SOURCES OF THE PROBLEM IN RESEARCH

Muganda, Nixon. 2016. What is your Research Problem? Discovering a Research(able)

Problem and Topic. : BIT Education. (Pg 7-8)

What are the Primary Sources of Research Ideas?

We have seen that research problems can arise from existing problems or from opportunities
that an organization need to take advantage of. But, where do you get ideas regarding these
problems or opportunities that are the basis of research? There are a number of sources for
research ideas which are listed and described below:

1) These could be suggestion from an academic or an organizational department. Members

of your department may point out where problems are in the organization or in other
organizations. Of course this may require that the researcher rely on the organization’s
information system (this is not necessarily an IT system!) or even informal channels of
communication. If you are a student researcher, you may be limited in your choices since
you are required to undertake a study within your discipline. Academic department
sometimes circulate possible researchable ideas, especially if these are tied to some
funding or when linked to the interests of academic staff members in the department.
Therefore, student researchers should not ignore this source.
2) Past Research Work by Students and other Researchers: For most students, this is a good
starting point in order to understand the nature of research that is being undertaken within
their research departments/disciplines. Past studies may also point prospective researchers
to some unanswered questions which the researcher may pursue. These are normally
indicated as suggestions for further research. Therefore as you do your readings, pay
close attention to the suggestions that the authors of what you are reading are suggesting
as necessary for further study.
3) Recent conference papers and journal papers are also important since they can point to the
researcher to the critical areas that researchers in that field deem to be important. Thus,
the most recent studies in conferences or journals point to what is being viewed as current
in that particular domain.
4) Current events reported in the media. Sometimes, a phenomenon is noticed in a particular
society or community before it is recognized by the media. For instance the innovation of
 M-Pesa (Partly a mobile money transfer service and mobile banking solution) was a novel
innovation that arose from the telecommunications sector. The M-Pesa innovation has
provided many research opportunities to students and managers in related organizations
as well. Therefore, prospective researchers need to be on the lookout for events, activities
or innovations that are catching on in practice or are being reported in popular media.
Those things may just be the next being ‘thing’ that will define research in several
disciplines.
5) Organizational Stakeholders: Within an organizational setup, clients, suppliers and other
partners may express certain needs whose solution may not be obvious. This may call for
some form of research. All organizations have several stakeholders. Think of the
university for instance. One of the key stakeholders are students, who, regularly express
grievances to university management individually or through their officials regularly.
These ‘grievances’ could actually be opportunities for universities to enhance their
service delivery. It requires that a scientific approach to research is adopted to solve such
grievances.
6) Calls for conference papers, book chapters or special issues of journals on a particular
theme are a good pointer to what are considered as ‘hot topics’ within the academic
world.
7) You can also just think up a topic. It has happened many times in the history of research.
However, this is a very difficult and challenging source of research ideas. If you do, you
still need to be able to really check that the research has not been done, or that it may not
be an important issue (that’s why someone has not thought about it yet!). However, it is
an option that is available to researchers.
8) Unsubstantiated Assumptions/Claims: You may also come across people making certain
assumptions or assertions with little supporting evidence. Are you able to carry out
research to support or refute such claims? Examples of such claims could be:
a) ‘Organizations that go online will perish’
b) ‘Open source software is the future’
c) ‘Kikuyu (community in Kenya) are more entrepreneurial than other communities in
Kenya’
https://www.soas.ac.uk/cedep-demos/000_P506_RM_3736-Demo/unit1/page_19.htm
diakses pada 11 Maret 2021 pukul 10.02AM

3.1 Where do research ideas come from?

Ideas for research problems or topics can arise from a range of sources such as personal or
professional experience, a theory, the media, or other research studies.

1) Personal or professional experience

Everyday personal or professional experience may lead us to identify a problem for which
we would like a solution. Alternatively, we may encounter a question or questions that we
would like to try and answer.
For example, on a personal level, you may prefer the taste of organically produced
vegetables and thus wonder if people in general prefer the taste of organically produced
vegetables to those produced non-organically. The research topic is a study into taste
preferences and the question 'do people in general prefer the taste of organically produced
vegetables to those produced non-organically?' Alternatively, for example, as a
professional nature reserve warden you may want to encourage the establishment and
spread of a particular plant species because you know it is a food source for a rare
butterfly. The research problem may be, 'how do I encourage the spread of the plant
species of interest?'
2) Theory
Theories are ideas about how things relate to each other. Theories may be general,
commonly held beliefs (such as, domestic cats are the cause of a decline in bird numbers
in UK gardens) or more technical ideas (for example, that global warming is causing a
change to the timing of the seasonal responses of the flowering cherry tree in the UK).
There are many ways of expressing theories, some are very formal, others are informal.
Here are some examples:
a) Keynes' statement that ... 'men are disposed as a rule and on average, to increase their
consumption as their income increases, but not as much as the increase in their
income ...' is a theory.
b) The idea that distance learners have different needs than on-campus students is a
theory.
 c) A hunch that crossing two particular strains of maize will produce a more drought-
tolerant variety is a theory.
d) The assumption that every species has a fundamental niche, is a theory.

Theories may be useful in suggesting interesting questions and generally guiding

fieldwork, but should not restrict us from exploring alternative explanations. The end
result of the research process is knowledge.

3) Literature and the media

There are many sources of literature, such as books, journal articles, and newspapers.
When searching and reading literature it is possible to encounter gaps in information and
knowledge, and problems for which there is currently no solution. These may provide a
good basis for research. We are also flooded with information presented by the media,
such as television, which again might give rise to research ideas.
https://bujhansi.ac.in/econtent/pages/shortcodes/EDUCATION/Selecting%20a
%20Research%20problem.pdf

diakses pada 11 Maret 2021 pukul 10.07AM)

Sources of research problem

1) Professional experience
2) Professional literature (books, journals, encyclopaedia, survey of educational researches,
psychological abstracts, and research reports, encyclopaedia of educational research,
dissertation abstract international, and the handbook of research on teaching,
psychological abstracts)
3) Academic discussion
4) Situational needs
5) Social and technological advancements (recent developments in education)
6) Policies & priorities : policies, schemes etc.
7) Interface between theories and practice (the theory generated by different disciplines like
psychology, sociology, philosophy and economics etc).
8) Innovations and technological changes