How to write a PROBLEM STATEMENT in your THESIS: Its 2 parts with an EXAMPLE
Summary
TLDRThis video script emphasizes the importance of a problem statement in a thesis. It outlines the two key components: identifying a substantial problem and explaining the implications of not addressing it. The script uses an example of professors' behavior at a prestigious university to illustrate how a problem statement should be structured, highlighting the need for a clear, well-articulated statement that justifies the study and its relevance.
Takeaways
- 📝 A problem statement is crucial for justifying the need for a study.
- 🎯 It consists of two parts: identifying the problem and explaining the implications of not addressing it.
- 🌟 A clear problem statement helps readers understand the relevance and significance of the issue.
- 📚 The background section should precede the problem statement, providing context and setting the scene.
- 🔍 The background should include literature to support claims and establish the novelty of the study.
- 🏛️ The example used in the script illustrates a problem within a university's economics department, showing a natural transition from background to problem statement.
- 👨🏫 The behavior of professors towards students is identified as the problem, with evidence such as rudeness and unfair marking.
- 📉 Not addressing the problem could lead to reputational damage, decreased student applications, and financial loss for the university.
- 👥 The implications of the problem statement are serious, affecting not just the department but the entire university.
- 🔑 The study aims to provide insights into the problem, potentially leading to solutions or a better understanding of the issue.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of a problem statement in a thesis?
-The primary purpose of a problem statement in a thesis is to identify and articulate the problem that the study aims to address, solve, or shed more light on, justifying the need for the study.
Why is it important to have a clear problem statement?
-A clear problem statement is important because it provides the reader with an understanding of the relevance and significance of the problem, and it sets the stage for the rest of the research.
What are the two parts of a problem statement?
-The two parts of a problem statement are: 1) Identifying the actual problem in terms of its magnitude and extent, including the research gap it addresses. 2) Discussing the implications of not addressing the problem.
How does the background of a study relate to the problem statement?
-The background of a study provides context and sets the scene for the reader, introducing the players and arguments that are important when discussing the actual problem. It precedes and naturally progresses into the problem statement.
What should be included in the background section of a thesis?
-The background section should include contextual information about the study, such as the scope, the key players, and the arguments that lead to the problem. It may also provide some literature to support claims and establish the novelty of the study.
Why is it necessary to establish the magnitude of the problem in the problem statement?
-Establishing the magnitude of the problem is necessary to demonstrate that the problem is substantial enough to warrant the study and to provide evidence that the problem exists.
Can you provide an example of how to transition from the background to the problem statement?
-In the given script, the transition is made by first discussing the high reputation and credentials of a university's economics department and its professors, then identifying specific complaints and issues with the professors' behavior as the problem.
What are the implications mentioned in the problem statement example about the professors' behavior?
-The implications include reputational damage to the department and university, potential decrease in student applications, loss of high-performing students to other universities, deterioration of university rankings, and loss of revenue and grants.
How does the example problem statement conclude?
-The example problem statement concludes by stating that the study will identify why the behavior of the professors is not acceptable towards students, thus addressing the problem.
What is the role of evidence in supporting the problem statement?
-Evidence is crucial in supporting the problem statement as it provides proof of the problem's existence and its magnitude, helping to convince the reader of the problem's significance.
Why is it important to discuss the consequences of not addressing the problem?
-Discussing the consequences of not addressing the problem is important to highlight the urgency and necessity of the study, making the problem more real and relevant to the reader.
Outlines
📚 Understanding the Problem Statement
The paragraph introduces the concept of a problem statement in a thesis, emphasizing its importance for justifying the need for a study. It explains that a problem statement should clearly articulate the issue the study aims to address, solve, or shed light upon. The speaker outlines the two parts of a problem statement: identifying the problem and discussing the implications of not addressing it. The paragraph also stresses the need to provide a background that sets the scene for the problem, introducing the reader to the context and key players involved.
🏛️ Establishing the Background
This paragraph delves into the details of setting the background for a problem statement. It highlights the necessity of providing credible sources to support the arguments made in the background section. The background serves to introduce the reader to the context of the problem, explaining the environment in which the problem exists and the key players involved. The paragraph uses an example of a study focusing on the behavior of professors at a fictitious university to illustrate how the background is developed, including details about the university's reputation, the department's stature, and the credentials of the professors.
