How to Define a Research Problem 

A research problem represents a specific issue, deficiency, or gap within the existing body of knowledge that your study intends to address and shed new light upon. Framing this problem lays the critical foundation for your entire research. 

Research problems can take two primary forms:

• Practical problems aimed at contributing pragmatic solutions and recommendations for real-world contexts
• Theoretical problems focused on expanding conceptual understanding and scientific knowledge. 

Some studies may bridge both aims, but most research emphasizes one front or the other. The type of problem you pursue depends on your overarching topic interests as a researcher and the modes of inquiry. 

Practical problems often lend themselves well to applied research methodologies like interventions, evaluations, or case studies. In contrast, theoretical gaps are commonly investigated through basic exploratory or explanatory approaches to build new models, principles, and frameworks.

Why is the research problem important?

A broad topic idea is not enough for a successful research project. You must identify a specific problem or gap in the existing knowledge to focus your research. Without a clearly defined research problem, your project will likely become messy and unfocused. 

Some potential issues if you don’t have a clear research problem:

• Your research may repeat what others have studied instead of looking at something new.
• You won’t have a good reason or justification for why your research matters or how it adds anything original.
• Your project may cover too much and become too broad and unmanageable.  
• Without a focused problem, your research will lack direction and wander aimlessly.

Whether you are writing a thesis, research paper, or proposal, starting with a well-defined research problem is crucial. It lets you know precisely what specific issue you are investigating and why studying is essential. 

The research problem guides all the other steps—reviewing previous literature, determining your research questions, choosing methods, and understanding how your findings can contribute something new. Clearly defining the problem up front provides an essential foundation and focus for your entire research project.

Step 1: Identify a broad problem area

As you begin exploring and reading about your general topic of interest, look for aspects or areas that seem underdeveloped, concerning, controversial, or rife with unresolved conflicts. Your aim during this phase is to identify potential gaps within the existing research where your project could help fill a void and extend the scholarly conversation.

Practical research problems

If your study is oriented towards applied, practical research, valuable strategies for pinpointing broad problem areas include:

• Examining Reports and Previous Studies: Carefully review prior research, evaluation reports, professional publications, or case studies related to your topic. Look for issues, inefficiencies, or shortcomings highlighted by the authors as areas requiring further investigation.

• Consulting Practitioners: Engage with professionals actively working in the relevant field, organization, or community connected to your topic of interest. 

• Identifying Underserved Populations: Look for specific groups or populations that may be disproportionately impacted by difficulties, inequities, or obstacles related to your focus topic. 

Examples of practical research problems

Plastic waste pollution contaminating oceans and waterways

Air quality issues from industrial emissions in certain regions

Decline of bee populations and impacts on agricultural pollination

Deforestation and habitat loss threatening biodiversity

Theoretical research problems

For studies aimed at extending conceptual knowledge or challenging existing theories, valuable strategies to pinpoint broad problem areas include:

• Identifying underexplored phenomena
• Reconciling contradictory perspectives
• Poorly understood relationships
• Tackling unresolved debates 

Theoretical research problems frequently stem from shortcomings, inconsistencies, or blind spots within the current conceptual frameworks, which are meant to interpretively explain the phenomena related to your topic of interest. Pinpointing these problems allows new research to challenge assumptions and advance more robust analytical paradigms.

Examples of practical research problems

Gaps in understanding the relationship between social determinants and population health outcomes

Conflicting models about the most significant drivers of increased chronic disease rates

Underexplored contexts around the impacts of climate change on the emergence of new disease vectors

Lack of theoretical grounding to explain the clustering and spread patterns of pandemics

Step 2: Learn more about the problem

With a broad problem area identified, the next step is to conduct in-depth research to better understand the existing knowledge landscape surrounding the issue. This allows you to contextualize the problem precisely and pinpoint the specific gaps, contradictions, or aspects your study aims to investigate and clarify.

Context and background

• Who or what is directly impacted by this problem? What populations, organizations, regions or industries face challenges related to the issue?

• Is this a newly emerging problem that has not been examined extensively before? Or is it a long-standing, well-established issue that researchers have been grappling with?

• Conduct a thorough literature review to get a comprehensive picture of what research has already been done related to the problem area. Critically analyze the methodologies, findings, strengths, and limitations.

• Look for any proposed theories, solutions, interventions, or recommendations previously suggested as potential ways to address or resolve the problem.

• Identify the key ongoing debates, contradictions, or points of contention surrounding different perspectives on the problem. Are there certain aspects or contexts that are missing from current scholarly discussions?

Specificity and relevance

• Delineate the particular geographic location, time period, demographic group, organization, etc., within which your research will concentrate on investigating the problem. Specifying the scope adds precision.

• Explicitly acknowledge the delimitations of your study – what factors, populations, and contexts of the more significant problem you won’t be able to comprehensively address within the scope.

• Underscore the significance and real-world implications if the problem remains unresolved or understudied. What are the potential consequences of not filling this knowledge gap? Who or what may be adversely impacted?

Example of a specific research problem

The gender wage gap in STEM persists despite efforts to promote workplace equality and diversity. Prior research has examined factors like implicit bias, differences in opportunity, and work-life balance challenges. However, there remains a lack of understanding about the compounding effects of intersectional identities, such as being a woman of color in engineering or a working mother in computer science. This qualitative study will explore the lived experiences of underrepresented women in STEM industries across the U.S. to identify distinct systemic barriers and inform more effective organizational initiatives to create an equitable and inclusive environment for attracting and retaining diverse talent.

Next steps

You have completed the crucial groundwork after thoroughly investigating and refining your research problem to a specific, well-defined issue. You now formally articulate the objectives guiding the remainder of your study.

The key next steps involve:

• Formulating the problem statement
• Developing research questions
• Proposing hypotheses (If applicable)

While the problem statement grounds your study by clearly identifying the motivating issue, the research questions and hypotheses provide the intentional framework steering the direction of your investigation. Collectively, these components establish the cohesive blueprint to guide project execution.