Identification of Research Problem

Session 8: Identification of Research Problem

Total Session Time: 120 minutes + 240 minutes of Individual Assignment

Prerequisites

Learning Tasks

By the end of this session students are expected to be able to:

Resources Needed

 Flip charts, marker pens, and masking tape

 Black/white board and chalk/whiteboard markers

 Computer and LCD Projector

 Handout 8.1: Research Problem Identification

 Handout 8.2: Examples of Research and Non-Research Problems

 Handout 8.3: Prioritizing Health Problems for Operational Research

SESSION OVERVIEW

Activity/

Step Time Content

Method

1 05 minutes Presentation Introduction, Learning Tasks

Presentation Definition of research problem

2 05 minutes

Brainstorming

Presentation Identification of research problem

3 30 minutes

Buzzing

Presentation Conditions for a problem to be researchable

4 10 minutes

Presentation Criteria for selecting a research problem

5 55 minutes

Small group discussion

6 05 minutes Presentation Key Points

7 05 minutes Presentation Evaluation

8 05 minutes Presentation Assignment: Identification and selection of

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problem for research proposal

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SESSION CONTENTS

STEP1: Presentation of Session Title and Learning Tasks (5 minutes)

READ or ASK students to read the learning tasks and clarify

ASK students if they have any questions before continuing

STEP 2: Definition of Research Problem (5 minutes)

Activity: Brainstorming (3 minutes)

Ask students to brainstorm on the following question:

 What is a research problem?

ALLOW few students to respond

WRITE their responses on the flip chart/ board

CLARIFY and SUMMARISE by using the content below

 Identification and formulation of research problem is the first step of research process

 A research problem is:

o a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of concern,

o a condition to be improved upon,

o a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature,

in theory, or within existing practice that points to a need for meaningful

understanding and deliberate investigation.

o A question that a researcher wants to answer or a problem to be solved

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STEP 3: Identification of Problems for Research (30 minutes)

Activity: Buzzing (5 minutes)

ASK students to pair up and buzz on the following question for 2 minutes

ALLOW few pairs to respond and let other pairs to add on points not mentioned

WRITE their responses on the flip chart/whiteboard

CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the content below

Research problems can be identified through:

STEP 4: Conditions for a problem to be researchable (10 minutes)

Whether a problem situation requires research depends on three conditions:

or planned situation

research questions)

the problem.

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STEP 5: Criteria for Selecting Health-Related Problems to be Given

Priority in Research (55 minutes)

Activity: Small Group Discussion (20 minutes)

DIVIDE students into small manageable groups

ASK students to discuss on the following question

ALLOW students to discuss for 10 minutes

ALLOW few groups to present and the rest to add points not mentioned

CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the contents below

one, which is of high priority

o Relevance

o Avoidance of duplication

o Urgency of data (timeliness)

o Political acceptability of study

o Feasibility of study

o Applicability of results

o Ethical acceptability

following are the criteria and their rating scales

o the topic should be relevant

o How large or widespread is the problem?

o Who is affected?

o How severe is the problem?

Rating scale (scores)

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We should avoid duplicating what is already well established

o Check literature to see if the topic has been researched in the same area or elsewhere.

o If so, ask whether there are issues that remain to be investigated

Rating scale (scores)

o How urgently are the results needed?

o Consider which research should be done first and which can be done later

Rating scale (scores)

acceptable

Is the topic supported by the local/national authorities?

Rating scale (scores)

o Can the study be done with the available resources?

o Consider human, material, financial, time

Rating scale (scores)

Is it likely that the recommendations from the study will be implemented?

Rating scale (scores)

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o Is the study going to cause ethical concerns?

o Acceptability by research students;

o Can consent to participate be easily obtained?

o Will the students be injured in any way?

Rating scale (scores)

After carefully assessing and scoring the topics based on the criteria, select one with

the highest score.

STEP 4: Key Points (5 minutes)

one, which is of high priority

the one with the highest score

STEP 5: Evaluation (5 minutes)

STEP 6: Assignment (10 minutes)

Activity: Take Home Individual Assignment (10 minutes)

ASK each student to work on the following Assignment

ALLOCATE time for students to do the assignments and submit

REFER students to recommended reference

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Handout 8.1: Research Problem Identification

 Problem Identification

o Finding a problem is not difficult but identifying one for the purpose of research is not

always easy.

o Identifying a problem situation is the first essential step in designing a research

proposal, but it must then be followed by a process of problem definition.

o The research problem identified must be defined in terms of its occurrence, intensity,

distribution, and other measures for which data are already available.

o The aim is to determine all that is currently known about the problem and the reason

it exists.

o All research is set in motion by the existence of a problem.

o A problem is a perceived difficulty, a feeling of discomfort about the way things are,

or a discrepancy between what someone believes should be the situation and what the

situation is in reality.

o While problems are the initiating force behind research, not all problems require

research.

o A potential research situation arises when three conditions exist:

 A perceived discrepancy exists between what is and what should be.

