Understanding Research Problems and Topics

Research Problem

• A research problem is a specific issue, difficulty, contradiction, or gap in knowledge to be addressed in research.
• Selecting a research problem depends on factors like researcher's knowledge, skills, interest, motivation, and creativity.
• Formulating a research problem is a complex process.

Research Topic

• A research topic is a specific subject or area of interest guiding a study.
• It defines the focus of research questions, objectives, and methodology.

Characteristics of a Research Problem

• Reflecting on important issues or needs.
• Basing on factual evidence (non-hypothetical).
• Being manageable and relevant.
• Suggesting a testable and meaningful hypothesis (avoiding useless answers).

Importance of Research Problems

• Identifying knowledge gaps: highlights areas needing further investigation, addressing unanswered questions.
• Providing direction: gives focus and direction to the research project. Aids in the development of effective research design, technique, and establishes research objectives/questions.
• Justifying study significance: emphasizes relevance, potential benefits, and contributions to the field.
• Advancing theory and knowledge: provides a basis for new concepts, hypotheses, or models.
• Promoting intellectual curiosity and innovation: encourages critical thinking, generating original ideas, and developing unique research approaches.
• Facilitating problem-solving and decision-making: stems from real-world challenges or problems; researchers can develop innovative ideas, methods, or strategies to solve practical issues/guide decision-making.

Types of Research Problems

• Theoretical: investigates a subject or event using theoretical frameworks, concepts, and models; aims to extend existing knowledge, address unsolved gaps and evaluate pre-existing theories.
• Applied: deals with specific problems or challenges within a sector/industry; aims to provide practical solutions through systematic research; bridges the gap between theory and practical application.
• Action: combines research and action to address real-world issues in organizations, education, community development, policy implementation, and personal/professional development.

Sources of Research Problems

• Personal experiences (day-to-day experiences).
• Practical experiences (clinical experiences encountered during clinical practice).
• Critical appraisal of literature (research reports, opinion articles, summarizing clinical issues).
• Previous research (re-search findings).
• Existing theories (theory development and theory testing).
• Social issues (global social or political issues of relevance to healthcare).
• Ideas from external sources (funding agencies' research priorities).

Considerations in Selecting a Research Problem

• Interest: selecting a topic that interests you most.
• Magnitude: possessing sufficient knowledge to visualize the work involved in completing the topic.
• Measurement of concepts: ensuring clarity about indicators and measurements of concepts used in the study.
• Level of expertise: having an adequate level of expertise for the proposed task.
• Availability of data: ensuring data availability in the desired format.
• Ethical issues: understanding how ethical issues affect the study and how to address them.
• Relevance: ensuring the study's relevance to the professional field and adding to existing knowledge/bridging current gaps/useful in policy formulation.

Steps of Formulating a Research Problem

• Selection of a research area: selecting a broad topic from personal experience, literature, previous research, and relevant theories.
• Conducting a literature review: reviewing existing literature to understand the current knowledge level and gaps in the research area. Identifying areas requiring further research.
• Delimiting the research topic: proceeding from a general research area to a more specific topic; selecting a specific component/subject within the chosen research field; focusing on a problem or phenomenon.
• Evaluating the research problem: evaluating the problem's significance and feasibility considering factors such as time, cost, availability of subjects/resources, administrative and peer support, ethical considerations, and researcher's competence and interest.
• Formulating the final statement of the research problem: formulating a final statement after establishing significance and feasibility.

Research Objectives

• Objectives are goals to attain in the study.
• They inform the reader about the study's purpose.
• Main objectives are overall statements of study thrust. They include main associations and relationships sought.
• Sub-objectives are specific aspects of the topic to be investigated in the main framework of the study.

Characteristics of Objectives

• Objectives should be clear, complete, and specific.
• Main variables to be correlated should be identified
• Direction of relationships should be identified.