The document discusses the key aspects of developing a research problem including defining the research problem as a question, selecting an appropriate topic, reviewing relevant literature, and properly citing sources. It provides examples of potential research questions and outlines the major steps in conducting a literature review such as searching for sources, taking notes, organizing findings, and citing references in APA or MLA style. The overall process of developing a research problem is presented as determining a question or issue to study, reviewing prior work on the topic, and properly attributing other researchers' work.

1. Educational research and
statistics
Research problem

2. What is a Research Problem?
• A research problem is exactly that—a problem
that someone would like to research.
• A problem can be anything that a person
finds unsatisfactory or unsettling
• A Difficulty of some sort, a state of affairs that
needs to be Changed.
• In educational research, the research problem
is typically posed as a question

3. Examples
• What goes on in an elementary school
classroom during an average week?
• How can a principal improve faculty morale?
• At which age is it better to introduce phonics
to children—age 5, age 6, or age 7?

4. Why define the Research Problem
• Defining your destination before beginning a
journey.
• It determines,
– what you will do,
– how you will do it, and
– what you may achieve!

5. Selection
• Problem selection is the major part of the
social inquiry. Most of the researchers find
this aspect of conducting so difficult that it
often consumes a large part of the total time
allocated to a research project

6. CONT.
• you have to select something that you are
interested in.
• Pick a manageable topic and narrow your
focus.
• Pick a topic that you already have some
knowledge about.

7. Problem selection criteria may be
itemized as follows
• The problem must be significant in the sense
that its solution should make a contribution to
the body of knowledge in the field
represented.
• The problem should be researchable one
• The problem should be in an area about which
one has both knowledge and experience.

8. Cont.
• The problem must be in feasible in the
circumstances in which the researcher finds
himself.
• The problem must be one that can be
investigated and completed within the
stipulated time limit.
• The problem should be ethically appropriate

9. Sources
• A researcher needs to be familiar with three
basic types of sources as he or she begins to
search for information related to the research
question.
• General references
• Primary sources
• Secondary sources

10. Types of sources
General references are the sources researchers
often refer to first. In effect, they tell where to
look to locate other sources—such as articles,
monographs, books, and other documents—
that deal directly with the research question.
Most general references are either indexes, or
abstracts,

11. CONT.
• Primary sources are publications in which
researchers report the results of their studies.
Most primary sources in education are
journals, such as the Journal of Educational
Research or the Journal of Research in Science
Teaching.

12. CONT.
• Secondary sources refer to publications in
which authors describe the work of others.
The most common secondary sources in
education are textbooks.

13. Some Other Sources of research
problems
– Casual observation
– Deductions from theory
– Current social and political issues
– Practical situations
– Personal interests and experience
– Replication of previous studies

14. STATEMENT
• A "Problem Statement" is a description of a
difficulty or lack that needs to be solved or at
least researched to see whether a solution can
be found.
• It can also be described as either a
gap between the real and the desired

15. CONT.
• the Problem Statement will also serve as the
basis for the introductory section of your final
proposal
• A statement problem need not be long and
windy

16. A problem is formulated in the form of a
question;
• Usually a research problem is initially posed as
a question, which serves as the focus of the
researcher’s investigation
EXAMPLES
How do parents feel about the school
counseling program?
How can a principal improve faculty morale?

17. EXAMPLES
What goes on in an elementary school
classroom during an average week?
Do teachers behave differently toward
students of different genders?
At which age is it better to introduce phonics
to children—age 5, age 6, or age 7?

18. Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Once a research question has been formulated,
researchers want to turn it into as good a
question as possible. Good research questions
possess four essential characteristics.
The question is feasible
The question is clear
The question is significant
The question is ethical

19. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
 The review is a careful examination of a body
of literature pointing toward the answer to
your research question
Your literature review will have two
components:
A search through the literature
The writing of the review

20. Search through literature
• There are two ways to do literature search
manually , using the traditional approach
using print/paper tools to locate print/paper
sources.
• Electronically , by means of computer. The
most common and frequently used method ,
however is to search online, via computer

