This document discusses defining a researchable problem and formulating good research questions. It provides sources for finding problem ideas such as news, personal experiences, and reviewing previous research. The key aspects of focusing a problem are defining it formally with words, using examples, or procedurally with a method. Good research questions are focused, empirical, clear, based on prior work or theory, important to answer, avoid "should" statements, and have intuitive appeal. The document outlines exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, predictive, and evaluative types of research questions.

1. PROBLEM FORMULATION
Defining a Researchable Problem
Delivered at Brainware University on
06/082020
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Prof. Arup Barman
Dept. of Business Administration
Assam University, Silchar-788011
Email: abgeet@gmail.com

2. Problem
• Poverty
• Environment, Disaster
• Education
• Old-age
• Migration
• Collaboration
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3. Problems Remains in Title of
Research Project
• Argumentative Research Papers
• Persuasive Research Papers
• Education Research Papers
• Analytical Research Papers
• Informative Research Papers
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4. Problems
• Your Level of Interest:
• Your Level of Experience:
• Available Information on the Topic
• Your Audience:
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5. PROBLEM FORMULATION:
SOURCES OF IDEAS
News Stories
Personal Experiences
Review of Research
• Electronic Databases
• Library Indexes
• Web pages
• Internet Libraries
Authorities
– Opinion Leaders
– Funding Sources
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6. PROBLEM FORMULATION:
FOCUSING (DEFINING) THE PROBLEM
Ways of Defining Problem
– Formal (nominal), defining with words
– Example (epistemic), defining by example
– Procedural (operational), defining a
method to recognize examples
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7. SOURCES OF DEFINITIONS: 1
• Articles in Professional Journals
• Electronic Abstracts and Indexes
• Web Searches
• Books, Monographs, Government
Reports, Professional Reports,
Business Reports
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8. SOURCES OF DEFINITIONS: 2
• Professional Standards
• Legislation
• Regulations
• Journalistic Sources
• Advocacy Groups
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9. WHAT MAKES A GOOD RESEARCH QUESTION? 1
• Focused
• Empirical
• Clear
• Based on prior research or theory
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10. WHAT MAKES A GOOD RESEARCH QUESTION? 2
• Important to answer
• Does not use “should”
• Has intuitive appeal
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11. PROBLEM FORMULATION:
TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Explanatory
• Predictive
• Evaluative
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12. EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS
• Clarifying Questions
• Clarifying Populations
• Clarifying Ideas
• Open-ended
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13. DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONS
• Obtaining specific facts
• Obtaining facts to describe issue
• Summarizing population
characteristics
• Examining non-causal relationships
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14. EXPLANATORY QUESTIONS: 1
• Examines causal relationships
• Tests causal hypotheses
• Explains relationships
• Builds theories
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15. EXPLANATORY QUESTIONS: 2
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16. PREDICTION
• Predicts events
• Predicts characteristics
• Uses Theory and Description
• Develops predictive equations
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17. MIXED QUESTIONS
• Triangulation
• Multi-measures
• Multi-methods
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