PXGS6102Problem

Research problem

"The problem is finding a problem". Just look at the world around you! Research problems are found everywhere. Look at the phenomena happening at this moment in your life, many of them are potential research problems. For example, your 12 year old refuses to listen to you, saying that you are treating him or her like a kid! Is this characteristic of all 12 year old Malaysian children? Whatever that arouses your interest for which there are as yet no answers has the potential of being a research problem.

It is not always easy for a researcher to formulate his or her problem simply, clearly and completely. Often one has a rather general, diffuse and even confused notion of the problem. This is the nature and complexity of research. Adequate statement of the research problem is one of the most important steps of the research process. If one wants to solve a problem, one must generally know what the problem is. It can be said that a large part of the solution lies in knowing what is one trying to do. Another part lies in knowing what a problem is and especially what a scientific problem is.

Statement of the Problem

What is a good problem statement? Although research problems differ greatly, and althougth there is no one "right" way to state one, certain characteristics of problems and problem statements can be learned and used to good advantage.

Example: What is the relationship between academic performance and self-esteem?

This research problem is stated as a question. It states the relation between two variables. Hence, a problem, then is an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What relation exists between two or more variables? The answer is what is being sought in the research.

There are 3 criteria of good problems and problems statement:

1) The problem should express a relation between two or more variables

eg. Is A related to B?

How are A and B related?

How is A related to B under condition C?

Is there a difference between A and B in terms of C?

2) The problem should be stated clearly and unambiguously in question form. Instead of saying, for instance. "The problem is ....", or "The purpose of this study is...."; ask a question. Questions have the advantage of posing problems directly. The purpose of a study is not necessarily the same of the problem of the study. For example, the purpose of the study was to throw light on the relationship between academic performance and self-esteem. The problem was the question whether self-esteem was related to academic performance.

3) The problem and the problem statement should be such as to imply possibilities of empirical testing. A problem that does not contain implications for testing its relationship or relations is not a scientific problem. So, if you can measure the constructs self-esteem and academic performance, then the problem is considered a good problem.

CONCEPTS and CONSTRUCTS

A researcher when gathering data to answer the research questions or to test hypotheses must be clear as to what he o she is observing or on what data is collected. The 'what' has to be clearly defined to facilitate data collection.

Kerlinger (1973) introduces the terms 'concepts' and 'constructs' which may have similar meanings but there is a slight difference. A concept expresses an abstraction formed by generalisations from particulars (Kerlinger, 1973, p.28). Examples are furniture, computers which has certain attributes to which we could group things under. For the concept 'furniture' we could particulars such table, chair, sofa, etc.

A construct is a concept. It has the added meaning, however, of having been deliberately and consciously invented or adopted for a special scientific purpose. "Intelligence" is a concept, an abstraction from the observation of presumably intelligent and less intelligent behavious. But as a scientific construct, "intelligence" means both more or less than it may mean as a concept. It means that scientists consciously and systematically use in two ways:

It enters into theoretical schemes and is related in various wasy to other constructs. eg. school achievement is in part a function of intelligence and motivation

Intelligence is so defined and specified that it can be observed and measured. eg. administering intelligence tests, interview teachers about their students.

VARIABLES

Researchers soemwhat loosely call the constructs or properties they study "variables". eg. gender, social class, level of aspiration, parental bonding, self-esteem, anxiety, ect. It can be said that a variable is a property that takes on different values or a variable is something that varies.

A variable is a symbol to which numerals of values are assigned. For example, the symbol "intelligence" we assign a set of numerical values which may be IQ scores which may range from 50 to 150. In the case of the variable "gender" there are only 2 values and they are called dichotomouse variables, i.e. male (1) and female (0). Other examples of two-value variables are: graduate-nongraduate, low income-high income, citizen-noncitizen. Besides dichotomous variables, some variables are polytomies, eg. religion - Islam, Christianity, Buddhism. Hinduism, etc.

Types of Variables

Variables can be classified in several ways:

a) Independent and Dependent Variables

b) Continuous and Categorical Variables

a) Independent and Dependent Variables

An independent variable (IV) is the presumed cause of the dependent variable (DV), the presumed effect. The independent variables is the antecedent; the dependent variable is the consequent. Put it another way, the DV is the variable predicted to, whereas the independent variable is predicted from. The DV is the presumed effect, which varies with changes or variatio in the independent variable. The IV can be manipulated while the DV cannot be manipulated. Eg. gender differences (IV) and self-esteem. Gender has two values (Male & Female) while self-esteem is a score (based on the administration of a self-esteem test).

b) Continuous and Categorical Variables

A continuous variable (also called ordinal variable) is capable

of taking on an ordered set of values within a certain range. For example, an attitude scale towards smoking may have values ranging from 5 to 20 which expresses differing amounts of attitude towards smoking.