 A question exists about why there is a discrepancy.

 At least two possible and plausible answers exist to the question.

discrepancy, then a research situation does not exist.

 Problem Justification

o After the problem is identified, it is necessary next to justify the importance of the

problem. Research often is expensive and time consuming.

o Find out why the problem you wish to study is important.

Ask yourself the following questions: Can you justify your selection of the research

problem? Can you convince others that the problem is important?

 What to Do: Justifying the Selection of a Research Problem

o In justifying the importance of a research problem, it is helpful to ask yourself a series

of questions and then try to answer each of them.

 Is the problem you wish to study a current and timely one?

 Does the problem exist now? How widespread is the problem? Are many areas

and many people affected by the problem?

 Does the problem affect key populations, such as youth, people living with

HIV/AIDS (PLHA), mothers, or children?

 Does the problem relate to ongoing program activities?

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 Does the problem relate to broad social, economic, and health issues, such as

unemployment, income distribution, poverty, the status of women, or education?

 Who else is concerned about the problem? Are top government officials

concerned? Are medical doctors or other professionals concerned?

o Review your answers to these questions, and arrange them into one or two paragraphs

that justify the importance of the research problem.

o Start by discussing the broad issues that justify the problem and then begin to focus

on the more specific issues related to a particular population group or geographical

setting.

 Sample Research Problem Justification

o Over time, millions of HIV-infected people in Africa and elsewhere in the world are

developing HIV-related illnesses. In most African countries, hospitals, clinics, and

other formal health care institutions simply cannot cope with the large numbers of

people in need of physical care and social and psychological support.

o In some hospitals, well over half of the beds are already occupied by AIDS patients.

In some countries the figure is as high as 70 percent of all hospital beds. This is a

problem of great concern to health care planners, as well as to the Ministry of

Finance, which simply does not have the resources to build new facilities or train

large numbers of new providers.

o The problem of providing care and support for PLHA is particularly challenging in

rural areas because there are relatively few health facilities or adequately trained

providers available. In this situation, an alternative is to provide care, support, and

treatment in the homes of those with AIDS. How to do this in a cost-effective manner

while simultaneously providing high-quality services is a challenge.

o New models of delivering care and support services in rural areas need to be

developed and tested to improve the quality of life for PLHA.

o Without effective new approaches, large numbers of people with AIDS will suffer

physical and psychological pain that might otherwise be avoided or at least lessened.

 Comments on the Sample Justification:

o The first paragraph establishes the dimensions of the problem. The large number of

people with AIDS cannot be adequately treated or supported by the formal health care

system, which is already overwhelmed in many countries.

o The second paragraph notes that the problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where

health facilities and providers are relatively few in number. An alternative is to

provide services to PLHA in their homes. The important question is how to do this.

o The paragraph ends by saying that without the development of new approaches to

care and support, large numbers of PLHA will needlessly suffer.

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Handout 8.2: Examples of Research and Non-Research Problems

Example of a Non-Research Problem

o A recent situation analysis assessment of a hospital in District A found that 125 HIV

positive adults were coming to the hospital every day as part of a DOTS program to

take medication for tuberculosis (TB). But last month‘s service statistics from the

hospital‘s DOTS program revealed that for one entire week, none of the 125 patients

received any medication.

o Discrepancy

All 125 patients should be receiving a daily treatment for TB, but all 125 did not

receive a single treatment for an entire week last month.

o Problem Question

What factor or factors are responsible for 125 patients‘ failing to receive any

treatment for their TB for an entire week?

o Answer

 During the week when the patients did not receive daily TB treatments, a very

heavy rainstorm caused flooding that washed out several roads and destroyed a

major bridge that is used to bring supplies to the district hospital. Because of the

flooding and the destroyed bridge, the hospital ran out of TB medication, and a

resupply truck could not reach the hospital for one week while the bridge was

being repaired.

 In this example, a problem situation exists, but the reason for the problem is

already known. Therefore, assuming that all the facts are correct, there is no

reason to conduct research on the factors associated with the break in the supply

of daily TB medication for 125 patients.

 Nonetheless, there may very well be a need to conduct research on the question of

why the supply logistics system is incapable of providing medication during the

rainy season, when it is known that roads and bridges are frequently damaged.

o A recent provincial study revealed great differences among villages in the

prevalence of HIV-positive persons. Despite the fact that all villages receive the

same level of health education and services from the Ministry of Health, some

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villages have an HIV prevalence rate as high as 32 percent among adults from 15

to 49 years old, while other villages have a rate as low as 6 percent.

o Discrepancy

In a relatively small geographic area, you would expect that all villages should

have approximately the same sero-prevalence rate but, in fact, there is great

variation among villages.

o Problem Question

Which factors are responsible for the geographic variation in HIV prevalence

among villages?

o Possible Answers

 Villages differ in their socioeconomic environments, and these differences

influence the context within which HIV is transmitted.

