Research Methodology

Lecture 5: Defining the Research Problem

Subhankar Mishra

School of Computer Sciences
National Institute of Science Education and Research
Bhubaneswar, Odisha

What is a research problem?

Some problem or difficulty in theoretical or practical setting for which a researcher wants to obtain a solution.

Selecting the problem

• Overdone vs new
• Narrow vs vague
• Feasibility
• Your training
• Preliminary study

How to define the problem

• General and broad definition
• Survey the available literature
• Discuss
• Update