👨🏫 Identifying the Problem
The paragraph discusses the first part of the problem statement, which involves identifying the actual problem. Using the example of professors' behavior at a university, it outlines the issues such as professors being rude to students and not marking exam scripts fairly. The paragraph provides evidence to support the claim that there is a problem, including student complaints, social media discussions, and public statements by politicians. It also discusses the implications of not addressing the problem, such as potential damage to the university's reputation and the possibility of decreased student applications.
📉 Implications and Addressing the Problem
The final paragraph focuses on the implications of not addressing the identified problem and how the study aims to tackle it. It discusses the potential reputational damage to the university and department if the issue with professors' behavior is not resolved, including the possibility of a decrease in student applications and a drop in university rankings. The paragraph concludes by stating that the study will aim to identify the reasons behind the professors' unacceptable behavior towards students, thereby addressing the problem.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Problem Statement
💡Background
💡Relevance
💡Research Gap
💡Implications
💡Contextualize
💡Academic Staff
💡Reputation
💡Consequences
💡Natural Progression
💡Substantial
Highlights
Importance of a problem statement in a thesis
No study exists without a problem statement
Problem statement defines the issue a study addresses
Writing a clear and well-articulated problem statement is crucial
Background of the study precedes the problem statement
Background contextualizes the study and introduces the problem
Providing literature in the background to support claims
Natural progression from background to problem statement
Problem statement has two parts: identifying the problem and its implications
The problem must be substantial enough to justify the study
Implications of not addressing the problem
Example of a problem statement in the context of a university department
Establishing the credibility of the department and professors in the background
Problem statement example: Unacceptable behavior of professors towards students
Evidence of the problem: student complaints, unfair marking, and unavailability
Implications of the problem: reputational damage, decrease in student applications, and potential loss of funding
How the study will address the problem
Encouragement to like, subscribe, and watch other videos for more research topics
Transcripts
why is there no study if there's no
problem statement
let's talk about it
[Applause]
hey everyone thank you for joining me on
this channel today we're going to be
speaking about the problem statement in
your thesis
what it is why it's important
and simply
why there is no study if there is no
problem statement
if you find value in this video please
click the like and subscribe button so
that i can continue making new content
on these topics in this video i'm going
to show you the two parts to a problem
statement and i'm going to give you an
example that we're going to work through
that will assist you to write a great
problem statement so let's start at the
beginning if there is no problem there
is no study you must have a problem
substantially enough that it justifies
doing the study what is a problem
statement it is the problem that your
study is trying to address
either solve or shed more light on so
it's important that you write a clearly
and well articulated problem statement
so that your reader has buy-in as to the
relevance of the problem itself but
before you write the problem statement
it's crucial that you deal with the
background
in other words you must set the scene
for the reader so that they can get a
better idea of who all the players are
and what the context is within this
problem and for that reason the
background to the study is important and
it precedes the problem statement so i
just want to give you a few pointers in
the background so there's a natural
progression into the actual problem
statement the background contextualizes
the study in other words it effectively
introduces the problem where in the
problem statement section itself you
identify the actual problem in the
preceding background you contextualize
the problem you contextualize the
environment within which the problem
subsides so the background introduces
the reader to the players and the
arguments that are important when you
discuss the actual problem itself
ideally in your background you want to
provide some sort of literature to
support your claims but by no means is
the background a formal literature
review rather you need to identify
certain sources that add value
for the reader in order to understand
the relevance of the background that
leads the problem statement and the
intention is to have a natural
progression from the background into the
problem statement
so that when the problem is discussed
the reader is more aware of who the
parties are what the arguments are that
result or lead to the actual problem
being a problem so in this background
you would want to set the scene you'd
want to create context you would want to
explain what the scope is of the study
the who the why
the how but very briefly
just enough so that there is a natural
progression into the problem statement
you don't want a situation where the
reader reads the problem and then asks
but who is this person or who is this
company or why should i care about this
or why are these players important why
why did they not mention these players
for example the background must also
provide some sort of idea as to the
novelty of your study in other words
what contribution you're going to make
but of course that contribution is
dependent on the problem that you
identify in the following section
so once the background has been
established the next step is to get into
the problem statement the problem must
be big enough or substantial enough to
justify doing the study and the problem
statement must be argued in such a way
that your study will provide some sort
of value with regards to either solving
the problem or shedding light on the
problem or giving the problem a
different perspective or looking
differently at the problem remember
although you claim to have a problem
that does not mean that your study will
solve the problem but it's vitally
important that the reader is aware of
