow, not
  broad-based. For example, What can be done to
  prevent substance abuse? is too large a question
  to answer.

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• It would be better to begin with a more focused
  question such asWhat is the relationship between
  specific early childhood experiences and
  subsequent substance-abusing behaviors?

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Research Hyphoteses

• well-thought-out and focused research question
  leads directly into your hypotheses. What
  predictions would you make about the phenomenon
  you are examining? This will be the foundation of
  your application.

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Hypotheses

• Hypotheses are more specific predictions about
  the nature and direction of the relationship
  between two variables.
• For example, Those researchers who utilize an
  online grant writing tutorial will have higher
  priority scores on their next grant application
  than those who do not.

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Hypotheses

• Strong hypotheses
• Give insight into a research question
• Are testable and measurable by the proposed
  experiments
• Spring logically from the experience of the
  staff

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Hypotheses

• Normally, no more than three primary hypotheses
  should be proposed for a research study. A
  proposal that is hypothesis-driven is more likely
  to be funded than a fishing expedition or a
  primarily descriptive study.
• Make sure you
• Provide a rationale for your hypotheseswhere did
  they come from, and why are they strong?
• Provide alternative possibilities for the
  hypotheses that could be testedwhy did you
  choose the ones you did over others?

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Hypotheses

• If you have good hypotheses, they will lead into
  your Specific Aims. Specific aims are the steps
  you are going to take to test your hypotheses and
  what you want to accomplish in the course of the
  grant period.

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Hypotheses

• Make sure
• Your objectives are measurable and highly
  focused
• Each hypothesis is matched with a specific aim.
• The aims are feasible, given the time and money
  you are requesting in the grant.

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Hypotheses can be couched in four kinds of
statements.

• Literary nulla no difference form in terms of
  theoretical constructs. For example, There is no
  relationship between support services and
  academic persistence of nontraditional-aged
  college women. Or, There is no difference in
  school achievement for high and low
  self-regulated students.

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• Operational nulla no difference form in terms
  of the operation required to test the hypothesis.
  For example, There is no relationship between
  the number of hours nontraditional-aged college
  women use the student union and their persistence
  at the college after their freshman year.

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• Or, There is no difference between the mean
  grade point averages achieved by students in the
  upper and lower quartiles of the distribution of
  the Self-regulated Inventory. The operational
  null is generally the preferred form of
  hypothesis-writing.

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• Literary alternativea form that states the
  hypothesis you will accept if the null hypothesis
  is rejected, stated in terms of theoretical
  constructs. In other words, this is usually what
  you hope the results will show. For example, The
  more that nontraditional-aged women use support
  services, the more they will persist
  academically. Or, High self-regulated students
  will achieve more in their classes than low
  self-regulated students.

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• Operational alternativeSimilar to the literary
  alternative except that the operations are
  specified. For example, The more that
  nontraditional-aged college women use the student
  union, the more they will persist at the college
  after their freshman year. Or, Students in the
  upper quartile of the Self-regulated Inventory
  distribution achieve significantly higher grade
  point averages than do students in the lower
  quartile.

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• In general, the null hypothesis is used if
  theory/literature does not suggest a hypothesized
  relationship between the variables under
  investigation the alternative is generally
  reserved for situations in which theory/research
  suggests a relationship or directional interplay.
  
• Be prepared to interpret any possible outcomes
  with respect to the questions or hypotheses. It
  will be helpful if you visualize in your mind?s
  eye the tables (or other summary devices) that
  you expect to result from your research (Guba,
  1961).

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• Questions and hypotheses are testable
  propositions deduced and directly derived from
  theory (except in grounded theory studies and
  similar types of qualitative inquiry).

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• Make a clear and careful distinction between the
  dependent and independent variables and be
  certain they are clear to the reader. Be
  excruciatingly consistent in your use of terms.
  If appropriate, use the same pattern of wording
  and word order in all hypotheses.

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Questions and/or Hypotheses

• Questions are relevant to normative or census
  type research (How many of them are there? Is
  there a relationship between them?). They are
  most often used in qualitative inquiry, although
  their use in quantitative inquiry is becoming
  more prominent.

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• Hypotheses are relevant to theoretical research
  and are typically used only in quantitative
  inquiry. When a writer states hypotheses, the
  reader is entitled to have an exposition of the
  theory that lead to them (and of the assumptions
  underlying the theory). Just as conclusions must
  be grounded in the data, hypotheses must be
  grounded in the theoretical framework.

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• A research question poses a relationship between
  two or more variables but phrases the
  relationship as a question a hypothesis
  represents a declarative statement of the
  relations between two or more variables
  (Kerlinger, 1979 Krathwohl, 1988).

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• Deciding whether to use questions or hypotheses
  depends on factors such as the purpose of the
  study, the nature of the design and methodology,
  and the audience of the research (at times even
  the taste and preference of committee members,
  particularly the Chair).

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• The practice of using hypotheses was derived from
  using the scientific method in social science
  inquiry. They have philosophical advantages in
  statistical testing, as researchers should be and
  tend to be conservative and cautious in their
  statements of conclusions (Armstrong, 1974).

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