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Identification and Selection of Social Research Problem

What is a research problem?

A research problem is the topic or title of the research. It is a phenomenon that the researcher intends to explore. A research problem in social sciences is:

  • A disturbing situation that needs to be solved – a social problem
  • A question that needs to be answered
  • A concept that the researcher wants to understand
  • A cause-effect relationship in the social context that the researcher wants to explore

    IDENTIFICATION & SELECTION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

IIdentification of a research problem refers to the sense of awareness of a prevalent social problem, a social phenomenon or a concept that is worth studying. The researcher identifies such a research problem through his power of observation, knowledge, general awareness of the surrounding and research-related skills.

Problem identification is an important part of a social inquiry. However, most researchers may initially find it difficult to identify a researchable topic. The reason for this difficulty is not that there are limited researchable problems, but this difficulty arises due to the wrong approach to the selection of researchable topic. The other common reason is to avoid duplication of previous research studies and to come up with a new and unique topic.

Let’s discuss a correct approach to the selection of a researchable topic. As noted earlier, there are a number of researchable areas for social researchers such as unemployment, crime, overpopulation, illiteracy, drug abuse, family problems, poverty, domestic violence, environmental issues, energy crisis, religious fragmentation, social unrest, political problems, corruption, technological issues, modernization related issues, issues of urbanization, business-related issues, peace and order issues, social media related issues and so on. However, the correct approach is not to select a major area (for example, selecting one area from the aforementioned research areas) and straight assume it as the research topic. This is what most students do. Doing so, such a student remains wondering and thinking such as what to be explored about the chosen area and how to explore it. This is because they have chosen a broad research area rather than a researchable topic. Selecting a broad area straight as the research topic will just make you wonder and think about what to do with it. After thinking for some time and not reaching a proper methodological basis for your topic, you may decide that maybe this is not a suitable topic, and you should better select another topic. Every area is suitable for research but if you know the art converting it into a researchable topic.

The correct approach is to first select a broader research area and then split it into sub-areas. Each sub-area is a manageable and feasible research topic. The considerations for identification and selection of a broad research area are given at the end of this page but to discuss the correct approach to the selection of a topic, let us explain an example here. For instance, we select a broad area ‘’Domestic Violence’’. We will split it into the following sub-areas:

  • Types of families in which Domestic Violence occurs
  • Socioeconomic characteristics of perpetrators of Domestic Violence
  • Causes of Domestic Violence
  • Types of Domestic Violence
  • Impacts of Domestic Violence on the family
  • Impacts of Domestic Violence on children
  • The extent of Domestic Violence in a community
  • Rehabilitation services available to the victims of Domestic Violence
  • Effectiveness of the services provided to the victims of Domestic Violence

Each of the above sub-areas of domestic violence is a manageable and feasible research topic. Any sub-areas of the above can be selected as a research topic. Each of them is the most specific area and it is very easy to understand that what you want to know and how can you know it. On the other hand, when you select a broad area, you don’t know the exact boundaries of that area which confuses you like which aspect of that area can be considered. First, a research inquiry has always a very specific goal. Second, a single study is not even enough to cover a broad area. Even if you select a broad area as a topic, you may not do justice to your research because it would be blind research focusing on some unnecessary aspects while leaving other necessary aspects of the broad area.   

Therefore, first select a broad area using the criteria given at the end of this page and then note down its sub-areas to choose one. This will make the selection of your research topic very easy because you have now some specific boundaries for each sub-area. You can also select two sub-areas and join them as a research topic. For example, from the above sub-areas, we can choose a research topic: The causes of Domestic Violence and its Impacts on the Family.

Now, let’s move on to the identification of the research problem. The identification of the problem is based on the researcher’s general awareness, knowledge and skills to grasp the issues, situations, and trends that need to be studied in a scientific manner. It is indeed an intuitive process to arrive at ideas for a research problem. Researchers may find certain areas, for which, no clear explanations exist or the existing explanations are not enough. Hence, it may trigger a researcher’s attention to those areas. Similarly, everyday experiences may bring researcher across certain relationships between social phenomena which need to be elaborated. The sources for identification of a research problem are as follows:

  1. The subject area of the researcher
  2. Knowledge of the current social trends – issues and situations
  3. Knowledge of political and economic trends – issues and situations
  4. On-going Programs and Initiatives – evaluation of their effectiveness etc
  5. Deep observation – careful study
  6. Cause-effect relationship of phenomena
  7. Awareness of the social surrounding
  8. Reading research articles in journals
  9. Personal experience – situations faced by the researcher

With the help of the above, a researcher identifies a range of broad research areas. The next step is to select the best researchable topic from the identified areas.

The considerations for the selection of a research topic are as follows:

  1. A unique topic to avoid duplication of studies
  2. Researcher’s interest in the topic
  3. Subject area and expertise of the researcher
  4. The urgency to address the problem
  5. Significance of the topic
  6. Resource availability – time and monetary resources.
  7. Availability of enough data on the data – for initial theoretical understanding
  8. Applicability of the methodology in the specific context
  9. Ethical Considerations of the topic