Satisfactory and unsatisfactory research problem

Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory Research Problem Statement

   I have rejected hundreds of research problem/topics brought to me for approval by my students & clients (NB: I am a research techniques instructor & consultant just for your information).

You may be saying in your mind, what a hell is that, rejecting and rejecting peoples’ project topics just like that! No. The issue is this that most of what they brought as research problems are either too broad or contain no problem at all. We shall consider the example below.


A student brought something like, “The Basic School Curriculum” as a research topic. Now judge this matter fellow scholar, do you consider “The Basic School Curriculum” as a satisfactory problem statement. That statement is too broad to serve as a problem statement and as a matter of fact, it contains no problem.

Please bury this fact in your mind: The heart of any research project is the problem. The way you about this is to select an appropriate research problem by asking good questions that are important and relevant in the context you want to apply it. For us, it is in the educational context. As seen above, research problem may be stated: * in a declarative or descriptive manner* or   *in a question form*.

Many researchers do prefer the question form because it provide adequate focus and direction for the research. Let us look at an example of a satisfactory problem statement based on the example given on the unsatisfactory problem statement. Instead of stating it as * the Basic School Curriculum*,it will be better to state it as, “ A study of the effects of Basic School Curriculum Practices on Reading Achievement of Primary Five Pupils in Kaduna State” .

In a question form, it will be: “what are the effects of Basic School Curriculum Practices on reading achievement of primary five pupils in Kaduna State”.

You can now agree with me that the later statement is better, clearer, focused and directional. Scholar, please always state the problem in a complete sentence in a few words as possible.


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