IDENTIFYING A RESEARCH PROBLEM

DR.P.VIJAYAL, DR.M.VASIMALAIRAJA1
INTRODUCTION
"Research is endless quest for knowledge or unending search for truth. It brings to light new
knowledge or corrects previous errors and misconceptions and adds in an orderly way to the existing
body of knowledge. The knowledge obtained by research is scientific and objective and is a matter of
rational understanding, common verification and experience".

RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC THINKING :

The researcher in his/her search for truth has appealed to five sources of evidence.

1. CUSTOM AND TRADITION:

It serves as a ready reckoner which explains our mode of living, mode of thinking, mode of
tackling our problems, mode of facing the situations and mode of making adjustments.

2. AUTHORITY:
Apart from custom and Tradition we are looking for a supreme authority or a competent
superman. We need guidance and advise with respect to social, religious, economic, educational,
political and even private affairs.

3. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Now the people are progressed towards the modern world of self dependence and
independence. Now a days one can solve his/her problem with the help of experiences and if the
personal experience is inadequate the person may contact friends and advisors.

4 REASONING FROM SELF EVIDENT PROPOSITIONS.

The Product of man's early intellectual efforts was deductive and logic. For example, "All are
poor in Arockiapuram village.Ravi is the resident of that village. So he is a poor boy". This approach
to problem solving is not favoured today. But if one accepts that scientific inquiry is an inductive,
deductive process, principles of logic are important.

5 SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY :
The beginning of scientific inquiry started when a human being started thinking and analyzing
things. Gradually man analysed the nature and found out the facts and effects of nature. Trail and
error experiences of the race are called empirical knowledge. When one is able to understand the
uniformities of nature and to offer satisfactory principles of explanation, one's knowledge is complete,
comprehensive and scientific. Scientific thinking starts with facts and continually returns to facts to
test and verify its hypothesis.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH:
1. A sound philosophy of education forms the basis of educational research.

1
* Principal, St.Mary’s College of Education, Seydunganallur, Tuticorin .
** Assistant Professor, St.Mary’s College of Education, Seydunganallur, Tuticorin .
 2. It needs imagination and insight as much as scientific attitude of mind.
3. It requires an interdisciplinary approach.
4. It usually employs deductive reasoning.
5. It is not as exact as research in physical sciences.
6. It comes out of a desire to do things better.
7. It is not the field of the specialist only.
8. It generally requires inexpensive material.
9. It is incapable of being dealt through empirical methods.
10. Educational research is not a mechanical process.

FORMS OF RESEARCH :
1. ACTION RESEARCH:
To improve the decisions and actions pertaining to the organisation, planning and
implementation of teaching programmes.

2. APPLIED RESEARCH:
To explore the possibilityof meaningful applications of educational theory and practice,
the principles and generalizations formulated around the major educational decisions in the country.

3. BASIC RESEARCH:
To extend the bounds of educational knowledge around basic activities and forms of
educational phenomenon.

FOLLOWING PRIORITY: ARE THE AREAS OF RESEARCH IN TERMS OF

Priority 1 : Research on Teaching and learning.
Priority 2 : Research on Evaluation and Educational Measurement.
Priority 3 : Research on problems relating to teacher preparation, educational planning,
organization, administration and supervision.
Priority 4 :Research on Educational decision making.

Research on Teaching and learning

• Teaching Behavior
• Learning in Formal and Non formal situations.
• Modern Techniques of Teaching and learning.
• Individualised Instruction.
Research on Evaluation and Educational measurement
• Construction and standardization of tests.
• Designing of Tools.
 • Establishing Reliability and Validity.
• Feedback devices.
Research on problems relating to teacher preparation
• Analysing the content.
• Selecting the method.
• Evaluation in relation objectives.
• Modification.
Educational Planning
• Planning Techniques of Government.
• Planning at various levels of education.
• Planning at Institutional level.
Organisation, Administration and Supervision
• Human Relations.
• Group dynamics.
• Decision making.
• Supervision and Inspection.
• Perception.
• Coordination.
• Financing.
Educational Decision making
• Educational Policies.
• Educational structure.
• National level, State level and
• local level planning.
• Resources.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A RESEARCH PROBLEM ?

LITERATURE REFERENCE :
The researcher should read the Textbooks which are dealing with the interest area of the
investigator. It should provide basic information about his area of interest and also give him some
insight into various subtopics in the field. Newspapers and Magazines provide educational problems
that are currently thought of major importance. They provide opinions of educators and other persons
in public life. For example, educational practices that are going on recently at school and college level,
Experimentation on the quality of education, Examination reforms, Effectiveness of educational
technology in the process of teaching and learning etc may be the areas to view through journals and
magazines.
DISCUSSIONS WITH SUPERVISORS AND EXPERTS :
Various areas are selected by the supervisors and there may be a formal classroom discussion.
The students can discuss on each and every area put forward in the class. Experts are invited and
discussion will be going on for identifying a research problem.
SELECTION OF A PROBLEM BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE OF THE M.ED /M.PHIL
/PH.D SCHOLARS :
In the B.Ed course itself the students have undergone the areas of Education. They have got
lot of experiences. From the educational experiences of the M.Ed/M.Phil/Ph.D students, it is possible
to select a research problem in which the researcher is very much interested.

OBSERVING THE EXISTING PROBLEMS :

The Researcher can observe the practices that are going on in the area of interest of the
students. If he/she wants to do research work in Decision making styles of Headmasters, the
researcher should observe the meetings organized by the head of the institution, the ability to solve
the problems that arise in the institution, his approach in handling the problems that are unexpected
and so on.

REPLICATION OF PREVIOUS WORK DONE BY OTHER RESEARCHERS

The Researcher may also select a problem which has been already done. The researcher must
be careful in selecting project that he/she wants to repeat. At that time the researcher should ask some
questions.
1. Will the research work to be repeated make a significant contribution?
2. Will the research work to be repeated clear up doubtful points in the original study?
3. Are there adequate reasons to doubt the accuracy or the validity of the results of the
original study ?

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES :

According to Walter R.Borg, " The literature in any field forms the foundation upon which all
future work will be built". So study of related literature implies locating, reading and evaluating
reports of research. The researchers should have proficiency in the use of library or in the review of
literature. Internet facilities are also available to study the literature. It can give an idea to select the
problem.

MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS IN THE SELECTION OF A PROBLEM :

1. AREA RELATED WITH PROFESSIONAL GOALS:
The area selected by the researcher should be related with the professional goals. For
example, for a teachers working in High schools and Higher Secondary Schools should select the area
like problems of adolescents, Interest of the students, Career guidance, Personal and Social guidance
etc.

2. AVAILABILITY OF GUIDANCE PERSON :

The researcher should think in terms of availability of guide who is an expert in the particular
area. The feasibility to meet the guide regarding discussions on the research will also be considered.
3. DATA SHOULD BE AVAILABLE :
The researcher should select a topic for which the adequate data is available. The researcher may
face problems like getting permission from concerned authorities, distribution of Questionnaire,
explaining the objective of the study to the sample, should be careful in collecting relevant data etc.
4.AVAILABILITY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS :
The researcher should verify whether the reference materials like books journals, magazines,
reports etc are available in the library.

5.THE PROBLEM SHOULD BE SIGNIFICANT:

Existing problems in education which need analysis and report should be selected for research
work. The suggestions given in the research report should be implemented in future. The research
work should provide valuable suggestions to students, teachers, head of the institution, management
authorities, Government and community regarding improvement in education. The researcher should
select an area in such a way that after the completion of the work, it may be published in national and
international journals.

6.TIME FACTOR IN RESEARCH WORK :

The researcher should be careful in allotting time for the research work. Under five major
captions they are reporting the research work. The schedule of time should be fixed. As M.Ed and
M.Phil students have got a short duration of time for research they must be cautious in completing the
work. In this regard M.Ed scholar should select an area which should be completed within the
stipulated time.For the Ph.D scholar the area and sample may be extended for a detailed study.

7. COMPETENCY IN DOING RESEARCH :

A research worker should be competent in doing research. The researcher should be
skilled enough to develop, administer and interpret the necessary data gathering devices and
procedures. The researcher should know the application of necessary statistical techniques.

8.THE SELECTED PROBLEM SHOULDPOSSES NOVELTY AND GENUINENESS :

A researcher should select an area in which recent data and techniques are employed. It
should posses its originality and there should not be any duplication. Newer, better and recent devices
should be applied.

9.SELECTION OF A TOPIC BASED ON LEVEL OF STUDY :

The nature and scope of research study will be determined by the level of research like
M.Ed.,M.Phil and Ph.D. The research may be action research, experimental research, survey method,
descriptive method, historical method, case study and so on.

10.INTEREST OF THE RESEARCHER :

The institution should arrange for meetings with experts and professors who are involved in
research guidance. The experts may clear the doubts of the scholars. It investigator should be
motivated to overcome the obstacles that come in the way of doing the research work.
THE STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED IN CONDUCTING A RESEARCH:
1. Selection or Choice of the research problem.
2. Statement and definition of the research problem.
3. Review of the related literature.
4. Preparation of the research design and formulation of hypothesis.
5. Selection of sampling methods.
6. Selection of the different tools of data collection.
7. Pretest and pilot study.
8. Execution of the research plan.
9. Coding and processing of research data. 10.Preparation of the brief ; and
11. Preparation of the final report.

CONCLUSION
Researchers should be interested in conducting a research project that is new, different and vitally
important. It is also clear that research projects are not selected in a vacuum but that the researcher is
stimulated by the ideas and the research of others. However if the researcher starts by reading
materials in which his/her area of interest one can see new things to improve research.

REFERENCES:

1. Educational Research, An Introduction, J.C. Aggarwal (1991). Arya Book Depot, New Delhi.
2. Research in Education, John W.Best& James V.Kahn (1996). Prentice Hall of India private
limited, New Delhi.
3. Elements of Educational Research. S.P.Sukhia, P.V.Mehrotra & R.N. Mehrotra (1983) Allied
publishers private limited, New Delhi.
4. Methodology of Research in Education, Kulbir Singh sidhu (1997). Sterling publishers private
limited, New Delhi.
5. Research Methodology. G.R.Basotia & K.K.Sharma (2002) Mangal Deep Publications
,Jaipur,India.
6. Statistics. R.S.N.Pillai&V.Bagavathi(1997) S.Chand and Company Ltd, New Delhi.