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PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2
Quarter 1 - Lesson 7
Identifying and Stating a Research Problem
Begin!

In research, you are prone to thinking in various level that range from the simplest to the most
complex modes or patterns of thinking. Your initial acts here pertain to what you want to research on or
what you intend to subject more to higher levels of thinking as you go through several stages of
research. The kind or quality of thinking and attention you give to your acts of choosing research topic
and of specifying questions you want your research study to find answers to strongly determine the
success of your research work.

A clearly articulated purpose statement and supporting objectives or questions are the roadmap
to your research proposal. The problem statement illustrates what’s wrong, what’s missing, what we
don’t know or need to know better, and why needs to be done.

A statement of the problem is used in research work as a claim that outlines the problem
addressed by a study. The statement of the problem briefly addresses the question: What is the
problem that the research will address?

Your Targets

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. write a research title;

2. state the research questions;
3. present a written statement of the problem; and
4. understand the process of writing.

Try This!

Directions: Tick the column that best describes how you understand the process of writing the
introductory parts of a quantitative study. Answer this section as honestly as possible.
Provide separate sheet for this pre-assessment

Usually Sometimes Seldom Never

3 2 1 0
I choose a research topic that is both
interesting and relevant to today’s issues and
needs of society.
I consider my resources when choosing a
research topic.
I conduct preliminary research when writing
the introduction of my research proper.
I provide justification for conducting the
study.
I state the research gap and explain how my
study fills that gap.
I make sure that my research questions are

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 aligned with the kind of quantitative
research I plan to conduct.
I formulate a thesis statement based on my
research questions.
I know the conventions to be observed when
writing a title for a quantitative study.
Total

Score Level of Proficiency

21-24 Advanced
17-20 Proficient
13-16 Approaching Proficiency
9-12 Developing
8 and below Beginning

Do This!
Task: Give it a try! Provide separate sheet for this acitivity.
1. Think of a broad topic that interests you (e.g. animals, ICT, games, medicine, etc.)
Sources of interest:
 Daily life experiences- ex. Fisherman could have developed the most effective way to grow
fish because they are exposed to these things.
 Academic readings- can stimulate one’s interest to explore a particular topic
 Personal Hobbies- ex. Survey the views of people about a certain issue because they enjoy
doing so.
 Attention-catching situation- researchers can formulate questions as to how this thing
became possible, how that thing is able to do those, etc.
2. From this broad topic that interest you, think of a possible smaller topic connected to this broad
topic.
3. Make this topic more specific
4. Ask questions regarding the specific you have chosen.
5. Use the inverted pyramid to concretize your idea.

Examples Narrow it down!

Housing Project Health Services

Informal settlers Malnourished children

Philippines Southeast Asia

Last 6 years Last 10 years

economy historical

Explore!

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Work at Home
1. You will need 1 yellow paper.
2. Look for at least 3 research titles.
3. Identify whether each can lead to good research problems. Explain your answer.

Keep this in Mind

After selecting your topic, the next thing is to identify your research problem. This refers to the
particular issue which you will address in your study as well as the specific area of concern of the
research. The research problem states what is to be investigated, identifies the variables, and discusses
their relationships. Here are some steps that you can follow in identifying your research problem.

1. Conduct preliminary research using all available resources (print and non-print) in identifying
your research problem. You may use online resources such as Google Scholar, Science Direct,
and JSTOR. You may also use other print sources, such as newspapers and magazines.

2. Based on your preliminary research, prepare a concept map to generate and synthesize your
ideas. Write your general topic inside a circle in the middle of the paper. Let this circle branch
out into smaller circles. These smaller circles will contain second-level ideas related to your
general topic. Further branch off these second-level circles until you end up with clusters or
group of concepts.

3. Identify your general research problem from these clusters. You can also think of ther specific
research problems based on this general research problem.

After identifying your research problem, you have to state it and establish its place in your
study. This is the function of the problem statement. The problem statement formally points out the
issue that your study wants to address. A good problem statement does not only identify the problem in
the study but also answers the question”Why is the problem worthy of being investigated?”
It includes the following components:
1. A clear explanation of the problem as well as its causes.
2. Evidence that supports the existence of the identified problem
3. Definition of concepts relevant to the problem

Formulating the Research Questions

Research questions are important components of your research which help define the research
problem of your study. They indicate specific concerns related to your research problem that your study
also intends to answer. They are classified into general and specific types. The general research
questions is derived from the main problem of the study. It must contain words related to quantitative
research such as effects or relationship. The words who, when, or where shall not be placed in the
general research questions as these elicit factual questions that may not require extensive investigation
and discussion.

Specific research questions are anchored on the general research question. They are helpful in
developing tools for collecting data, related references, organizing your paper, and drawing valid
conclusions from findings. How you write your specific research questions depends on the type of

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quantitative research you are doing. However, they must always include the significant variables of the
study and the subject being analyzed.

Related to the specific research questions are the research objectives or the goals that your
researchaims to achieve. Another important component related to the research questions and the
researchproblem is the thesis statement, which serves as a one-sentence summary of the arguments
that you are presenting in your study.

Specific Research Questions for Descriptive Research

The focus of descriptive quantitative research is to observe and report on the measurable
aspects of a phenomenon. Specific research questions in this kind of study can begin with phrases such
as how often, how frequently, how many, how much, what is/are, to what extent, what proportion, and
what percentage. For example, in a study involving a group of employees’ usage of facebook, the
following can be used as specific research questions:

1. How often do employees use facebook in one week?

2. How many hours do employees spend on Facebook per week?
3. What proportion of Filipino male and female employees uses Facebook?

