RESEARCH PROBLEM

What is Research Problem?

Question for which researchers want answers, theory they wish to validate, information gaps they want
to fill, condition they want to improve, difficulty they want to eliminate, an issue to be settled.

Stated in a form of question which serve as the focus of investigation

Research topic refers to the area or phenomenon on which to focus

Problem statement articulates the problem to be addressed and indicates the need for a study

Research questions are the specific queries researchers what to address

Statement of purpose identifies the overall goal of the study

Where ideas of Research Problem do came from?

 Experience and Clinical Fieldwork – as nurses perform clinical duties, they are bound to find a
wealth of research ideas

  Example: Why do many patients complain of being tired after being transferred from the operating
room?

 Nursing Literature – ideas from studies often come from reading nursing literature.

  Example: Which type of tactile stimulation is most beneficial to physiological wellness of clients?

 Social Issues – topics are suggested by more global contemporary social or political issues of
relevance to health of the community

  Example: What are the social factors contributory to sexual harassment?

 Theories – must be tested for applicability in different nursing environments

  Example: If this theory is correct, what kind of behavior would I expect to find in a certain condition?

 Ideas from External Sources – provides an impetus for a research idea

  Example: Sir Dino may give a list of topics to choose from or may assign particular topics to students

Evaluating Research Problems

 There are no rules in making the final selection of a research problem, but some criteria should
be kept in mind (Polit, 2007):

1. Significance of the Problem

  Is the problem an important one?

2. Researchability of the Problem

 Is your research problem already answered?

3. Feasibility of addressing the problem

 Time and Timing

 Availability of Study Participants

 Cooperation of others

 Facilities and Equipment

 Money

 Research Experience

 Ethical Considerations

 Research Interest

TYPES OF RESEARCH

According to Purpose:

1. Basic/ Pure- it aims to acquire new knowledge and understanding.

  - It is basic and has no application

  Ex: Theory, Understanding of level of anxiety

2. Applied- it is oriented towards finding solution to a practical problem.

  - It is a new method, new intervention or new   device

  Ex: new gadget/ transferring of file, Steps of Nursing process, Steps of grieving process

According to Time Elements:

1. Cross Sectional - it is a type of studies wherein there is a different types of subject with different type
of characteristics.

  - Treat them simultaneously

  -1 to 2 years in the making

2. Longitudinal- it is a type of studies wherein same set of subjects is treated over a period of time

  - Above 4 years in the making 

According to Time Elements:

3. Action research - is a decision oriented research involving the application of the steps of the scientific
method in response to an immediate need to improve existing practices. 

According to Process:

1. Quantitative Research- it is conducted to find answers to questions about relationships among

measurable variables with purpose of explaining, controlling, and predicting phenomena.

o Hence, it is knowing the outcome stated in NUMERICAL DATA

2. Qualitative Research- Starts with a FEW PRECONCEIVED IDEAS and stresses the importance of
people’s interpretations of events and circumstances

FOCUS: TO CAPTURE AND UNDERSTAND the entirely of certain phenomena and collect NARRATIVE
DATA

Recommended on line journals

JSTOR

 Short for Journal Storage

 Online system of archiving academic journals

 It provide its member institutions full-text searches of digitized back issues of several hundred
well-known journals

7,000 academic institutions in 159 countries

DIRECTORY OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL

Open Access Journals – users have the right to “read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to
the full texts of articles”
As of October 2012, the database contained 8284 journals, with an average of four journals being added
each day for the month of September 2012.

EBSCO HOST

 EBSCO is a diverse company which includes over 30 businesses:

o Fishing lures

o Steel joist and metal roof deck manufacturing

o Real estate development

o A host to many journal databases

o ELSE VIER

o Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature

o One of its databases is

  SCIENCE DIRECT

 Science Direct is one of the largest online collections of published scientific research in the world

 It is operated by Elsevier and contains nearly 10 million articles from Elsevier

 Abstracts are mostly freely available, and full texts require paid subscriptions

ONLINE JOURNAL OF ISSUES IN NURSING

 The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing is a peer-reviewed publication that provides a forum for
discussion of the issues inherent in current topics of interest to nurses and other health care
professionals

 The intent of this journal is to present different views on issues that affect nursing research,
education, and practice, thus enabling readers to understand the full complexity of a topic

Multidisciplinary Journal Databases

How many scientific articles do I need to read?

1. UNDERGRAD- 20 ARTICLES

2. MASTERS- 50 ARTICLES

3. PhD- 100 ARTICLES

RECONNISIATE
1. GATHER RELEVANT LITERATURE

2. TABULATE KEYWORDS

3. CHOOSE VARIABLES OF INTEREST

SELECT THE VARIABLES OF INTEREST

AGE 10 CRIME 9

GENDER 11 WELFARE 9

POPULATION
2 INTERNET 10
CONGESTION

QUALITY OF LIFE 1 SOCIAL NETWORK 11

VALUES EDUCATION 2 ADOLESCENT 12

PARENTAL GUIDANCE 6 LITERACY 1

RELIGION 8 COMMUNITY SAFETY 13

NUMBER OF POLICE
INCOME 3 4
OFFICERS

1. BLANK SPOTS- VARIABLES WITH NO/LESS RESEARCH

2. BLIND SPOTS- VARIABLES WITH CONFLICTING IDEAS

How many VARIABLES do I need to highlight?

1. UNDERGRAD- 3-5 articles

2. MASTERS- 5-10 articles

3. PhD- 10-15 articles

Theoretical Framework

Theories are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many cases, to
challenge and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding assumptions.
Theoretical Framework

 It introduces and describes the theory that explains why the research problem under study
exists.

 The theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research
study. 

 It consists of concepts and, together with their definitions and reference to relevant scholarly
literature, existing theory that is used for your particular study.

 It must demonstrate an understanding of theories and concepts that are relevant to the topic of
your research paper and that relate to the broader areas of knowledge being considered.

REMEMBER:

STATE- Present Theory

EXPLAIN- Cross-referenced

CONCEPTUALIZE- How it relates to the present study

The theoretical framework strengthens the study in the following ways:

1. An explicit statement of theoretical assumptions permits the reader to evaluate them critically.

2. The theoretical framework connects the researcher to existing knowledge. Guided by a relevant
theory, you are given a basis for your hypotheses and choice of research methods.

3. Articulating the theoretical assumptions of a research study forces you to address questions of
why and how. It permits you to intellectually transition from simply describing a phenomenon
you have observed to generalizing about various aspects of that phenomenon.

4. Having a theory helps you identify the limits to those generalizations. A theoretical framework
specifies which key variables influence a phenomenon of interest and highlights the need to
examine how those key variables might differ and under what circumstances.