Sunday, July 10, 2022

Defining the Problem: From Social to Research Problems

Before social researchers can identify a problem, it must be something that virtually everyone is aware of. For instance, the problem of violence in poor neighborhoods is considered a social problem. However, it is not a research problem until it is agreed there is still something everyone does not know. This is why literature reviews are crucial in the research process because it identifies something those earlier scholars or researchers are missing. This is the research gap, and it sets the ball rolling for every research study. If a social problem is violence in poor neighborhoods (which everyone in the society knows about) a research problem is something not everyone knows about and should know. In this case, a research problem here will be "why is the crime rate higher in some cities than the others?"

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Research Questions and Hypotheses

 Having identified the research problem and the research gap is defined, the researcher comes up with questions that guides the study. This ...