Identifying a Research Problem
Selecting resources • Summarizing resources
Specifying a Purpose for Research • Identifying the purpose statement •
Narrowing the purpose statement to research questions or hypotheses You begin a
research study by identifying a topic to study—typically an issue or problem in
education that needs to be resolved. Identifying a research problem consists of
specifying an issue to study, developing a justification for studying it, and
suggesting the importance of the study for select audiences that will read the
report. By specifying a “problem,” you limit the subject matter and focus
attention on a specifi c aspect of study. Consider the following “problems,”
each of which merits research:
(i) Teens are not learning how to
connect to others in their communities
(ii) Teenage
smoking will lead to many premature deaths
These needs,
issues, or controversies arise out of an educational need expressed by
teachers, schools, policy makers, or researchers, and we refer to them as
research problems. You will state them in introductory sections of a research
report and provide a rationale for their importance. In a formal sense, these
problems are part of a larger writ ten section called the “statement of the
problem,” and this section includes the topic, the problem, a justification for
the problem, and the importance of studying it for specifi c audiences such as
teachers, administrators, or researchers.
Let’s examine Maria’s research to see how she
will specify her study’s research problem.
Maria plans
to study school violence and weapon possession in schools. She starts with a
problem: escalating weapon possession among students in high schools. She needs
to justify the problem by providing evidence about the importance of this
problem and documenting how her study will provide new insight into the
problem.
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