IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATEMENT OF

THE PROBLEM
PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1
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SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INQUIRY OR RESEARCH

You begin your research work with a problem; that is, having a
problem or topic to work on. Mulling over a topic for your research
work drives you to perform HOTS or higher-order thinking
strategies of inferential, critical, integrative, and creative thinking in
finalizing your mind on one topic among several choices. A topic is
researchable if the knowledge and information about it are
supported by evidence that is observable, factual, and logical.
Here are some pointers you have to keep in mind in selecting a
research topic (Babbie 2013):
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Guidelines in Choosing a Research Topic

1. Interest in the subject matter
Your interest in a topic may be caused by your rich
background knowledge about it and by its novelty; meaning,
its unfamiliarity to you. Being curious about a subject, like a
conundrum or a puzzle, makes you determined to unravel
the mystery or intriguing thing behind it. Your real interest in
a subject pushes you to research, investigate, or inquire
about it with full motivation, enthusiasm, and energy.
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2. Availability of information
Collecting a lot of information as evidence to support your claims
about your subject matter from varied forms of literature like books,
journals, and newspapers, among others, is a part and parcel of any
research work. Hence, in choosing a research topic, visit your library to
check the availability of reading materials on your chosen topic.
Included in your investigation of the availability of reading materials
are questions on how updated and authoritative the materials are. Let
these questions linger as you tour the library: What are the copyright
dates of the materials? How old or new are they? How expert or
qualified the writers are in coming out with such kind of reading
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3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic

The topic is relevant if it yields results that are
instrumental in societal improvement. It is timely if it is
related to the present. For instance, unless it is a pure
or historical research, a research on the ins and outs of
people’s revolutionary acts will prosper more if it
tackles the contemporary revolutionary actions rather
than those in the ancient time.
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4. Limitations on the subject

This makes you link your choosing with course
requirements. For example, to make you complete the
requirements, your teacher instructs you to submit a
paper that will apply the key principles you learned in
business, psychology, education, and so on. In this
case, you have no freedom to choose your topic based
on your interest, but has to decide on one topic to
finish your course.
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5. Personal resources
Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your
research abilities in terms of your financial standing, health
condition, mental capacity, needed facilities, and time
allotment to enable you to complete your research. Imagine
yourself pouring much time and effort into its initial stage, only
to find out later that you are unable to complete it because of
your failure to raise the amount needed for questionnaire
printing and interview trips. (Barbour 2014)
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Research Topics to be Avoided

1. Controversial topics. These are topics that depend greatly on
the writer’s opinion, which may tend to be biased or prejudicial.
Facts cannot support topics like these.
2. Highly technical subjects. For a beginner, researching on
topics that require an advanced study, technical knowledge, and
vast experience is a very difficult task.
3. Hard-to-investigate subjects. A subject is hard to investigate if
there are no available reading materials about it and if such
materials are not up-to-date.
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4. Too broad subjects. Topics that are too broad will prevent you from
giving a concentrated or an in-depth analysis of the subject matter of the
paper. The remedy to this is to narrow or limit the topic to a smaller one.
5. Too narrow subjects. These subjects are so limited or specific that an
extensive or thorough searching or reading for information about these is
necessary.
6. Vague subjects. Choosing topics like these will prevent you from
having a clear focus on your paper. For instance, titles beginning with
indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., as in “Some
Remarkable Traits of a Filipino” or “ Several People’s Comments on the
RH Law,” are vague enough to decrease the readers’ interests and
curiosity.
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Sources of Research Topics

This time, you already have ideas on some factors that
affect your process of choosing a researchable topic. It is also
necessary for you to know where a good research topic may
come from. Knowing some sources of probable research
topics could hasten your choosing; thereby, freeing you from a
prolonged time of pondering over a problem of knowing which
problem is good for you to research on. The
following can help you generate ideas about a good research
topic. (Silverman 2013)
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1. Mass media communication – press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio,

films, etc.)
2. Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications
3. Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching
Forum, English Forum, The Economist, Academia, Business Circle,
Law Review, etc.
4. General periodicals such as Readers’ Digest, Women’s Magazine,
Panorama Magazine, Time Magazine, World Mission Magazine, etc.
5. Previous reading assignments in your other subjects
6. Work experience – clues to a researchable topic from full-time or
part-time