From Doubtful to Doable: The Problem of Formulating Good Research Problems

Dr. Alvin Schrader, Director of Research at the University of Alberta Libraries; and Professor Emeritus & former Director of SLIS, University of Alberta, described research as a structured problem solving process. Research begins with a doubt, an uncertainty, a question regarding what to believe or what to do. From there it is a process with three distinct phases:

1. Problem formulation
2. Problem investigation
3. Problem reporting
   

Each of these phases involves particular thinking/reasoning skills and all have research literature informing them.

The session focused on the problem formulation stage which Schrader described as having three stages:

1. General Problem Area
2. Specific Research Problem - the what? question
3. Key Terms - concepts, definitions, semantic triangles, relationships involving digraphing antecedent-consequent, showing direction of influence

Schrader used suggestions for research provided by the session participants as examples for working through stages #2 and #3 above.

Schrader provided a list of research problems which may arise from:

• a theory or model or policy
  
• a gap or void in understanding
  
• contradictory claims
  
• contradictory evidence
• inconclusive or weak evidence
• faulty assumptions
• overgeneralizing conclusions from limited data
• unexplained relationships
• a new relationship
• a provocative exception
• unrepresentative sample
• response bias
• a theory-action conflict or gap
• a professional practice conflict or gap
• a methodological alternative
• an alternative setting, time, population, population sub-group, or social context
• literature reviews for meta-analysis
• recommendations for further research in publications
• research agendas developed by associations

Finally, Schrader suggested that research proposals and ethics review submissions should answer two questions:

1. Are you the right person for this study?
2. Is it worth doing?

From this presentation, I would recommend the Scholarly Librarian blog as a potential source of information about doing research as a librarian. I also have a 2-page handout from Dr. Schrader with additional detail on the above. Let me know if you'd like a copy.

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
Dr. Carl Sagan