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Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 03:07 am
Your Problem Statement is one of the most important sections of your dissertation.
Let that sink in for a moment.
(Breathe. Say an om. Try to fend off the existential anxiety that is a natural part of the dissertation-writing process).
Okay, ready to know more?
The reason why it’s so important is that your study is essentially a response to a problem. Your Purpose Statement arises from the problem. So, essentially, your problem statement dictates what your entire dissertation will be about.
Fortunately for you, it also has some pretty specific requirements, and if you follow these, you’ll nail your problem statement and write a strong dissertation proposal.
That’s why I wrote this article: to help you understand the specific requirements of a dissertation problem statement so that you can write one effectively.
How to Find a Research Problem for your Dissertation
Before you can write your dissertation’s problem statement, you have to find the research problem.
Your problem statement arises from a gap in literature. When there’s something that hasn’t been studied, and when also a good reason to study it, that constitutes a problem. At its essence, a problem statement is essentially saying, “We don’t know enough about X, and we really should because of Y.”
So how do you find a research problem? There are several commonly-accepted approaches.
Literature Review
Oftentimes, the easiest and most direct way to discover a research problem is through a review of the literature. You will have to conduct a literature review anyway as part of your proposal, so make sure to write notes as you go along.
Make sure you’re familiar with seminal texts, but the real gold is often found in more recent studies. The “Recommendations for Further Research” section may explicitly state gaps in research that need to be filled, leading to your problem.
Get Your Dissertation Accepted On Your Next Submission
Personal Experience
Another excellent way of discovering a problem is through personal experience. Perhaps you’ve worked in a field and noticed a persistent problem that nobody has found an effective answer to. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the literature, though, before taking it too far–it could be somebody has already studied it (in which case you could still build off their study).
Discussion with Experts
Asking experts in the field is not only an expedient way to discover a research problem, it often leads to the most interesting problems as well. Those who have worked in the field for a long time have a depth and breadth of knowledge, and also often work at the frontier of knowledge in their field. They can provide a perspective that even a complete literature review on its own won’t be able to.
Discussion with Colleagues
The old over-used phrase “synergy” applies here. Sometimes, even when two people have roughly the same level of knowledge and expertise in a subject, coming together in dialogue may produce ideas that neither could have found on their own. Or maybe your colleague has just read something interesting that leads you to your research problem. Either way, getting another perspective is always helpful.
Research Agendas
An advisor or group of faculty may already be working with an established research agenda. While your scope will be limited, you may also benefit from contributing to a larger research effort.
Contradictory Evidence
Look at the literature (or ask your advisors) with an eye towards contradicting evidence. If similar studies have contradicting results, the area must be explored more. This is related to “provocative exception,” when a consistent and accepted conclusion is contradicted by the appearance of a new finding. Keeping a key eye on the research can aid your awareness of these instances.
What Makes a Good Research Problem?
You are interested in the problem. This may sound obvious, but may doctoral students have found themselves enmeshed in a research project that they have no genuine interest in because a faculty member thought they should pursue a particular topic. A dissertation is too long of a project to devote to something you’re not interested in. Plus, the quality of your research and writing will be much higher if indeed you are interested in the topic.
The scope of the problem is manageable. So many students submit problem statements that are beyond the scope of what can be explored in a single research project. Remember, the scope of the problem must be hyper-focused.
You have the time and resources to investigate the problem. This means that you can handle it with the time and resources you have now (or can count on having during the process). It’s far better to make small steps of progress than it is to bite off more than you can chew in an attempt to go in leaps and bounds.
The problem has theoretical or practical significance. This is essentially the answer to the question, “so what?” There are many problems in the world that don’t necessarily merit scientific inquiry. As I am writing at the picnic table outside, a slug appears to be trying to climb from one blade of grass to another but cannot reach the second one. This may be a problem for the slug, but doesn’t have great significance beyond this particular slug at this particular moment. Even if we were to consider the importance of this slug’s goal, it would still take longer than a day to conduct a study about how to help it, by which point I expect it will have already moved on.