 Some are stable agricultural villages, while some are mobile fishing

communities.

 Some villages are located on major roads and have easy access to market

towns; others are more remote with very difficult access to market centers.

Some villages

 have schools, health clinics, electricity, and a good water supply, while others

do not have these advantages.

context within which sexual relations take place and HIV is transmitted.

prevention, care and support programs.

change and condom distribution programs.

substantial stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.

PLHA organizations, and effective orphan care NGOs.

individual

commitment to and institutional support for HIV/AIDS programs affect the

sexual behavior of individuals, the use of condoms, the level of stigma and

discrimination, and the transmission of HIV.

o While the problem situation presented above is clear, the possible and plausible

reasons for the problem are complex. Several of these reasons have been

described, but it is very likely there are many more.

o In situations such as this one, the researcher must devote considerable time and

attention to identifying and clearly defining the problem situation before any

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potential solutions to the problem can be tested experimentally through a

longitudinal operations research study.

o The aim of clearly identifying and defining a problem situation is to focus the

research on the most important aspects of a problem that can be changed through a

program intervention.

Handout 8.3: Prioritizing Health Problems for Operational Research

 Relevance

o The topic you choose should be a priority problem.

o Questions to be asked include:

 How large or widespread is the problem?

 Who is affected?

 How severe is the problem?

o If you do not consider a topic relevant, it is not worthwhile to continue rating it. In

that case you should drop it from your list.

o Try to think of serious health problems that affect a great number of people or of the

most serious problems that are faced by clinicians in the area of your work.

o Also, consider the question of who perceives the problem as important. Health

managers, health staff and community members may each look at the same problem

from different perspectives.

o Community members, for example, may give a higher priority to economic concerns

than to certain public health problems.

o To ensure full participation of all parties concerned, it is advisable to define the

problem in such a way that all have an interest in solving it. Even within villages,

opinions may differ on how important a problem is.

o It is therefore obligatory to discuss the problem with community leaders, as well as

peripheral villagers, males as well as females, rich and poor, exploring their

perceptions of the problem.

 Avoidance of Duplication

o Before you decide to carry out a study, it is important that you find out whether the

suggested topic has been investigated before, either within the proposed study area or

in another area with similar conditions.

o If the topic has been researched, the results should be reviewed to explore whether

major questions that deserve further investigation remain unanswered. If not, another

topic should be chosen.

o Also, consider carefully whether you can find answers to the problem in already

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available, unpublished information or just by using your common sense. If so, you

should drop the topic from your list.

 Urgency of Required Solution (Timeliness)

o How urgently are the results needed for making a decision or developing interventions

at various levels (from community to policy)? Consider which research should be

done first and which can be done later.

 Political Acceptability

o In general, it is advisable to research a topic which has the interest and support of the

Local/national authorities. This will increase the chance that the results of the study

will be implemented.

o Under certain circumstances, however, you may feel that a study is required to show

that the government's policy needs adjustment. If so, you should make an extra effort

to involve the policy-makers concerned at an early stage, in order to limit the chances

for confrontation later.

 Feasibility

o Look at the complexity of the problem and the resources you will require to carry out

your study and time required for intervention. Thought should be given first to

manpower, time, equipment and money that are locally available.

o In situations where the local resources necessary to carry out the processes are not

sufficient, you might consider resources available at the national level. Finally,

explore the possibility of obtaining technical and financial assistance from external

sources.

 Applicability of Possible Results/Recommendations

o Is it likely that the recommendations from the study will be applied? This will depend

not only on the management capability within the team and the blessing of the

authorities but also on the availability of resources for implementing the

recommendations.

o Likewise, the opinion of the potential clients and of responsible staff will influence

the implementation of recommendations.

 Ethical Acceptability

o We should always consider the possibility that we may inflict harm on others while

carrying out research or any intervention.

o Therefore, consider important ethical issues such as:

 How Cultural sensitivity must be given careful consideration.

 Informed consent be obtained from the research subjects.

 Will the condition of the subjects be taken into account? For example, if

individuals are identified during the study who require treatment, will this

treatment be given?

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 What if such treatment interferes with your study results?

 Scales for rating research topics

These criteria can be measured by the following rating scales:

o Relevance

o Avoidance of duplication

o Urgency

acceptable

o Political Acceptability

o Feasibility

o Applicability

o Ethical acceptability

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