STATEMENT OF THE

PROBLEM
PRELIMINARY ACTIVITY
• Recall an event in your childhood when you
did not fully comprehend what was
happening.
•Write a question regarding that event back
then that still remain unanswered today.
•What do you think is the reason why that
question remained unsolved?
• After the investigator has clarified the
rationale, identified the degree of seriousness
of the problem, provided the literature review,
and set the overall objective, the formulation
of the heart of the research must be done- the
statement of the general and specific
problems.
•The opening paragraph of this section contains
the general problem of the study.
WRITING THE GENERAL PROBLEM IN
QUALITATIVE STUDY

In the book Principles of Qualitative Research:

Designing a Qualitative Study, Creswell and
Clark (2014) provided the following criteria in
writing the purpose statement:
1. It should use single and not compound
sentences.
2. It should clearly express the purpose of the
study.
3. It should include the central phenomenon.
4. It should use qualitative words (explore,
discover, explain, etc.)
5. It should identify the participants of the study.
6. It should state the research site.
 Sample pattern:
The purpose of this (narrative, phenomenological,
grounded theory, ethnographic, case study) is to
(understand, describe, develop, discover) the (central
phenomenon of the study) for (the participants) at
(the site). At this stage in the research, the (central
phenomenon) will be generally defined as (a general
definition of the central concept).
 The purpose of this phenomenological study is to
describe the intrapersonal and interpersonal
competencies of school principals, and their
relationship to the school effectiveness in the Division
of Bataan for the school year 2001-2002. the result is
used as a basis for an intervention program
(Cristobal, 2003). Here, intrapersonal is the school
manager’s own concept and personality while
interpersonal is their communication and expressions
in dealing with subordinates.
 The objective of this ethnographic study
is to differentiate the customs and traditions
of the Aetas and the locals of Zambales
enrolled in Olongapo National City High
School for the school year 2014-2015. in this
research, the customs and traditions are
defined as their practices in the celebration
of feasts.
 The objective of this grounded
theory study is to characterize the
general study habits of the high school
students that belong to the top ten of
the class. The study habits are
concentrated on the students’
preparation before attending classes
daily.
 The general problem is
followed by an enumeration of
the specific problems. These
problems are usually stated as
questions that the researcher
seeks to answer.
 The specific problems must meet the
following criteria:
1. They must be in question form.
2. They must define the population and
the samples of the study (respondents).
3. They must identify the variables being
studied.
 According to Creswell and Clark (2014),
there are two types of research questions:
1. Central question- these are the most
general questions that can be asked.
2. Sub-questions- these questions subdivide
the central question into more specific
topical questions and are only limited in
number.
Creswel and Clark (2004)
1. The question should begin with words
such as “how” or “what”.
2. The readers should be informed of the
information that will be discovered,
generated, explored, identified, or
described in the study.
3. The question “What happened?” should
be asked to help craft the description.
4. The question “What was the meaning to
people of what happened?” should be
asked to understand the result.
5. The question “What happened over
time?” should be asked to explore the
process.
 In addition, Cresswell and Clark
(2004) also provide the following
scripts as a guide in designing
qualitative central and sub-
questions:
1. Central Question Script
a.“What is the meaning of/ what
does it mean to (central
phenomenon)?
Example:
• What is the meaning of intrapersonal
competencies?
• What does it mean to differentiate
the customs and traditions of Aetas
to those of the locals?
• What does it mean to characterize
the study habits of the top 10
students of the class?
1. Central Question Script
b. How would (participants)
describe (central phenomenon)?
Example:
• How would school managers
describe intrapersonal competencies?
• How would the Aetas and locals of
Zambales differentiate their customs
and traditions?
• How would the top 10 high school
students characterize their general
study habits?
2. Sub-Question Script
What (aspect) does (participant)
engage in as a (central phenomena)?
Example:
• What level of self-concept does the school
managers engage in as a characteristic of
interpersonal competencies?
Example:
• What nature of practices do the Aetas
and locals of Zambales engage in as a
part of their customs and traditions?
• What kind of preparation does the top 10
high school students engage in as an
indicator of their general study habits?
In general, there are two types of
questions formulated in research:
1. Non-researchable questions
2. Researchable questions
1. NON-RESEARCHABLE
QUESTIONS
• These are questions of value
and are answerable by yes or
no.
Examples:
a. Should all mothers breastfeed their babies?
b. Should high school teachers be watchful
over their Grade 7 students?
c. Should the schools offering different majors
in senior high school require their students to
have a mandatory review before taking the
National Assessment Test?
Examples:
d. Do all head teachers have a master’s
degree?
e. Are family members helping their
children in reviewing their lessons?
2. RESEARCHABLE QUESTIONS
• These are questions of opinions,
perceptions, or policy that are
raised to accumulate data.
Examples:
a. What are the common preparations done
by Grade 7 students during their first days in
school?
b. How do senior high school students respond
to their Math teacher?
c. What are the study habits of students who
are poorly performing?
Examples:
d. What is the relationship of the attitudes of
the adviser to the classroom behavior of
Grade 9 students?
e. How do the officers of the Parent-Teacher
Community Association assist in the
improvement of school facilities?
 Dickoff et.al (as cited by Wilson,
1989) provide further classification
to research questions. They are as
follows:
1. FACTOR-ISOLATING QUESTIONS
• These ask the question “What is
this?” These questions are
sometimes called factor-naming
questions because they isolate,
categorize, describe or name
factors and situations.
Examples:
a. What is the profile of school principals in
terms of the following?
i. Age
ii. Management experience
iii. Civil status
Examples:
b. What are the levels of competencies of
school principals as described by their
respective teachers and themselves in
terms of the following?
i. intrapersonal
ii. interpersonal
2. FACTOR-RELATING QUESTIONS
• These ask the question “What is
happening here?” The goal of
these questions is to determine
the relationship among factor
that have been identified.
Examples:
a. What is the relationship of the level of
performance of the senior high school
teachers to the OJT performance of the
students enrolled in the business track of
St. John School of Business Studies?
b. How does the performance level of
volleyball team of boys differ to that of
the girls?
3. SITUATION-RELATING QUESTIONS
• These ask the question “What will
happen if…?” These questions usually
yield hypotheses testing or
experimental study designs in which
the researcher manipulates the
variables to see what will happen.
Examples:
a. What are the effects of computer-
learning assisted methods of teaching to
the interest level of the sophomores to
their history subjects?
b. How significantly different is the
performance of the call center agents
who are well rested than those who are
not?
3. SITUATION-PRODUCING QUESTIONS
• These ask the question “How can I
make it happen?” These questions
establish explicit goals for actions,
develop plans or prescriptions to
achieve goals, and specify the
conditions under which these goals
will be accomplished.
Examples:
a. Based on the findings, what human relation
intervention program can be adopted to
enhance or improve effectiveness of existing
teaching methods?
b. What faculty development activities can be
sponsored by the PTCA to improve the
performance of graduating students in the
UPCAT?