Specific Research Questions for Correlational Research

Correlated research is interested in finding out the relationship among two or more variables.
However, it only establishes mere association and not causal relationships. Research questions for
correlational studies usually begin with “ Is there a relationship?” or “What is the relationship? In a
study about the length of preparation for examinations and the scores obtained by test-takers, the
following can be utilized as specific research questions:

1. What is the relationship between the length of the review and examination scores?
2. Is there a relationship between the IQ of a test-takers and his/her performance in review
sessions?
3. Is there a relationship between the performance of a test-taker in a previous examination and
the length of review he/she takes for a new one?

Specific Reserach Questions for Ex Post Facto Research

As earlier discussed, ex post facto studies attempt to discover the cause/s of a phenomenon.
This cause has already occured or taken effect on the subject even before the conduct of the study, or
has not been introduced in the study itself. The causal relationship, however, is not as strong as the one
established in quasi-experimental and experimental studies.

The presumed cause that exists even before the study is undertaken must be incorporated in
the questions. This characteristics must also be observed when the questions are comparative in nature.
The questions must not suggest that an experiment is to be conducted in the study. They must not imply
that the manipulation of a variable during the study will cause certain conditions to occur.

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 For instance, in an ex post facto study involving digital literacy and the type of information
technology education that students obtain, the following can be used as specific research questions:

1. Are information technology education students and vocational education students

digitally literate?
2. Using the four components of digital literacy, what can be identified as the strengths
and weknesses of information technology education students and vocational education
students?
3. Is there a difference between the digital literacy scores of information technology
education students and vocational education students?

Specific Research Questions for Experimental and Quasi-experiment Research

Specific research questions in experimental and quasi-experimental studies suggest a stronger

causal relationship among the variables in the study. In particular, this causal relationship is linked to the
manipulation of a certain variable during the study itself.

Preferably, the first two questions for both experimental and quasi-experimental studies should
be quantitative in nature. The next questions, on the other hand, should have a qualitative element to
provide meaning to the numbers or statistical data that will be analyzed. This is one way of using the
mixed method in conducting research in general, or combining elements of qualitative and quantitative
research in the analysis of data.The following examples of research questions for experimental and
quasi-experimental studies on tutorial sessions and academic performance:

1. Is there a significant posttest gain on students’ academic performance?

2. Is there a difference between the posttest gains of the control group and treatment
group?
3. How do students rate their experiences in one-on-one tutorial sessions?

Apply what you have learned

Write one general research questions and three specific research questions for each of the given
research topics.

Research Topic: Effects of the wife’s employment on the power structure of the family

General Research Question:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Specific Research Questions:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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Research Topic: The effects of online campaigning on the preferred election candidates of young voters

General Reserach Question:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Specific Research Questions:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Research Topic: The relationship between Internet exposure and the digital literacy of students

General Reserach Question:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Specific Research Questions:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Reflect!

Recall and share what you understand from the lesson. Copy and fill out the following in you notebook.

I learned that
__________________________________________________________________________

I realized that ___________________________________________________________________

I will apply _______________________________________________________________

Assess what you have learned

Answer the following. Provide a separate sheet for this assessment.

a. Think of a research study that is relevant to the track you have chosen in Senior High School.
______________________________________________________________________________

b. From your chosen research study, write one general research questions and three specific
research questions.

General Research Question

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Specific Research Questions

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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Glossary

The following terms used in this module are defined as follows:

General Research Question - question that lead to general answers, it derived from the main
problem of the study. It contain words related to quantitative research
such as effects or relationship, it is usually based around why or how a
certain phenomenon is happening
Research Problem - refers to the particular issue which will address in the study as well as
the specific area of concern of the research, its states what is to be
investigated, identifies the variables, and discusses their relationships
Specific Research Question - question that a research study sets out to answer, it is the question
around which center the research, it help focus on research by
providing a path through the research and writing process, it is
anchored on the general research question
Statement of the problem - A part of research that states clearly the purpose or interest of the
study, it poses specific questions about the the research problem, it is
use in research work as a claim that outlines the problem addressed by
a study
Answer Key

Do this - Individual output (Answer may vary)

Explore - (Answer may vary)
Apply what you have learned- Individual output (Answer may vary)
Assess what you have learned- Individual output (Answer may vary)

References

Barrot, Jessie Ph.D., Practical Research 2 (C&E Publishing, Inc. 2017), pg 28-31
Prieto, Nelia G.,Victoria Naval, and Teresita Carey.Practical Research 2 for Senior High School (Lorimar
Publishing, Inc. 2017), pg 41-52
http://www.slideshare.net Practical Research 2 Modular Approach module 2: Identifying the Inquiry
and stating the problem retrieved August 3, 2020
http://www.slideshare.net Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the Problem by Daphnie S. Monteverde,
PT retrieved August 4, 2020
http://www.editage.com/insights/the-basics-of-writing-a-statement-of-the-problem-for -you-research-
proposal retrieved August 5, 2020
http://explorable.com/research-research-paper-question retrieved August 6, 2020
http://%20research%3A&text=Now%20you%need%20to520narrow,a%20hypothesis%200r%20thesis
%20question retrieved August 5, 2020

Prepared by:

MARICEL E. TUPAZ
Teacher II
Division of Capiz
Region VI- Western Visayas

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