Lesson 15: Research Problem vs Research Question

Meaning of Research Problem

The ultimate goal of the research is not only to propose ways of studying things, people, places, and events, but also to discover and introduce new practices, strategies, or techniques in solving a problem.

The word “problem” makes you worry and pushes you to exert considerable effort in finding a solution for it. When you feel perplexed or anxious about what to do about something you are doubtful of or about a question you are incapable of answering, you then come to think of conducting research, an investigation, or inquiry. You consider research as the remedy for getting over any problem.

When you decide to do research, you begin with a problem that will lead you to a specific topic to focus on. For instance, you are beset by a problem of year-by-year flash floods in your community. This problem drives you to think of one topic you can investigate or focus on for the solution to your community’s flood problem. Perhaps, you can research only one aspect of the flood problem, like examining only the neighborhood lifestyle in relation to floods in the area, the need to construct antiflood structures, or the practicability of more footbridges in the area. (Gray 2013)

Research Questions

The research problem enables you to generate a set of research questions. However, your ability to identify your research problem and to formulate the questions depends on the background knowledge you have about the topic. To get a good idea of the problem, you must have a rich background knowledge about the topic through the RRL (Review of Related Literature), which requires intensive reading about your topic.

Apart from having a clearer picture of the topic, it will also help you in adopting an appropriate research method and have a thorough understanding of the knowledge area of your research.

To give your study a clear direction, you have to break this big, overreaching, general question into several smaller or specific research questions. The specific questions, also called sub-problems, identify or direct you to the exact aspect of the problem that your study has to focus on. Beset by many factors, the general question or research problem is prone to reducing itself to several specific questions, seeking conclusive answers to the problem.

The following shows you the link among the following: research problem, research topic, research question, and the construction of one general question and specific questions in a research paper.

Research Problem: The need to have a safer, comfortable, and healthful walk or transfer of students from place to place in the UST campus

Research Topic: The Construction of a Covered Pathway in the UST Campus

General Question: What kind of covered path should UST construct in its campus?

Specific Questions:

1.     What materials are needed for the construction of the covered pathway in the UST campus?

2.     What roofing material is appropriate for the covered path?

3.     In what way can the covered pathway link all buildings in the campus?

4.     What is the width and height of the covered path?

5.     How can the covered path realize green architecture?

Research questions aim at investigating specific aspects of the research problem. Though deduced from the general or mother question, one specific question may lead to another sub-problem or sub-question, requiring a different data-gathering technique and directing the research to a triangulation or mixed method approach. Referring to varied aspects of the general problem, a set of research questions plays a crucial part in the entire research work.