ACADEMIC RESEARCH - Part 4 of 5:Steps in the formulation of a research problem.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

‪#‎AcademicResearch‬

RESEARCH PROBLEM FORMULATION

(CHOOSING A TOPIC)

Part 4 of 5:Steps in the formulation of a research problem.

Steps 1: Identify a broad field or subject area of interest

√One should ask: “What is it that really interests me as a professional”?

√It is a good idea to think about the field in which you would like to work after graduation or in which you are currently working.

For example,

√If you are studying microeconomics, you might be interested in researching on consumer behaviour.

√If one works in the Human Resource department, he/she may want to research on aspects that are relevant to that department.

√The following should also be noted

•Avoid a topic calling for a background knowledge that you do not have.

•Choose an area where it is possible to get enough material to ensure thorough coverage.

•The topic must be that which addresses a felt need. That is, the topic can be justified on social, scientific or policy grounds.

Step 2: Dissect the broad area into subareas

√The broad area mentioned in step 1 e.g. consumer behavior, has many aspects.

√The broad area should be narrowed down to a specific problem.

√This will call for critical reading and inquiry into the problem area by:

•Reading relevant literature,

•Talking to those who might use the findings

•Consulting/brainstorming with those who have research and training experiences, or specialized knowledge of the research area.

√Dissecting the broad area helps one to clarify the problem so that the research can focus on a few questions.

An Example

•Broad Area: Domestic violence (DV)

√Examples of Subareas in Domestic Violence (DV)

•Extent of DV in a community

•Types of DV

•Impact of DV on children

•Services available victims of DV

•Effectiveness of the services offered to victims of DV.
•Profile of families in which DV occurs

•Profile of the victims of DV

Step 3: Select a sub area of the most interest to you.

√It is neither advisable nor feasible to study all subareas.

√Out of the listed subareas, one will select issues/ subarea for which he or she is passionate.

√One way to decide what interests you most is to start with the process of elimination - deleting all those subareas in which one is not very interested.

√Towards the end of the process, it will become very difficult to delete anything further.

√Therefore the elimination procedure continues until one is left with something that is manageable considering:

•the time available for the study
•level of expertise and
•other resources needed to undertake the study.

NB: The selected subarea forms the topic of study

Step 4: Raise research questions.

√At this step the researcher asks: ‘What is it that I want to find out about in this subarea?

√Therefore, within the chosen subarea, one lists whatever questions for which answers are being sought.

√If the questions thought of are too many to be manageable, the researcher will again go through a process of elimination, to focus study on particular issues in the subarea

Step 5: Formulate objectives.

√The researcher formulates the main objectives and sub objectives for the study.

√The objectives grow out of the research questions.
√The main difference between objectives and research questions is in the way they are written.

•Research objectives are the research questions transformed into behavioural aims by using action-oriented words such as ‘to establish’ ‘to find out’, ‘to determine’, ‘to ascertain’, ‘to examine’, ‘ to measure’, ‘to explore’, etc.

•Objectives are therefore the goals you set out to attain in your study. They inform a reader of what you want to achieve through the study, and should therefore be worded clearly and specifically.

√Objectives should be stated under two headings:

(i) Main objectives
(ii) Sub objectives or specific objectives
Research Objectives

√The main objective is an overall statement of the thrust of the study.
•It can also be thought of as a statement of the main associations and relationships that you seek to discover or establish.

√The sub-objectives are the specific aspects of the topic that you want to investigate within the main framework of your study.

They should be:

•Numbered using roman numbers.
•worded clearly and unambiguously.
•NB: Each sub-objective contains only one aspect of the study.

√Wording of Research Objectives.

•The way the main and sub-objectives are worded determines how your research is classified and the type of research design to be adopted.

•The objectives should be expressed in such a way that the wording clearly, completely and specifically communicates to the readers the research intention.

•There is no place for ambiguity, non-specificity or incompleteness

√If your study is primarily descriptive, the main objective should clearly describe the major focus of the study, even mentioning the organisation and its location unless these are to be kept confidential

Example:

“to describe the types of treatment programmes provided by …[name of the organisation] to alcoholics in … [name of the place]…or to find the opinion of the community about the health services provided by …[name of the health centre/department] in …[name of the place]…).

•NB: Identification of the organisation and its location is important as the services may be peculiar to the place and the organisation and may not represent the services provided by others to similar populations.

√If your study is correlational in nature, the wording of the main objective should also include the main variables being correlated.

Examples
•To ascertain the impact of migration on family roles.

•To compare the effectiveness of different teaching methods on the comprehension of students.

•If the overall thrust of your study is to test a hypothesis, the wording of main objectives, in addition to the above, should indicate the direction of the relationship being tested.

Examples.

•To ascertain if an increase in youth unemployment will increase the incidence of street crime.

•To demonstrate that provision of maternal and child health services to the Maasai people in Loitoktok will reduce infant mortality.

Step 6: Assess your objectives.

√In this step, the researcher examines the objectives to ascertain the feasibility of achieving them through the research endeavour.

√The objectives are assessed by considering the:-

•Time

•Resources (financial and human)

•Technical expertise at the researcher’s disposal.

Step 7: Double-check.

√Involves going back and giving final consideration to whether or not one is sufficiently interested in the study, and have adequate resources to undertake it.

√The question to ask is:
• “Am I really enthusiastic about this study?’, and
• “Do I really have enough resources to undertake it?’

√If the answer to one of them is ‘no’, then a re-assessment of the objectives is required.

NB:
√So far the focus has been on the basis of your study, the research problem.

√But every study has a second element, the study population, from whom the required information to find answers to your research questions is obtained.

√As you narrow the research problem, similarly you need to decide very specifically who constitutes your study population, in order to select the appropriate respondents.