Transforming Social ProblemsInto Research Problems

Tobias Ball

Academic Editor

What are we talking about?

• Scholar Practitioner– Curriculum and Research rooted in the

literature.– Students work, reflect, and implement

research findings in the field.– A synergy can exist between the worlds of

academia and the field, but also a chasm.

Our Goal as Scholar Practitioners

• To link academic research to the world of practice in a meaningful way.

• Students will not only learn the material but also how to investigate on their own.

Your perspective allows for the illumination of new and significant questions for scholarly inquiry.

Barriers to beginning your research

• Slow starts related to problem formulation and literature review.

• Perfectionism.• Distraction from main focus of research.• Inadequate collection of data due to poor

planning.• Project perceived as awesome and

daunting.• Developing a Research Problem

Sources of Research Topics

• Theory– An organized body of concepts, generalizations, and

principles that can be subject to investigation.

• Replication– Testing features of a published study.

• Personal Experience– Questions that you ask yourself.– May lead to a Social Problem rather than a Research

Problem.

Social Problems Defined

• Situations affecting a significant number of people, that are believed to be sources of difficulty or threaten the stability of a community, and that require programs or amelioration.

Aspects of a Social Problem

• Specific to one’s community, workplace, school, synagogue, church, mosque, hospital, business, etc.

• Something you already know to be true.

• Something that is important and in need of a solution.

Aspects of a Research Problem

• Rooted in the literature.

• Contains elements of the social problem.

• Academic in nature.

• Every assertion can be supported by scholarly, published, peer-reviewed evidence.

Aspects of a Research Problem

• Interesting– Researcher will maintain interest over the study.

• Researchable– Not stated as what should be done.

• Significant– Contributes to practice or theory.

• Manageable– Appropriate to researcher’s skills, resources, and

time.

When you solve a research problem you are then qualified to solve a social problem.

How to transform a social problem into a research problem

• Make a list of the language associated with the social problem.

• Use that list and create search equations to be used in library databases.

• Collect and review the literature.

• Identify the gap in the literature.

• Use your own research and findings to fill the gap.

Example

• Description of Problem

• Associated Terms:– Classroom, poverty, classroom management,

hungry, learning objectives, third grade, elementary student, funding, barriers.

Boolean Operators

“AND, OR, NOT”

Boolean operators

• Mathematical notation in logic began with George Boole (1815-1864)

• Boolean algebra is the basis for computer operations, based on the binary number system

Example

• classroom and management and poverty• class* and hungry and management • student* and learn* and poverty• (student* and learn*) or (class* and learn*) and

poverty not canada

General Tips

• Defining and articulating a research problem is a demanding intellectual process.

• Define the research problem early in the writing stage.

• Ask yourself if the research contributes to knowledge in the field.

Continually ask yourself…

• What is the central question or problem?

• Why is this problem important and worthy of study?

• How will I go about the investigation?