RESEARCH

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
and DEFINITION
By
Engr. Aries Roda D. Romallosa
Dr. Norberto
Engr. RamonL.A.Mondero, Jr. Jr.
Alguidano,
Professor
Resource Persons
IDENTIFYING A RESEARCH PROBLEM

• In doing research, the first thing a researcher

does is identify and clearly define the problem
to be studied.
• If the researcher cannot pinpoint a problem,
he/she cannot expect others to understand
what problems he wants to solve.
• Initially, a research problem is stated in a form
of a question, which serves as the focus of the
investigation.
 EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
• 1. To what extent do students use computers in
their learning process?
• 2. To what extent do students/pupils play computer
games? Does extent of playing affect their
grades?
• 3. How much do computer users know about
software piracy? To what extent do they use
pirated software? What are their perceptions
about it?
• 4. What are the physical properties of a pressed
recycled paper? Can this be used as ceiling
material?
 NOT ALL PROBLEMS ARE
RESEARCHABLE
• Not all problems require research. A
potential researchable problem exists
when the following conditions are
present (fisher, et. Al., 1991)
• a) There is a perceived discrepancy
between the actual situation (what is)
and the ideal situation (what should be)
• b) There are two or more plausible
reasons for the discrepancy
 EXAMPLE 1

SITUATION (WHAT IS):

• In early 2000, the University APPROPRIATE
TECHNOLOGY CENTER started the
development of low cost technologies that
utilizes rice hull as its fuel with an aim of
helping solve the problem on its disposal
• It has developed technologies that employs
the principle of carbonization, direct
combustion and gasification.
 EXAMPLE 1

THE IDEAL SITUATION (WHAT SHOULD BE):

• The gasifier with a better fuel consumption
rate, fire zone rate, and thermal efficiency
should be identified.
• It is also important to know whether or not
the gases emitted are within the DENR
standards and analyze whether or not they
have a significant difference with each
other.
 EXAMPLE 1

DISCREPANCY:
• It is however, unknown whether or not the
fuel consumption rate, fire zone rate,
thermal efficiency, and power of the gasifiers
developed would have a significant
difference from each other
• It is not also known whether or not the gases
emitted are within the DENR standards and
analyze whether or not they have a
significant difference with each other.
 EXAMPLE 1

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE PROBLEM:

• According to Kaupp (1984), the raw gas
compositions of a rice hull “reactor” can
be determined. The computations can be
done with the STANJAN program
developed at the Standford University
Department of Mechanical Engineering.
 EXAMPLE 1

QUESTION/S THAT REMAIN UNANSWERED:

• What is the performance of each gasifier in
terms of fuel consumption rate, fire zone
rate, thermal efficiency, and power output?
Are the gases emitted are within the DENR
standards?
POSSIBLE RESEARCH TITLE:
• Evaluation of the Different Rice Hull Gasifiers
Developed at University APPROTECH Center
 EXAMPLE 2
SITUATION (WHAT IS):
• Software requirements are essential factors in
building software products for customers. It is
defined by the Software Engineering body of
Knowledge (SWEBOK) as one area that software
engineers should apply as professional practice of
software development and software engineering.
• It covers both the functional and non-functional
properties of the software system that should be
satisfied by the developers.
 EXAMPLE 2

THE IDEAL SITUATION (WHAT SHOULD BE):

• Requirements management tool shall be
developed to ensure that both developer and
client agree with the requirements, project
deliverables are produced during this phase for
approval. These deliverable consists of Statement
of User Requirements and Acceptance Criteria
(SUR), Software Requirements Specifications
(SRS), and Acceptance Criteria for sign-off.
 EXAMPLE 2
DISCREPANCY:
• requirements problems plague the software
industry. These problems include: lack of
consistency of software requirements artifacts
resulting to poor traceability of user requirements
to the various phases of software development,
lack of control of changes making it difficult for
client to determine whether or not requirements
are satisfied, and developers not being able to
keep track of approved change requests due to
invisibility of requirements process.
 EXAMPLE 2
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE PROBLEM:
• Requirements management tools such as TIGER
PRO v1.13, TRUEreQ, CMS & RTS, MKS
Requirements 2006 among others were developed
to help developers in documenting user
requirements for the software product.
Commercially available tools flood the software
market but small-to-medium sized development
teams do not use them due to cost and usability
constraints.
 EXAMPLE 2
QUESTION/S THAT REMAIN UNANSWERED:
• What requirements management tool can be
developed by small to medium scale development
teams that can track, control and monitor
requirements artifacts of software development.
POSSIBLE RESEARCH TITLE:
• Requirements Management Tool for Small-to-
Medium Scale Software Projects
 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN
DEFINING A RESEARCH PROBLEM

• Review relevant literature and previous

studies on the problem,
• Examine current available
data/statistics,
• Seek educated opinions from persons
concerned with the problem.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
RESEARCH PROBLEM

• A research problem must be:

– Relevant
– Feasible
– Clear, and
– Ethical