Problem statement and research process

Problem statement

A problem statement contains clear and concise facts about the problem that is to be addressed, furthermore it can be stated that a problem statement is a clear description of issues that needs to be addressed that include a vision statement and a method to solve the problem in consideration. The ultimate objective of a problem statement could be considered to be identifying a generalized problem into a well-defined problem that can be overcome by focused research and proper decision making. (Professor BISWA, 2014)

Students were given a hand out on the tips of writing a problem statement, the below image is extracted from Your Dictionary (2014) shows the tips and techniques used to write a problem statement.

The students were then given the task of completing a document on “writing a problem statement”. The students were to fill this document by referring to the task given in one of the previous lectures about drawing a mind map.

The task was done successfully and the document is attached as below.

Writing a Problem Statement Worksheet

Original problem or focusing question	How to manage time efficiently?
Stakeholders who are most affected by the problem	My self, students
Type of problem	Due to improper planning of tasks and activities, and the prioritization of important and urgent tasks students face the problem of managing time efficiently.
Suspected cause of the problem	Students are not aware of the techniques that could be used manage time efficiently. Eg:- to do list, mind map, deadlines, priority list
Goal for improvement and long-term impact	Urgent and important tasks should be given priority whereas students should complete all tasks within the given period of time or before. Finding various methods and techniques used to manage time and follow them accordingly as chosen.
Proposal for addressing the problem	Improvement in time management
Final problem statement	·         As stated majority of students are not aware of the time management techniques available and therefore they do not manage time efficiently. ·         The problem can be addressed by making aware of the time management techniques that are available to students, to do this a lecture or a mentoring session could be arranged, furthermore students can be advised to read up on various techniques that are available to manage time. ·         The students should also briefed on the importance of managing time.

Additional reading on narrowing a topic

Focus your project on a specific aspect of the topic

·         If subdivision of the topic can be done the most of the time the topic can be narrowed down, most issues and concepts can be narrowed down and subdivided.

Narrow your topic to a specific time period

·         By doing so most of the activities that needs to be researched can be restricted to a specific time period, by restricting it to a specific time period the outcome would be the reduction in the material needed to be covered. 

Narrowing a topic to the specific event

·         Another way to narrow down a topic would be to restrict your topic to a specific event, by doing so collection of information a specific event would depend on the amount of information available on relative importance of that event.

Narrowing a topic to a specific geographic are

·         Topics could be restricted to a specific region of a country.

Narrow down a topic to a problem or question

·         Compare/contrast

·         Cause/effect

·         Problem/solution

·         Opinion/reason

Above information was extracted from Virginia Tech (2014)

In the next lecture the lecturer discussed about “research process” this topic includes the steps on how a research should be done.

Steps

Lessons learnt

·         Was able to obtain a clear understanding about problem statement and how to write a problem statement

·         Understood the tips in writing a problem statement

·         Additional reading on how to narrow a problem statement was conducted

·         Was able to get a clear understanding of the “research process” which is helpful for the completion of the ARMPD individual assignment.