21. Writing the review
The literature review includes five parts
1. The introduction briefly describes the nature of the
research problem and states the research question.
2. The body of the review briefly reports what others
have found or thought about the research problem
3. The summary of the review ties together the main
threads revealed in the literature reviewed and
presents a composite picture of what is—and is not—
known or thought to date.
4. Any conclusions the researcher feels are justified
based on the state of knowledge revealed in the
literature should be included.
5. A reference list (or bibliography) with full
bibliographic data for all sources mentioned in the
review is essential

22. PURPOSE OF LITERATURE SEARCH
 It gives the researcher several ideas on how to
select and formulate his own research
problem
 It helps the researcher identify studies that
have been done related to the topic he is
interested in.
 It avoids possible duplication of similar studies

23. NEED OF REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
 It helps or guides the researcher in searching
for or selecting a better research problem or
topic
 It helps the investigator understand his topic
or research better.

24. Need
 It gives direction to the researcher on how he
will create his own conceptual framework
 It allows the researcher to browse several
kinds of research designs, sampling
techniques , statistical procedures,
questionnaires and processes of presenting,
analyzing, and interpreting data , from where
he could base his own choice for his paper.

25. Note taking
• Note taking is something written down, often
in abbreviated form, as a record or reminder.
• It's not hard to open up a blank text document
in WordPad (Windows)to keep a running set
of notes during a computer search session.
Just jump back and forth between the Web
browser screen and the notepad screen.

26. Note taking
 Why? - Keep track of information
 How? – Use note cards or electronic files with
unique numbers/letters for source
information
 What? – Include text, photos, music, Internet
pages, etc. that support your research
question and source information

27. Note taking
• Purpose of making and taking notes
Save time and effort in :
Having to look for the original text; or
Having to look through massive piles of notes
just to get back the specific information that
you need

28. ORGANIZING AND CITATION
the next steps involve organizing and citation
• The process of evaluating and organizing
includes analyzing and categorizing the
literature into major topics and sub topics
there are many strategies of organizing the
structure of a review a common one is to
include summary table

29. Organize the material
a) Definitions of key constructs and measures
b) Defining research methods used in studies
c) Key studies characteristics and findings

30. Citation
• What is citation?
A "citation" is the way you tell your readers that certain
material in your work came from another source. It
also gives your readers the information necessary to
find that source again, including:
• information about the author
• the title of the work
• the name and location of the company that published
your copy of the source
• the date your copy was published
• the page numbers of the material you are borrowing

31. Citing style and sources
• APA: American Psychological Association
• MLA: Modern Language Association
• Chicago Manual of Style

32. Citing tools
For citation it is necessary to select the
appropriate reference tool Citation tools
allow a user to organize and retrieve
information, such as citations for books,
articles, and Web sites, by interfacing with
library databases. The citation tool then works
with word-processing software to insert
properly formatted footnotes or citations into
a paper and create a properly formatted
bibliography.

33. Cont.
Here is a list of the ones most commonly used
tools
• RefWorks
• EndNote
• Zotero
• Mendeley

34. APA Style: The Social Sciences
• In most social science classes, you will be asked
to use the APA system for documenting sources,
which is set forth in the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 6th ed.
(Washington, DC: APA, 2010). APA recommends
in-text citations that refer readers to a list of
references.
• An in-text citation gives the author of the source
(often in a signal phrase), the year of publication,
and at times a page number in parenthesis. At
the end of the paper, a list of references provides
publication information about the source

35. Reference Citations in Text
• n APA style, in-text citations are placed within
sentences and paragraphs so that it is clear
what information is being quoted or
paraphrased and whose information is being
cited. For example
– The last name of the author and the year of
publication are inserted in the text at the
appropriate point.
from theory on bounded rationality (Simon,
1945)

36. example
• if the name of the author or the date appear
as part of the narrative, cite only missing
information in parentheses.
Simon (1945) posited that

37. References
 adedayo, a. (2003). selection and formulation of a
research problem. ilorin journal of business and
social sciences vo.l 8, no.1, , 145-150.
 Boudah, D. J. (2011). Conducting Educational
Research: Guide to Completing a Major Project.
london: sage publications.
 frankel, j. R., wallen, n. E., & hyun, h. h. how to
design and evaluate research 8th edition.
Mcgraw-hill.