The document discusses formulating a research problem. It states that a research problem is a question that a researcher wants to answer, and depends on factors like their knowledge and interests. The formulation of a research problem is the first and most important step of the research process, as it forms the foundation for the rest of the study. Sources of research problems include people, existing problems, programs, and phenomena in the world. When selecting a research problem, researchers must consider factors like their level of interest, the scope of the problem, their ability to measure concepts, and ethical issues involved.

1. R E S E A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y
LECTURE # 4:
“Formulating a Research Problem”
by Muhammad Salman Jamil

2. The Research Problem
 A research problem is a statement about:
 Area of concern,
 A condition to be improved
 A difficulty to be eliminated,
 A troubling question that exists in scholarly literature
 In simple words, a research problem is a question that a
researcher wants to answer.
 Research problem depends on several factors such as:
 Researcher’s knowledge
 Skills or Interest
 Expertise or motivation
 Creativity with respect to the subject of inquiry.
 It is believed that most of the good research studies
need lots of time for selection of a research problem.
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3. The importance of Research Problem
 The formulation of a research problem is the first and most
important step of the research process.
 It is like the identification of a destination before undertaking a
journey.
 A research problem is like the foundation of a building. The type
and design of the building are dependent upon the foundation.
 A famous saying about computers, ‘garbage in, garbage out’, is
equally applicable to a research problem.
 The formulation of research problem is combination of type of
Study design, type of sampling strategy, type of research
instrument & type of analysis that can be undertaken.
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4. Sources of Research Problem
 “Potential research questions may occur to us on a
regular basis, but the process of formulating them in a
meaningful way is not at all an easy task” (Twoomey,
1985).
 As a newcomer it might seem easy to formulate a
problem but it requires considerable knowledge of both
the subject area and research methodology. Once you
examine a question more closely you will soon realize
the complexity of formulating an idea into a problem
which is researchable.
 There are numerous sources from which we extract
information such as
 People
 Problems
 Programme
 Phenomena 4

5. Aspects of Research Problem
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Aspect About Study
Study
Population
People Individual,
Organization, Group,
Community
They provide you
with the required
information or
you collect
information from
or about them
Subject Area Problem
Programme
Phenomeno
n
Issues, situations,
associations, needs,
population,
composition, profile etc
Contents, Structure,
Outcomes, Attributes,
satisfaction,
Consumers, Providers
Cause & Effect,
Relationships, The
study of Phenomenon
itself etc.
The information
that you need to
collect to find
answers of your
service research
question

6.  Every research study has two aspects: the people
provide you with the ‘study population’, whereas the
other three Ps furnish the ‘subject areas’.
 There is need of proper examination of 4Ps related to issues
associated with these categories
 There are lots of problem arises on which problem needs to
identify such as disease, drug rehabilitation, an
immunization programme, the effectiveness of a treatment,
the extent of consumers or customer satisfaction are
examples of these categories.
 The 4Ps is applicable in both categories of research i.e.
Qualitative or Quantitative.
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Discussion about 4 P’s

7. 4P’s in Qualitative &
Quantitative
 The concept of 4Ps is applicable to both quantitative and
qualitative research though the main difference at this
stage is the extent of their specificity, dissection, precision
and focus.
 In qualitative research these attributes are deliberately
kept very loose so that you can explore more as you go
along, in case you find something of relevance.
Prepared By: Muhammad Salman
Jamil 7

8. Consideration in selection of
Research Problem
 When selecting a research problem for your study, there
are a few factors which researcher needs to consider.
 These factors will ensure that your research process is
more manageable and you will remain motivated.
 The selection considerations & factors are mentioned
below:
 Interest
 Magnitude
 Measurement of Concept
 Level of Expertise
 Relevance
 Ability of Data
 Ethical Issues
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9.  Interest: The most important criterion in selecting a
research problem because it’s time consuming &
hardworking. If the level of interest is not there then its
difficult to keep up the motivation to continue.
 Magnitude: A magnitude plays an important role in
conducting research especially in descriptive study.
Selecting the write magnitude & narrowing down the
topic makes work more manageable, specific and clear.
It also plays an important role in managing within the
time limits along with available resources.
 Measurement of Concept: It is imperative in
Quantitative studies to clear about concepts’ indicators
and their measurement. that you are reasonably clear
about the concepts at every stage.
For Example: Health promotion programme, it require
effectiveness and how it will be measured.
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10.  Level of Expertise: The need of expertise is really
important for problem selection, it highlights the area in
which effort is utilized. There is a role of research
supervisors is to help in defining the direction of research
correctly but remember that you need to do most of the
work yourself.
 Relevance: After interest, the relevance is really
important for researchable projects. It motivates the
researcher that the research will add to existing body of
knowledge.
 Ability of Data: If your research title needs collection of
information (journal, reports, proceedings) before
finalizing the title, you need to make sure you have these
materials available and in the relevant format.
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11.  Ethical Issues: There is involvement of ethical
issues for research problem. Another important
consideration in formulating a research problem is
the ethical issues involved. How ethical issues can
affect the study population and how ethical
problems can be overcome should be thoroughly
examined at the problem-formulation stage.
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12. Formulating Research Problem
 In any research task, the formulation of a research
problem is the most important part of the research
process.
 The process of formulating a research problem consists of
a number of steps, as its help in broaden the knowledge
of subject area:
Identify a broad field or subject area of interest to you – Step I
Dissect the broad area into subareas – Step II
Select what is of most interest to you – Step III
Raise research questions – Step IV
Formulate objectives – Step V
Assess your objectives – Step VI
Double-check – Step VII
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13. 13

14. Formulating Research Objective
 Objectives are the goals you set out to attain in your study.
Its important what you want to achieve through the study. It
is divided into two broad categories are:
Main Objectives
Sub Objectives
 The main objective is an overall statement of the thrust of
your study. It is also a statement of the main associations
and relationships that you seek to discover or establish.
 It is considered as the specific aspects of the topic that you
want to investigate within the main framework of your study.
 Sub-objectives should be numerically listed. They should
be worded clearly and unambiguously. It represent only one
aspect of the study by use of action-oriented words or
verbs such ‘to determine’ or ‘to find out’, ‘to ascertain’, ‘to
measure’ and ‘to explore’.
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15.  In broader sense the objectives wordings determine
the type of study such as descriptive, coorelational
or hypothesis testing etc.
 The objectives should be expressed in such a way
that it should communicate clearly, completely and
specifically to the reader.
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16. Study Population- Research
Respondents
 Its an important phase of research study & it is
needed to narrow down the whole population to
finalize that who is your respondents who would
answer your research questions.
 The respondent’s criteria might be class of people
required to answer or age group that being focused
or gender, community or geographical locals.
 In quantitative study, it is required to narrow down
research problem & study population. It would help
the researcher to be specific and clear.
 In qualitative research, the study population &
research problem should remain flexible to ensure
the freedom necessary to obtain varied data.
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17. Establishing Operational Definition
 In a research study, it is really important for researcher
to develop a set of rules, indicators or yard stick to clear
the meanings of used terms. In a research study you
need to define these clearly in order to avoid ambiguity
and confusion.
 When you define concepts you are planning research
problem or population in a measurable form, termed as
working definitions or operational definitions.
The operational definition:
 Depends upon researcher & type of study.
 Avoid ambiguity & confusion in a research study.
 Have no rules for deciding but it needs the
appropriateness to convince the reader
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18.  Operational definitions may differ from day-to-day
meanings as well as dictionary or legal definitions.
 Operational definitions give an operational meaning to the
study population and the concepts used.
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Operational / Working Definitions