THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

A) STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM For some students this is the most difficult phase of the research process. Quite often the Research Problem is vague. It is either too scanty or too lengthy but not precise. Despite having written so many paragraphs, the student is unable to state clearly and convincingly: what is the problem? why it is important? what should be done? Perhaps, the following guidelines on the right may help you with this task. i) What is the Problem? You begin by first stating the problem. It is some aspect that your are worried about, think about and want to find a solution for. e.g. Graduate are poor critical thinkers. ii) Why is it important that the problem be investigated? i.e give a rationale for why it is of concern. For Example: Employers are complaining about the poor critical thinking skills of graduates they employ Questions about this problem has not been answered convincingly or are inconclusive or answers have not been found up to the present - e.g. Very few studies have addressed the critical thinking ability of university students as most studies continue to focus on primary and secondary school students. ii) What should be done? i.e. the Purpose Your purpose is to solve the problem; i.e. find answers to questions put forward. State what should be done clearly and grammatically correct. Avoid meaningless words. There should be no doubt in your mind what are your intentions. It is good practice to divide you problem into sub-problems which are called research questions. Research Questions guide the solution of the problem

Example: "Specifically, this study aims to answer the following research questions: a) Is there a difference in critical thinking male and female students? b) Is there a relationship between academic performance and critical thinking? B) RESEARCH QUESTION The word "research" means 'finding out' or 'discovery' using a systematic method. You "research" by asking questions and searching for answers to the questions. You cannot "research" if you do not want to know anything, that is, you must have something you would like to know more about before you can do "research". You begin with QUESTIONS. If you have none, you will find no answers or will not know when you have found one. Your task is to conduct RESEARCH. A study without a question in mind will NOT be a RESEARCH study. You should MAKE SURE that the research question is: a) Clear, straightforward and easily understood by others b) States the relationship between two or more variables. c) The variables mentioned in the Research Question should be measurable. d) The answer to the Research Question is not immediately obvious. e) Indicates the method that is to be adopted. f) Can be answered in the time available to you. g) Can be answered with the resources available to you.

TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS: Generally there are three basic types of questions that research projects can address: 1. Descriptive Research Questions Here you describe what is going on or what exists. For example, you may want to find the proportion of teachers who support the teaching of sex education in secondary school. You are simply interested in describing something. Statistical Tools: - Mean, median and mode - Frequency tables - Histograms, Line graphs 2. Relational Research Questions Here you want to know the relationships between two or more variables. For example, you want to know the proportion of males and females who support the teaching of sex education in secondary school. In other words, you are interested in studying the relationship between gender and preference for teaching of sex education. Statistical Tools: - Simple correlation - Linear regression - Multiple regression 3. Causal Research Questions Here, you want to know whether one or more variables (e.g., a programme or treatment variable) causes or affects one or more outcome variables. For example, you conduct a workshop to the group of teachers to determine whether their opinion about teaching sex education to secondary school students has changed. Statistical Tools: - t-test - Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) - Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA)