Practical Research

Group 3
Arts and Design-11
 Lesson 6
Research Problem and Research Questions
 What is a Research Problem?
A research problem is a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of concern,
a condition to be improved upon, 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. A research problem does not state
how to do something, offer a vague or broad proposition, or present a value question.
It is a question that researcher wants to answer or a problem that a researcher want to
solve.
• Identification and formulation of a research problem is the first step of the research
process.
• Selection of research problem depends on several factors such as researcher’s
knowledge, skills, interests, expertise, motivation and creativity with respect to the
subject of inquiry.
• It is believed that most of the good research studies needs lots of time for selectionof a
research problem.
 Background of the Problem
Background information expands upon the key points stated in the beginning of your introduction but is not
intended to be the main focus of the paper. Sufficient background information helps your reader determine if you have
a basic understanding of the research problem being investigated and promotes confidence in the overall quality of your
analysis and findings. This information provides the reader with the essential context needed to understand the research
problem and its significance.
• Cultural
• Economic
• Gender 
• Historical
• Interdisciplinary 
• Philosophical
• Physical/Spatial
• Political
• Social 
• Temporal 

Background information can also include summaries of important, relevant research studies.
 What is a Research Question?
It is the fundamental core of a research project, study or review of literature. It focuses the
study, determines the methodology, and guides all stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting.
It is important to start your thinking about the dissertation with a question rather than simply
a topic heading. The question sets out what you hope to learn about the topic. This question,
together with your approach, will guide and structure the choice of data to be collected and
analysed.
Some research questions focus your attention onto the relationship of particular theories and
concepts: 'how does gender relate to career choices of members of different religions?' Some
research questions aim to open an area to let possible new theories emerge: 'what is going on
here?' is the most basic research question in exploratory research. For an undergraduate
dissertation, your question needs to be more targeted than either of these.
Creating a research question is a task. Good research questions are formed and worked on,
and are rarely simply found. You start with what interests you, and you refine it until it is
workable.
 There is no recipe for the perfect research question, but there are bad research
questions. The following guidelines highlight some of the features of good
questions.
Top Tips:
• Relevant.
Arising from issues raised in literature and/or practice, the question will be of academic and
intellectual interest.
• Manageable in terms of research and in terms of your own academic abilities.
You must be able to access your sources of data (be they documents or people), and to give
a full and nuanced answer to your question.
• Substantial and with original dimensions.
The question should showcase your imaginative abilities, however far it may be couched in
existing literature.
• Consistent with the requirements of the assessment.
Fit for assessment: Remember, you must satisfy the learning outcomes of your course. Your
question must be open to assessment, as well as interesting.
• Clear and simple.
 Lesson 9
Standard Styles in Review in Related Literature, Citation or
References
 Purpose of Citation
A citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and intellectual works
that you utilized to support your research. It can also be used to locate particular sources and
combat plagiarism. Typically, a citation can include the author's name, date, location of the
publishing company, journal title, or DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
A citation is a reference within a text to another document, the cited work. The purpose
of a citation is usually to provide support or evidence for what you are saying; it tells the
reader where this support or evidence can be found, and it typically does this by providing a
reference to a bibliography, a list of detailed bibliographic information provided at the end
of your document.
• Given this purpose, there are a number of things that follow:
• The relationship between the cited work and your own text should be clear.
• There should be sufficient detail in the bibliography for the reader to locate the cited work.
Styles of Citation

A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the
information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting.

How to do I choose a citation style?

There are many different ways of citing resources from your research. The citation style
sometimes depends on the academic discipline involved. For example:

• APA (American Psychological Association) is used by Education, Psychology, and

Sciences
• MLA (Modern Language Association) style is used by the Humanities
• Chicago/Turabian style is generally used by Business, History, and the Fine Arts
 Patterns of Citation

Here are some tips on making good citations:

• Citation Format
• Citation Precision: Indicating the Rhetorical Role
• Citation Precision: Pinpointing the Evidence
• Bracketing
• Syntactic and Parenthetical Citations
 Plagiarism
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "plagiarize" means:

• to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own

• to use (another's production) without crediting the source

• to commit literary theft

• to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.
But can words and ideas really be stolen?
According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by
copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are
recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).
• All of the following are considered plagiarism:
• turning in someone else's work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
 Avoiding Allegations of Plagiarism

Credit must be given when using one of the following in your own research
paper:
• Another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
• Any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings, or other non-textual elements used or
that you adapted from another source;
• Any pieces of information that are not common knowledge;
• Quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words; or
• Paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words.
  End of Presentation in Practical Research

Michael John A. Jacinto

Hannah Joy T. Senis
Roxanne O. Torrazo
Karen O. Ramos
Josie J. Asis