Identifying the “problem” that necessitates the need for your study is often one of the hardest parts of doing research. People don’t appear to think deeply enough about why they are conducting their studies. A research problem is an educational issue, controversy, or concern that frames the need for conducting a study. Good research problems are easy to find in our education settings, such as:

1. Classroom disruptions due to at-risk students
2. The growing violence rate on college campuses
3. A decreasing number of parents being engaged at the school for students with challenging behaviours

The problems affect staff in our schools, classrooms, and/or campuses. When authors write about the research problem, they will identify it in a research report in one or more sentences. To discover or determine research problems in a research study, ask yourself the following questions:

• What was the issue, problem, or controversy that the researcher wanted to study?
• What controversy gave rise to the need for the study?
• What is the concern being investigated “behind” the study?
• Is there a sentence that says something like “The problem this study addresses is . . .”?

A “problem” may be written in the introduction to a study. Often, the problem is written into a section called the “problem statement.”  You want to identify the “problem” section of the study during the opening paragraphs or introduction of the study.

We study research problems to assist policy makers when issues arise, aid teachers and officials in resolving issues with practice, and provide researchers with a greater understanding of multiple educational issues. Although important, defining a research problem in your study is relevant from a research perspective in that it foreshadows the rest of the study. An audience cannot understand the importance of your study or why they should invest their time in reading your study if they do not understand the research problem. What issues in the field of education might you want to investigate? Record these issues here.

You are aware of many educational problems; however, it may be difficult to write about an educational problem in a study. This could vary based on your understanding of how to write or identify a problem for your study.

To help you think about research problems, you may want to disentangle them from other aspects of the research process. The research problem is different from the study topic (considered later in this chapter), the purpose or intent of the study (discussed in the chapter on purpose statements), and specific research questions (also mentioned in the chapter on purpose statements). The research problem should be considered on its own and as a separate part of the process, referring to the problem that is being explored in the study.

After reading these short definitions, think about the differences between these aspects of the research:

◆           Research topic is the comprehensive subject matter dealt with in the study. For instance, Maria is going to study the phenomenon of students carrying weapons in schools.

◆           A research problem is an educational issue, concern, or controversy of a general nature that narrows the topic and is addressed in research. The problem Maria addresses is the escalating violence in schools due, in part, to students possessing weapons.

◆           A purpose is the major intent or objective of the study used to address the problem. Maria might state the purpose of her study as follows: “The purpose of my study will be to identify factors that influence the extent to which students carry weapons in high schools.”

◆           Research questions navigate the purpose of the study into clear, specific questions that the researcher would like answered or addressed in the study. Maria might ask, “Do peers influence students to carry weapons?”

By observing these differences, one could say that they span common ground from wide (topic) to precise (specific research questions). A researcher, in this case, initiates the inquiry with a broad topic, distance learning. The researcher then investigates a problem associated with this topic: the shortage of students in the courses delivered through distance education. To analyse this issue, our teacher then transforms the problem into a statement of intent (the purpose statement): to determine the reasons for the non-attendance of students in the classes of one community college offering distance education. When scrutinising this statement, our researcher must decompose the intent into specific questions, one of which is “Does the use of website technology in the classroom deter students from enrolling in distance education classes?” The route taken is from a broad topic to specific questions through narrowing. In this journey, the “research problem” is outlined as a separate step that must be recognised to assist the readers in understanding the issue clearly.

One of the most common mistakes in academic writing is to confuse a research problem with the aim of the study or with the research question. It is often pointed out that the research purpose or question can easily be developed into a problem.

• Poor model. The researcher wants to identify the research problem and instead presents it as a purpose statement: “The purpose of this study is to investigate the education of women in Third World countries.”
• Improved model. A revision of it as a research problem: “Women in Third World countries are not allowed to enter universities and colleges because of the culturally oriented, patriarchal norms of their societies.”
• Poor model. A researcher intends to write about the research problem but instead shows the research question: “The research question in this study is: ‘What factors influence homesickness in college students?’”
• Improved model. An improved version of a research problem: Homesickness has become a significant concern in contemporary college life. Besides, when students fail to cope, they become demotivated, drop out, or even cease attending lectures, all of which have a negative impact either in terms of the number of students leaving college or their poor performance during the first semester.

While you should design and run a study, it is essential to be conscious of the differences between these components of research and to ensure that your written material makes a clear distinction between the topic, the research problem, the purpose, and your research questions.