A categorical variable (also called nominal variables) may be made up of two or more subsets or categories. Each subset or category possess certain characteristics and individuals are categorised by their possession of those characteristics that defines a subset. For example, the variable socio-economic class (SES) may consist of 3 values such as high SES, middle SES and low SES.

Operational Definition of Variables

Operational definition (Bridgman, 1927) means that terms or variables used in the study must be defined as it is used in the context of the study to facilitate measurement and to eliminate confusion. For example, you state in your study that you are studying 'excellent students'. What does 'excellent' mean? How would operationally define 'excellent'?.

How do I find a problem?

The process of finding a problem is an exercise all graduate students have to undergo or experience and it is the first step towards becoming a mature researcher. When reading the literature in his or her field, the student gets the feeling that research has already solved all the problems in education. It is also common for a student to complete all the coursework requirements and "get stuck" at the thesis or project paper stage and some never obtain their degrees. It is for this reason that students are advised to search for a suitable problem as soon as possible which they will be able to explore throughout their coursework (maybe even use their problem as part of the assignments in their cousework!).

Step 1: Identify a Broad Problem in Your Area that is of interest to you and related to your professional goals. You should build a sizable knowledge in your area of interest that is for the long term. For example, you may be interested in how young children learn mathematics, how to get teenagers interested in science, how to enhance the teaching of moral education, how to improve training in the corporate sector using e-Learning, the relationship between headmasters leadership style and teacher morale, and so forth.

Step 2: Systematic Programme of Reading within your broad area of study. For example if you are interested in why children have difficulty in learning mathematics, you could start with textbooks in the area or chapters of textbooks. Textbooks explain the basic concepts and facts related to the issue and may cite research in the area which will be listed in the 'references' which you could further explore. Journals such as the Review of Research in Education and Review of Educational Research provide valuable information about a particular field as they review related literature. Next is to read articles in the relevant journals in the field. For example if you are interested in reading research then you should read "Journal of Reading" and the "Reading Research Quarterly". You should look through the catalogue both in the library and on-line and identify the journals in your field. Students do not adequately refer to journals in the field but instead tend to cite from popular sources such as newspapers, magazines and speeches. Journals report empirical evidence about the field you are interested in and they indicate the current thinking about research and the trend of research efforts in the field. This will give you a grasp of leading edge research in the United States, Britain, Europe and Australia and how you might do the same in Malaysia.

Step 3: Relate Your Research Problem to a Theory in the field. A theory is an explanation of events or phenomena or behaviour. For example, if you are interested in finding out whether providing children with mulitimedia presentations explaining science concepts will enhance understanding, you may want to explore the underlying theories of visual learning. Many phenomena in education are explained drawing upon theories from cognitive psychology, sociology, psycholinguistics, management, computer science and so forth. It should be remembered that theory provides the direction of the research.

Without some viable theory to serve as a guide, many studies

address trivial questions or contribute nothing to the slow

accumulation of knowledge needed for advancement of a

science of education. (W. Borg & M. Borg .1983. Educational

Research: An Introduction. New York: Longman. 79-80)

The Research Question

Having identified the research problem or area that you plan to investigate, the next step is to list Research Questions. The research question is an "educated guess" or a hunch about possible relationships, differences or causes; sometimes called hypotheses. Many a time we hear people say; "The high incidence of truancy is because schooling is becoming uninteresting". This is a hypothesis that "truancy" is related to "uninteresting schooling", which obviously has to be proven empirically.

For example, your car will not start. You put forward the hypothesis that "the car that does not start because there is no petrol". You check the gauge and either reject or accept the hypothesis. If you find there is petrol, you reject the hypothesis. Next, you hypothesise that "the car did not start because the spark plugs are dirty". You check the spark plugs to determine if they are dirty and accept or reject the hypothesis accordingly.

Similarly, in educational research you have to put forward hypotheses or research questions that shows a relationship between the variables or constructs you are studying. The research questions guides the data collection techniques, the statistical analysis to be used and so forth. Thus, stipulating research questions or hypotheses clearly is essential and be prepared to defend or support your choice of research questions or hypotheses. For example, you ask the question; "Are students taught science using the inductive approach better at inferencing?. You are seeking to establish whether using the inductive approach in science will lead to the development of inferencing skills.