Problem statement is the concluding note of literature review in chapter two of research thesis. As we have already seen in literature review that researcher envisaged upon the discovery of all possible factors identified in past research efforts on the subject. The purpose is to bring discussion at the level where still gap could be realized between existing knowledge and the desired level on the subject.
After finishing with the literature review, researcher has sufficient information to justify current research efforts. Therefore, at concluding section of the literature review researcher is narrowing down to exact problem statement.
This is a five to seven lines brief note on the objective explaining about gap where further research is required. Problem statement exhibits researcher’s confidence level in order to achieve the objective to fill this gap. Thus problem statement is the final component in chapter two where researcher briefly writes down research questions with the objective to provide answer and solution to the problem. Problem statement should cover following areas:
What is the gap between current and expected level of knowledge on the subject.
What question needs to be answered in the current research project.
The objective of research or the dependent variable.
The domain of the subject by precisely mentioning about platform or the field where underlying factors could possibly be seen.
Clarity of problem statement will determine the further direction of research project. It will help researcher to focus on the right direction so that researcher's efforts could be optimized. It is pertinent to mention that hypothesis developed in the later stage are the possible unproved answers to the research questions trimmed or raised in the problem statement.
(Author: Muhammad Azeem)
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