what the problem is why it's a problem
and how substantial the problem itself
is there are two parts to a problem
statement the first part is where you
discuss what the actual problem itself
is you identify the actual problem in
terms of its magnitude and the extent
thereof and part of this is identifying
the actual research gap of which the
problem is part of the second important
part of a problem statement is what are
the implications of not addressing the
problem or not solving the problem in
other words it's not just good enough to
say there is a problem you need to
establish what the consequences are if
you do not address this problem and that
is what your study is about addressing
the problem in other words your study
will not per say address the
consequences of the problem but rather
the cause
of the consequences that is the actual
problem itself so in summary
for every problem statement there are
two parts
the first part is what is the actual
problem and the second part is
what are the implications of not dealing
with this problem common feedback given
to a student with regards to problem
statement
is to ask the question so what why is
this a problem why is it relevant why is
it significant enough and normally that
is asked because the second part of the
problem is not explained properly so you
have to contextualize the implications
of not dealing with the problem itself
so by way of an example it's one thing
saying your staff are unhappy but i can
ask them so what why does it matter that
they are unhappy and then you should
explain the implications of not
addressing the problem so it would not
be good enough to only say your staff
are unhappy you would rather than say my
staff are unhappy and this is causing
bad service
customers aren't happy customers are
leaving my business i'm losing revenue
and as a result i'm having problems with
regards to sustaining my business so
let's look at an example which we can
work through to see what the two parts
are but also let's look at the
background and see how there is a
natural transition
from the background to the actual
problem statement
let's look at the two parts to a problem
statement before we do that we look at
the introduction and background
remember it's important to set the
context and what that means is that you
need to introduce the reader to the
background of the problem so that there
is a natural transition into the actual
problem itself
so this particular study
looks at the behavior of professors at a
particular university so i've
highlighted the sources here in yellow
just so that you know that it's
important to provide sources
because that gives more credibility to
your arguments don't just write a
background
where the reader feels that you are
giving your view or your opinion
you must back up your background with
relevant credible sources so that the
arguments are sound and that the
arguments are supported with literature
right so we are looking at excellent
university which is a fictitious
university
an american university of higher
learning that is regarded as one of the
10 best in the world according to all
the major university rankings in the
world i provide the relevant source to
support that the university is known to
have one of the best campuses in the us
with a thriving student life why am i
saying that
because i want to get through to the
reader that although this university is
regarded as one of the best it also has
a great campus life
and the student life is thriving the eu
offers some of the best programs in
economics and finance in the world
and as a world-renowned department of
economics why i'm saying that is because
this study is going to be within the
department of economics so i need to get
a message across that this university is
a great university but so too
is the department of economics
it's a department of stature i then go
into discussing the academic staff there
are 21 academic staff members of which
12 are full professors so more than half
of the department are full professors
and they are specializing in different
disciplines in other economics of
finance under the umbrella of the
department of economics
i say this because the study is going to
be focusing on professors
so it's important to establish that the
majority of the staff members at this
department are indeed full professors
i then established that the professors
in the department are a god as of the
top in the world and they hold research
chairs in their respective areas of
specialization funded by prominent banks
such as morgan stanley jp morgan city
bank and hsbc why am i saying this
because i want to get across the
credibility of the department and of
course the professors this is a high
profile department with high profile
professors i furthermore indicate that
four of these professors have been
economic advisers to the us government
and three further professors are
currently on the board of directors at
the federal reserve bank in the u.s so
once again i'm just reinforcing the fact
that the professors are of high caliber
and that they are well established not
only academia but also in private sector
the professors in the department are
very busy and have many commitments to
stakeholders outside the confines of the
university and are more often than not
high profile commitments in other words
what i'm trying to say here is the fact
that the professors are busy so once i
read this background the sense i get
is that we are working with a university
that is well established we are working
with a university that is high profile
we are working with a department within
this university that is high profile
that has more than 50 percent of the
academic staff being full professors and
these full professors are well
established not only in academia but
also in the private sector and they are
high profile professors
they are busy so that was important to
establish to get into the problem
let's look at the problem itself as i
mentioned earlier in the video
a problem statement has two parts the
first part is where you actually state
the problem itself
so if i state the problem here very
simply in one sentence i can say for
example
the behavior of professors at the
department of economics at excellence
university towards students is not
acceptable
now what does that mean
can i provide evidence or proof
to argue the merit of this actual
problem let's do that and what i've done
here is i've given you a few bullets of
course when you actually write the
