Chapter 2

CHAPTER-2
REASEARCH
FORMULATION OF RESEARCH
PROBLEMS AND STEPS OF METHEDOLOGY
RESEARCH
Key concepts:
• Formulation of Research Problem

• Components of Research problem
• Factors of problem identification
• Nature of the problem
• Sources of identifying research problem
• Process of formulation of research problem
• Criteria for a good research problems
• Problem of research in India
• Linking research to practice
• Steps of research
• Research ethics
• Performance monitoring in research
Formulation Of Research Problem
• What makes a good research problem?

– Research Questions for Theory Development
– Research Questions for Practical Application
• Turning research problems into testable hypotheses

Defining Research Problems
• What is a problem?
– “an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What relation

exists between two or more concepts?”
– A problem can be restated in one or more ways to produce testable

hypothesis.
– A good research problem often produces more than one testable

hypothesis.
Characteristics of good research problems
• Should state the concepts or variables to be related clearly and

unambiguously
• Should be testable
• Should be feasible, given resources

Three Specific Criteria for a Research Problem
• What are we going to learn as the result of the proposed project that we
do not know now?
• Why is it worth knowing?
• How will we know that the conclusions are valid?

The Research Question
• Common mistakes in defining research questions
– Very broad area of interest

– Too narrow
– Cannot be measured
– Problem is trivial or already understood
So, what is a good research problem statement?
• The research problem is to investigate the presumed effect of A, B and C

on X and Y in (population).
Justifying Research Problems
• Explain what is not known about the problem.
• Why does the problem matter?
• Provide documentation that this is actually a problem.

– Available statistics?
– Available literature shows that this is a needed area of inquiry?
What is not a Justification?
• No one has looked at it before.
• Literature has failed to address the issue.
• You think its interesting.

– If it is ‘interesting’ then there is probably a justification buried in
there, but you have to spell it out.
Sources of Identifying Research Problem
• Researcher’s Own Interest
• Contemporary Interests of the Researcher
• Identifying Unexplored Areas

Researcher’s Own Interest:
• Researcher(s) with different values tend to choose different topics for
investigation.
• It is always advisable and better to select the problem based on the own
interest of the researcher itself.
• A researcher may select a problem for research from a given situation or
circumstances or existing theory as per his/her area of interest.
Contemporary Interest of the Researcher:
• In the busy world, a researcher may come across various problems which
require a specific study.
• Beside personal interest, social and or business environmental conditions
do often shape the preference of investigators in order to identify
research problem (s).
• Since societies and/or business environments differ in respect of the
premium they place on the work in different fields, hence, these
differences affect the choice of research topics.
Gap in the Existing Theories:
• Analyzing the existing gap in the available theories or principles in
literatures.
• Irrespective of rapid expansion of communication, there still exists gap
between what is known and what is unknown.
• This identification of gap between the two is the task of the researcher
while selecting a research problem.
Linking Research to Practice
• Researchers must pay greater attention to the production of their

research findings in a flexible range of formats in recognition of the varied
needs of readers.
• Research is about both generation and enunciation of findings.
• An enunciate policy is the expression of a research institution’s mission
and values to its staff members and to the public.
• It establishes a common vision and the values and measures that can be
engaged to achieve accessibility to information content.
Steps of Research
1. Identification of the research problem.

2. Scan the existing environment
3. Fix the objectives/alternatives of study
4. Scan the existing literature
5. Formulate the hypothesis
6. Develop the research plan
7. Planning of sampling design
8. Collect the required information
9. Tabulation and execution of data
10. Testing the hypothesis
11. Finding the relevance
12. Preparation of the report or if necessary, calling public opinion and
13. Presentation of the results and findings
Research Ethics
• Research ethics refers to a complex set of values, standards and

institutional schemes that help to constitute and regulate scientific
activity.
• Ultimately, research ethics is a codification of ethics of scientific research.
• It is based on general ethics of scientific research, just as general ethics is
based on commonsense and morality.
• Research must be regulated by ethical standards and values, at least
where there is disagreement about which ethical standards apply?
• Views about what is ethical are not entirely clear in some fields.
• Confusion and conflicts can arise.
• In such cases, the research community bears a special responsibility for
helping to clarify ethical problems.
Performance Monitoring in Research
• The research results can be used in monitoring the performance of
researchers, their institutions and disciplines.
• One way of achieving this objective is through organization of publications
in bibliographies to guide colleagues and interested personnel in tracking
and matching new publications.
Bibliographies versus Citation Index:
• Bibliographies in the research work are usually consisting of lists of
publications used in the study as well as it also provide some information
about the authors.
• Assessment of the preference of a research work with the help of
bibliographies cannot be treated as a standard measure of preference
appraisal of a research work.
• In this connection, Nwagwn has suggested an index called as Citation
Indexes (CI).
• A CI is a structured list of references in a given collection of documents,
containing information about the use and even quality of the publications,
in addition to having all the attributes of a bibliography.
• This infrastructure is already at their advanced stages of development and
use sophistication in many developed countries, and their application to
assess the preference is universalized.
Processes:
• To provide information on research already performed in order to support

ongoing research, because researchers often want to build on what has
been done
• To provide information to the scientific community for the management
of science.
• To provide information on the evolution of scientific knowledge
Conclusion:
• A researcher before going to research in any field of knowledge should
go thoroughly into the various steps/ process of research and has to
design his research work.
• This may act as a guideline in the research process.
• All research disciplines are subject to some research ethics and
obligations, i.e., requirements for interesting and relevant research
issues, verifiable documentation, impartial discussion of conflicting
opinions, and insight into one’s own fallibility.

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CHAPTER-2

• Formulation of Research Problem

• What makes a good research problem?

• Turning research problems into testable hypotheses

– “an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What relation

– A problem can be restated in one or more ways to produce testable

– A good research problem often produces more than one testable

• Should state the concepts or variables to be related clearly and

• Should be feasible, given resources

• Why is it worth knowing?

• How will we know that the conclusions are valid?

• Common mistakes in defining research questions

– Very broad area of interest

• The research problem is to investigate the presumed effect of A, B and C

• Explain what is not known about the problem.

• Why does the problem matter?

• Provide documentation that this is actually a problem.

• Literature has failed to address the issue.

• You think its interesting.

• Researcher’s Own Interest

• Contemporary Interests of the Researcher

• Identifying Unexplored Areas

• Researchers must pay greater attention to the production of their

1. Identification of the research problem.

• Research ethics refers to a complex set of values, standards and

• To provide information on research already performed in order to support

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