Writing Your Problem Statement

Summarized by Dr. Kay Lehmann © Kay Lehmann 8/8/2009 Use the scroll bar to move through the show.

In order for the reader to understand the problem or need, they first need to know what the ideal situation would look like.

Think for a moment, if your problem or need did NOT exist, what would the situation be like

In an ideal setting, a student's grade in a course should be a judgment of the student's knowledge in that subject area.

In order for students to make healthy dietary choices, parents, the primary educators and providers of food items, need to have knowledge of the importance of quality nutritional food and healthy food choices.

The mission of the organization is to promote the appropriate use of technology to assist all students and staff so that they can become more independent, self-confident, and productive learners.

Obviously the current situation is not ideal. Now that you have defined the ideal for the reader, you can let them know what the problem or need is.

Describe the current situation. Remember as a researcher you are dispassionate and non-judgmental. Stick to the facts about the current situation.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many teachers use grading systems that do not reflect the student's knowledge of the topic at the end of the course. A student is often offered a single assessment event to show their mastery of a concept.

American children are more overweight and the incidence of chronic illness is higher than at any time in our nation’s history. While, parents have abundant information at their fingertips, students’ lack of knowledge of quality, nutritional food choices is at an all time low.

The computer applications class and technology class are the only classrooms with their own computer technology. All other classes are required to share one computer lab of thirty computers and sixty mobile laptop computers for a student population of over 1,100.

Your reader now knows what the ideal situation would be, and how the current situation is different from the ideal.

Explain the consequences of not correcting this situation. If you did not undertake this research and the situation remained uncorrected, what would be the negative results?

If the student has not mastered the material in the allotted time, they will receive a negative grade for that unit of information. This is not an accurate view of the student’s knowledge, because they may learn more about a topic throughout the rest of the course.

When parents, and in turn students, continue to make unhealthy food choices because of their lack of knowledge an “undue burden of poor health” continues to be placed on the next generation (Weston Price Foundation, 2007, ¶ 6).

The current situation, of limited technological resources, causes a roadblock to classroom projects and student learning opportunities.

The reader now understands what the ideal would be, why the current situation is not ideal, and the consequences of not correcting the current situation.

All that is left is to explain the solution you propose to test and how it will help correct the current situation.

Retesting is a method where a student is allowed to test on a topic more than one time. As the course progresses, the student may learn the material. Retesting allows this student to show mastery of the material if they learn it after the original test. By incorporating a retest policy, the ideal situation should occur. The grade awarded to the student at the end of the semester would be an accurate assessment of the student’s knowledge of the topic.

In order to determine the nutritional knowledge/lack of nutritional knowledge of parents and students enrolled in BlahBlah Virtual Academy, a ‘pre-test’ survey will be administered to both parents and students. Upon completion of a series of monthly ‘nutrition workshops’ via ClassConnect (a virtual classroom) a ‘post-test’ will be administered to those that participated in the workshop.

One solution would be to supply students with their own laptop computers for use in the classroom. This would allow flexibility of instruction and curriculum, allowing for an eLearning environment.

You have four statements to make in this problem statement but they should NOT be labeled statement 1, statement 2; or Ideal Situation, Current Situation.

The problem statement should be in paragraph form with the ideas flowing from one phase to the next seamlessly.

Examples used on previous slides are shown as full problem statements in the slides which follow.

In an ideal setting, a student's grade in a course should be a judgment of the student's knowledge in that subject area. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many teachers use grading systems that do not reflect the student's knowledge of the topic at the end of the course. A student is often offered a single assessment event to show their mastery of a concept. If the student has not mastered the material in the allotted time, they will receive a negative grade for that unit of information. This is not an accurate view of the student’s knowledge, because they may learn more about a topic throughout the rest of the course. Retesting is a method where a student is allowed to test on a topic more than one time. As the course progresses, the student may learn the material. Retesting allows this student to show mastery of the material if they learn it after the original test. By incorporating a retest policy, the ideal situation should occur. The grade awarded to the student at the end of the semester would be an accurate assessment of the student’s knowledge of the topic.

In order for students to make healthy dietary choices, parents, the primary educators and providers of food items, need to have knowledge of the importance of quality nutritional food and healthy food choices. American children are more overweight and the incidence of chronic illness is higher than at any time in our nation’s history. While, parents have abundant information at their fingertips, students’ lack of knowledge of quality, nutritional food choices is at an all time low. When parents, and in turn students, continue to make unhealthy food choices because of their lack of knowledge an “undue burden of poor health” continues to be placed on the next generation (Weston Price Foundation, 2007, ¶ 6). In order to determine the nutritional knowledge/lack of nutritional knowledge of parents and students enrolled in BlahBlah Virtual Academy, a ‘pre-test’ survey will be administered to both parents and students. Upon completion of a series of monthly ‘nutrition workshops’ via ClassConnect (a virtual classroom) a ‘post-test’ will be administered to those that participated in the workshop.

The mission of the organization is to promote the appropriate use of technology to assist all students and staff so that they can become more independent, self-confident, and productive learners. The computer applications class and technology class are the only classrooms with their own computer technology. All other classes are required to share one computer lab of thirty computers and sixty mobile laptop computers for a student population of over 1,100. The current situation, of limited technological resources, causes a roadblock to classroom projects and student learning opportunities. One solution would be to supply students with their own laptop computers for use in the classroom. This would allow flexibility of instruction and curriculum, allowing for an eLearning environment.