problem itself it will be in a paragraph
format i've just given you put it so you
can get a nice idea of the different
arguments that i'm posing within the
actual evidence that i provide for the
problem itself
so firstly i'm mentioning the problem
itself that the behavior of the
professors is not acceptable towards the
students
let me give you some examples of what
that actually means
students are constantly complaining
about professors being rude to them and
are never available during consultation
hours
i state that
but because i establish in the
background that these professors are
busy
and that they are well established in
the private sector and have commitments
in the private sector one can understand
that this happens or at least one can
understand
why they are never available
the fact that they are rude to students
is an issue of concern
furthermore there's also evidence that
exam scripts are not being marked fairly
and that students are not being assigned
marks even if evidence is provided to
the contrary what this suggests perhaps
is that the professors are not being
thorough whilst marking the exam scripts
and the fact that they are rude in the
preceding bullet and not adjusting marks
accordingly even if there is evidence to
suggest that the marks are correct it
raises a further problem so what are the
implications of this
the students are laying complaints
directorate and several professors have
been contacted by the exco of the
university regarding their poor conduct
so this is escalated the professors have
now been contacted by the exco
and the university has taken note of the
poor and bad behaviour of these
professors
furthermore the per conduct of
professors in the department has been
discussed on several social media
platforms
and the negativity has snowballed in
recent months now you can think for
yourself this is indeed a problem the
way that social media works is that
there are clear reputational effects and
this can become a serious reputational
problem not only for the department and
the professors but indeed for the
university
furthermore
a facebook group with over 10 000
followers called we hate the professors
of the department of economics at eu has
been established and the number of
followers is growing so what that
highlights is that these students are
serious about how unhappy they are and
they are not merely unhappy
they seem to hate the professors there
are very clear emotions involved here
and this can escalate to become a very
serious problem for the
university and the department
furthermore several prominent
politicians have noticed the anger of
students at eu
and have made public utterances on the
natural public gatherings that have been
reported in several of the major
newspaper outlets in the u.s
so the fact that politicians are now
jumping onto the bandwagon
and given the
ability of politicians to
speak in front of audiences
and speak in front of many people and
the influence that they have
raises further alarm bells for this
department of this university with
regards to the behavior of these few
professors the human resource department
the eu has consequently issued final
warnings
of potential dismissal to half of the
professors in the department should this
behavior continue so we can we can
conclude then that the problem is
substantial
the professors are rude they don't seem
to have time they're not marking scripts
correctly and students are laying
complaints for the university where they
are sharing on a public platform the
problems they are facing with these
professors so now that we've established
what the problem itself is
what are the implications of not
addressing these problems firstly the
per conduct of professors has serious
reputational consequences for both the
department and the university these
reputational consequences can lead to a
decrease in the number of student
applications in coming years
not only for the department but for the
university as a whole especially if
social media hype escalates so what i'm
trying to do here is i'm trying to take
the problem to the next level that if i
don't deal with this problem
there are going to be serious
consequences so the implications part of
the problem statement just makes it much
more real
it makes it much more relevant it just
reinforces why it needs to be dealt with
this could further result in the best
students not applying to study at eu and
choosing other universities instead the
rankings of the university could
resultantly deteriorate of course many
universities rely on these rankings from
a reputational point of view from a
funder's point of view
so this could be devastating for the
university especially as it escalates in
the social media space
all of these factors could result in the
university losing revenue
and even grants from external funders
who associate themselves with leading
universities of repute in the field of
economics and finance so there are very
real implications of this problem
escalating then the final part of the
problem statement is where you give a
perspective on how your study will
address this problem this study will
identify why the behavior of the
professors at the department
is not acceptable towards its students
so it's important that you end off the
problem statement
by highlighting how your study will
address this problem so to summarize
a problem statement has got two parts
the first part is the problem itself
there you establish what the problem is
once you've done that you explain what
the implications are of not addressing
the problem the second part just raises
the seriousness of the problem so that
the reader can clearly see that this
problem needs to be addressed this
problem needs to be solved or at the
very least this problem needs to have
some light shed on it your study will
attempt to shed some light on it thank
you so much for watching the video if
you enjoyed it please click the like
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another video if you are busy with your
research please consider watching some
of my other videos
where i deal with interesting topics on
for example the readability of your
thesis
or if you're considering starting
research i have a video that gives you
four questions that you can consider
before you start i have another video
that sheds some light on how a phd will
change you and specifically the life
skills that it will equip you with
on that note i will see you next time
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