It is ethical to investigate the problem. The history of scientific research is, unfortunately, marked by a trail of unethical behavior. From the scientific inquiries of the Nazis, to psychologically harmful studies here in the US, to horrific experiments that are still conducted on live animals, much harm has been done in the name of the pursuit of knowledge. As researchers, it is imperative that we consider the ethics of pursuing any research project.
How to Write a Dissertation Problem Statement
Now that you’ve identified the research problem you plan to address–that is, the hyper-specific area of focus for your study– you just have to write your dissertation’s problem statement.
The Key Elements of a Dissertation Problem Statement:
Essentially, you want to establish (a) what the problem is, (b) that it matters, and (c) that it addresses a meaningful gap in the literature.
- Give some brief background information. A few sentences to help the reader understand the context of the problem.
- State the general research problem. This is one sentence that usually starts something like, “The general problem is…”
- Establish relevancy. Here’s where you’ll cite research that supports that the general problem you just stated is relevant, current, and significant to the discipline.
- Specific Problem Statement. This sentence should be worded similarly to your title and (future) purpose statement.
- Conclusion and transition. Here, you’ll include a few sentences on the impacts of the problem on society or the relevant population, and transition to the next section.
Here are some recommended ways of beginning your dissertation problem statement:
- It is not known ___
- Absent from the literature is ___
- While the literature indicates __, it is not known in ___ if
- It is not known how or to what extent ___
After reading your problem statement, someone should have a very clear answer to the questions, “So what?” or “Why does it matter?”
Tips for Writing your Problem Statement
Be concise. The wording of your problem statement should be clear and easy to follow. Avoid complexity. One of the most common mistakes students make is making their problem statement too complex. When in doubt, simplify.
Use Citations. Make sure that every claim you make is backed up by research. The vast majority of studies build on the work of previous researchers.
Focus on only one (very specific) problem. Don’t try to roll several problems into your problem statement. Also, avoid making your problem statement too broad.
Do not offer a ready solution. At most, explore possible avenues for solutions that may be tested with the help of your research.
Stay in alignment. It is also very important that your problem statement is in alignment with your title, gap in literature, purpose statement, and research questions. That means it’s saying the same thing, that it has the same hyper-specific focus.
How Long Is a Problem Statement?
While the actual General Problem Statement and Specific Problem Statement are one sentence each, the Problem Statement section can account for anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages. More than a few pages is usually too long. Remember, simplicity and specificity are key.
Dissertation Problem Statement Example
From Wiley:
The career development process is critical for the success of organizations. Research has shown that women managers experience career development differently from men. In addition, more and more African-American women are now joining the ranks of management, which presents new challenges and opportunities for these individuals.
However, little is known about the combined effects of sex and race on the career development process of individuals, and to the extent that current career development models accurately describe the process is unclear.
If career development is important for organizations and career development is viewed differently by women and men managers and more African-American women are now serving in the ranks of management, and if little is known about the combined effects of sex and race on the career development process, then more needs to be known about how African-American women perceive their career development experiences.
The purpose of this study was to focus on African-American women first-line supervisors undertake and conduct a qualitative study of their career development process.
*Adapted from: Cushnie, M. (1999). African-American women first-line supervisors: a qualitative study of their career development process.
From Wiley
From University of Houston:
The importance of developing a constraint-free and reliable work plan has long been recognized by the [construction] industry. However, numerous construction projects are still plagued by delays and cost overruns, which can frequently be traced to ineffective identification and treatment of constraints.
First, when a constraint is not properly identified during scheduling, subsequent conflicts in the field are inevitable. Today’s projects are becoming more and more technically complex and logistically challenging, which exposes construction operations to even more complex constraints.
Second, the traditional scheduling methods, bar charts and Critical Path Method (CPM) which are widely used as a basis for constraint analysis, greatly limit our capability in modeling and resolving constraints during look-ahead scheduling.
These methods have long been blamed for their limitations in modeling and communicating constraints, including inability to cope with non-time-related precedence constraints and difficulty to evaluate and communicate inter-dependencies at the field operation level (e.g. Sriprasert and Dawood 2002; Chua and Shen 2001). In summary, there is a need for a better understanding of constraints in construction and a structured approach in identifying and modeling constraints to ensure a constraint-free work plan.
From University of Houston
