To state the problem means to talk about the subject matter of your paper. In a way it means describing the issue you are going to investigate or (hopefully) solve. It is relatied to stating your thesis --i.e. to saying what your article will be about (as well as the position you will take).

Dear colleague,

There’s no standard way to write a statement of the problem, but strive to make it relevant, definitive, and free of ambiguities. In many disciplines, especially those based in quantitative approaches to research, there is an expectation that the problem statement expresses the relationship between two or more measurable properties and thus can be empirically tested. The problem can then be written in the form of a hypothesis, or be stated as a single question such as ‘To what extent do …..’ This could be posed as a declarative sentence followed by a series of sub-problems or questions, over the course of your research, return to your problem statement on a regular basis and continue to refine it. With an eye on what you are discovering and the current research, ask yourself if your problem is still relevant, sufficiently narrow, and focused more on its underlying reasons than on approaches and techniques.

Problem Statement (or Motivation for the Study)

– Identify a key point of concern (for example, increasing use or prominence, lack of research to date, response to an agenda, a new discovery, or perhaps one not yet applied to this context).

– Refer to the literature only to the extent needed to demonstrate why your project is worth doing. Reserve your full review of existing theory or practice for later chapters.

– Be sure that the motivation, or problem, suggests a need for further investigation.

Regards,

sometimes, people or even me become confused .. statement of problems brings about research questions or vice versa?

dear Akhta Abbas ,

To write your paper, need to base on the requirement. One of this requirement will be the statement of the problem or sometimes called the problem statement. To write the problem statement needs to determine where the other person reach in their work, after that, what will add to your work compared with other researchers.the other parts in writing the problem statement need to determine which one specific problem in addition to determining the general problem.in the end, will be decided on the problem statement, after briefing the gaps or weakness of the other papers, that linked with the selected topic

A statement that identifies the problem or situation to be studied (Bbamantra.com)

a clear 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. (Bryman, 2007)

I teach my students that it is a background of your research questions. The statement of problem should bring all concerns to your particular research questions. It tells audiences what main interest and problems of the research are originally from.

It is a short summary of the research problem. What do you want to find out? It indicates the purpose/reason why you want to investigate the problem and what will you know after doing the research?

It is a section of the research proposal by which a brief description of the major concern of the study (problem) is presented. It includes such aspects as the area of the research, a particular issue, what is known about the problem (from previous researchers or experiences), the missing elements in the existing knowledge, and how the current study goes on treating the gap (missing elements). The basic research questions are usually stated in this section.

its summary of why are carrying out that research, what improvement you want bring and what difficulty do you want reduce.

It is the combination of the following:-

- Background and significance of the research question.

- How the research question will be addressed?

- The impact it will have on the respective industry.

A problem statement is the description of an issue currently existing which needs to be addressed. According to Hernon & Schwartz (2007), any problem statement in the social sciences should contain four components:

i. Lead-in (background of study);

ii. Declaration of originality (e.g., mentioning a knowledge void, which would be supported by the literature review);

iii. Indication of the central focus of the study; and

Explanation of study significance or benefits to be derived from in investigation of the problem

A problem statement is the current issue that your research or findings is trying to solve. It links the various variables in your research work and could also be used to propose a research question.

A current challenge on ground that need to be solved.

What attempts have done to solve the challenge?

what are the setbacks of these attempts and what new attempt is expected yield better results than others?

I considered two questions as germane to writing a good research problem.

1. what are the existing problems that need to be solved with respect to the research being conducted?

2. are there envisaged problem that the outcome of this research will prevent?

In the two approaches, it is necessary to identify various problems and discuss them (preferably in paragraphs, and each clearly deal with the problem) within the existing literature, otherwise they won't be substantiated and only you will see them as problem.

The identification of research gaps from literature and filling the gaps is referred to as the statement of the research problem and not the statement of the problem. There is needed to come up with a summary of how the research will have plausible result more than the existing works that have been carried out.

The difference between a statement of the research problem and the statement of the problem is that:

The statement of research problem deals with the identification of research gaps and contributing innovative approach to improving the existing work. This is mostly applicable to Doctoral Thesis and Master Dissertation. The summary at the end of the statement of the research problem is the contribution to knowledge emanating from the researcher.

Statement of the problem is the identification of problems. This is mostly applicable in Undergraduate Final Year Project and Postgraduate Diploma Project.

In order to achieve the statement of research problem, the following are needed:

The year of publication;

The name of Author(s);

The topic; and

The methodology.

Empirical review presents basically the work done by others. In order to achieve it, the following are needed:

The year of publication;

The name of Author(s);

The topic;

The methodology; and

The findings.

http://www.corperslodge.com/index.php?u=/topic/49/difference-between-a-statement-of-research-problem-and-empirical-review

It is clear from the term “statement of the problem “ —— describing the research issue/problem in the form of statement———it describes what is the problem——you have to prove that you are realy dealing with an issue...

The identification of research gaps from literature and filling the gaps is referred to as the statement of the research problem and not the statement of the problem. There is needed to come up with a summary of how the research will have plausible result more than the existing works that have been carried out.

The difference between a statement of the research problem and the statement of the problem is that:

The statement of research problem deals with the identification of research gaps towards solving a particular problem and contributing innovative approach to improving the existing work. This is mostly applicable to Doctoral Thesis and Master Dissertation. The summary at the end of the statement of the research problem is the contribution to knowledge emanating from the researcher.

Statement of the problem is the identification of problems. This is mostly applicable in Undergraduate Final Year Project and Postgraduate Diploma Project.

In order to achieve the statement of research problem, the following are needed:

The year of publication;

The name of Author(s);

The topic; and

The methodology.

Empirical review presents basically the work done by others. In order to achieve it, the following are needed:

The year of publication;

The name of Author(s);

The topic;

The methodology; and

The findings.

It is a concise description of an issue to be addressed or a condition to be improved upon. It identifying the gap between the current state and desired state of a process or product. The statement of the problem must address an existing gap in knowledge in the filed and leads to further investigation. May be divided into two viz., practical problems (as the one observed in the business organization) and theoretical problems ( as how the identified problems are defined and debated in the rampant scholarly literature)

A gap or missing link in what is known which can be bridged through research.

a description of what gap in literature you are trying to expound and why this particular gap in the literature is worth studying.

The existing gap that drives you into research in order to bridge it i.e it is what makes your study worth conducting.

It is gap that has been identified in literature in a particular field of study that a researcher is interested in.

Statement of the problem is a concise description of the problem or issues a project seeks to address. The problem statement identifies the current state, the desired future state and any gaps between the two