IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRYAND STATING THE PROBLEM

Research Question

• Can be derived from a wide variety of contents.• Can be prompted by your own personal interest or

experience.• Can also be prompted by a theory that you are

very much interested.

Marx’s Possible Sources of Research Questions

• Intellectual Puzzles and Contradictions• The existing literature• REPLICATION• Structures and Function• Opposition• A social problem• ‘Gaps between official versions of reality and the facts on the

ground’• The counter-intuitive• New methods and theories• ‘New Social and technical developments and social trends.• Personal Experience• Sponsors and teachers.

CRITERIA• They should be clear, in the sense of being intelligible.• They should be researchable• They should have some connection(s) with established

theory and research.• Your research questions should be linked to each other.• They should at the very least hold out the prospect of

being able to make an original contribution• The research questions should be neither too broad nor

too narrow.

Scope and Delimitation&

Benefits and Beneficiaries

Problem Statement Write An opening sentence that entices the

reader and stimulates his or her interest to read about your research problem.

Objectives of the Research

Indicate what the research will do, for instance, discover (grounded theory), explain or seek to understand (ethnography), explore a process

(case study) and describe the experiences (phenomenology).

Scope and Delimitation of research Indicate the boundaries, exceptions,

reservations and qualifications in your study.

Sometimes referred to as“Delimitations and Limitations”

Delimitations – used to address how the study will be narrowed in scope.

Limitations – Used to identify potential weaknesses of the study.

Significance of ResearchMention and elaborate on the central focus or phenomenon being explored or understood in

the study.

Target AudienceYour target audience is linked to the significance

of your research.Who would be interested in or who would find

your study a worthwhile investigation.

• True or False

1. Research question come from any of several sources, namely, personal interest and experiences.

2. The research question should be either too broad or too narrow.

3. Objectives of the Research. Sometimes this section is referred to as Delimitations and Limitations

4. Scope and Delimitation or research indicate the boundaries, exceptions, reservation and qualification in your study.

5. Objectives of the research, indicate what will the research will do, for instance, discover, explain or seek.