research methodology related topics helps to know about catchy definitions and meaning about literature review,research design and problem formulation technique.

1. PROBLEM FORMULATION
TECHNIQUE,LITERATURE REVIEW AND
RESEARCH DESIGN
 PRIYA KHANDELWAL
 M.Sc (PHYSICS)
 1803598

2. CONTENT
WHAT IS RESEARCH PROBLEM?
 TECHNIQUES INVOLVED IN
DESIGNING A PROBLEM
LITERATURE REVIEW
 SOURCES OF LR
MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN
NEED OF RESEARCH DESIGN
CONCLUSION

3. WHAT IS RESEARCH PROBLEM?
A research problem is one which
requires a researcher to find out the
best solution for the given problem,
i.e., to find out by which course of
action the objective can be attained
optimally in the context of a given
environment.

4. TECHNIQUES INVOLVED IN
DEFINING A PROBLEM
As a researcher, you must have often read that defining a
problem is the first step in a research process.
Defining a problem, simply means that the researcher has to lay
down certain boundaries within which he/she has to study the
problem with a pre-defined objective in mind.
Defining a problem is a herculean task, and this must be done
intelligently to avoid confusions that arise in the research
operation.

5. TRY TO FOLLOW THE BELOW STEPS
SYSTEMATICALLY TO BEST DEFINE A
PROBLEM:
i. State the problem in a general way
ii. Understand the nature of the problem
iii. Survey the available literature
iv. Go for discussions for developing ideas
v.Rephrase the research problem into a working
proposition

6. i. STATE THE PROBLEM IN A
GENERAL WAY
 How to define a problem in general way?
 Study the related subject thoroughly
 Do preliminary survey or pilot
survey
Ex: Does negative news interest people more than positive
news?
 Narrow it down by rethinking over the problem in
operational terms. Ex: Does negative news such as
robbery, corruption interest people more than positive
news like country economic growth ?

7. II. UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF THE
PROBLEM
The researcher needs to discuss the problem with those
related to the subject matter in order to clearly understand
the origin of the problem, its nature, objectives, and the
environment in which the problem is to be studied.

8. III. SURVEY THE AVAILABLE LITERATURE
 Survey all the research which are already undertaken in
related problem.
It helps to :-
 Narrow down the problem
 To identify research gaps
Gives new ideas in related area
Helps for research design

9. IV. GO FOR DISCUSSIONS FOR DEVELOPING
IDEAS
Discussion always produces useful
information.
Various new ideas can be developed
through such an exercise.
Researcher must discuss his/her problem
with his/ her colleagues and others who have
enough experience in the same area or in
working on similar problems. This is known
as experience survey.

10. V. REPHRASE THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
INTO A WORKING PROPOSITION
 Initial research question: Why is
productivity in Japan so much higher than
in India?
 After, the problem has understood,
available literature has taken place and
discussion over the problem has taken
place, the question has rephrased.

11. CONTI.
 Rephrased Research question:
 What factors were responsible for the higher labor
productivity of Japan’s manufacturing industries
during the decade 1971 to1980 relative to India’s
manufacturing industries?”

12. following points must also be observed while
defining a research problem:
(a) Technical terms and words or phrases, with special meanings used in the
statement of the problem, should be clearly defined.
(b) Basic assumptions or postulates (if any) relating to the research problem
should be clearly stated.
(c) A straight forward statement of the value of the investigation (i.e., the criteria
for the selection of the problem) should be provided.
(d) The suitability of the time-period and the sources of data available must also
be considered by the researcher in defining the problem.
(e)The scope of the investigation or the limits within which the problem is to be
studied must be mentioned explicitly in defining a research problem.

13. LITERATURE REVIEW
 A literature review is an account of what has been
already established or published on a particular
research topic by accredited scholars & researchers.
…(University of Toronto,
2001)
 The main purpose of literature review is to convey
to the readers about the work already done & the
knowledge & ideas that have been already
established on a particular topic of research.

14. SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature can be reviewed from two
sources:
1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources

15. 1. PRIMARY SOURCES
 Literature review mostly relies on primary sources,
i.e. research reports, which are description of studies
written by researchers who conducted them.
 A primary sources is written by a person who
developed the theory or conducted the research, or
is the description of an investigation written by the
person who conducted it.
 Most primary sources are found in published
literature.

16. 2. SECONDARY SOURCES
 Secondary source research documents are
description of studies prepared by someone
other than the original researcher.
 They are written by people other than the
individuals who developed the theory or
conducted the research.
o The secondary sources may be used when
primary sources are not available.

18. MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN
 A research design is the arrangement of conditions
for collection and analysis of data in a manner that
aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure.
 The research design is the conceptual structure
within which research is conducted; it constitutes
the blueprint for the collection, measurement and
analysis of data. As such the design includes an
outline of what the researcher will do from writing
the hypothesis and its operational implications to
the final analysis of data.

19. PARTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN
 The sampling design which deals with the method of
selecting items to be observed for the given study
 The observational design which relates to the
conditions under which the observations are to be
made;
 The statistical design which concerns with the question
of how many items are to be observed and how the
information and data gathered are to be analysed
 The operational design which deals with the techniques
by which the procedures specified in the sampling,
statistical and observational designs can be carried out.

20. NEED FOR RESEARCH DESIGN
 Research design is needed because it facilitates
the smooth sailing of the various research
operations, thereby making research as efficient as
possible yielding maximal information with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money.
 Research design stands for advance planning of
the methods to be adopted for collecting the
relevant data and the techniques to be used in their
analysis, keeping in view the objective of the
research and the availability of staff, time and
money
 The design helps the researcher to organize his
ideas in a form whereby it will be possible for him to
look for flaws and inadequacies.

21. CONCLUSION
 There are several research designs and the
researcher must decide in advance of collection
and analysis of data as to which design would
prove to be more appropriate for his research
project.
 We may conclude by saying that the task of
defining a research problem, very often, follows a
sequential pattern—the problem is stated in a
general way, the ambiguities are resolved, thinking
and rethinking process results in a more specific
formulation of the problem so that it may be a
realistic one in terms of the available data and
resources and is also analytically meaningful.

22. REFERENCES
 C.R. Kothari : Research Methodology: Methods
and Techniques, 2nd ed., Wishwa Prakashan,
1997.