The readings and resources all discuss the nature of research topics and research problems. We generally craft a research study to address a known need. But, how we discover that need can be difficult. Below are a suggestion of questions to answer as you craft a problem statement to guide your research. Answering these questions requires extensive reading and exploration research in your area—exploration to understand the context and reading primary, peer-reviewed research to see what has already been done and what has yet to be done.
Research problems should be relevant, current, and feasible.
Topic Area: What is the general problem within your topic?
Connection to Context: How do we know it’s a problem? (Should be local knowledge and knowledge from research)
Significance: How have researchers explored this problem from various perspectives?
Focus: What do researchers tell us is still unknown about this problem (this is your specific focus)?
Specific Problem: Therefore, the problem to be explored is ________________
Significance: What will continue to happen if we don’t fix or explore or research this problem?
