Chapter 3

Formulating and Clarifying The

Research Topic

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Learning Objectives:
• At the end of this chapter, students are
expected to formulate and Clarify a
Research Topic.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Techniques for Narrowing a Topic into a Research

Question
• In order to narrow down the focus of research, try to get
the background information from different sources.
• For example:
i) Examine the literature.
• Published articles are an excellent source of ideas for
research questions.
• They are usually at an appropriate level of specificity and
suggest research questions that focus on the following:
• Explore unexpected findings discovered in previous research.
• Follow suggestions an author gives for future research at the end of an
article.
• Extend an existing explanation or theory to a new topic or setting.
• Challenge findings or attempt to refute a relationship.
• Specify the intervening process and consider linking relations.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

ii) Talk over ideas with others.

• Ask people who are knowledgeable
about the topic for questions about it
that they have thought of.
• Seek out those who hold opinions that
differ from yours on the topic and discuss
possible research questions with them.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

iii) Apply to a specific context.

• Focus the topic onto a specific historical
period or time period.
• Narrow the topic to a specific society or
geographic unit.
• Consider which subgroups or categories
of people/units are involved and whether
there are differences among them.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

iv) Define the aim or desired outcome of the study.

• Will the research question be for an

exploratory, explanatory, or descriptive study?

• Will the study involve applied or basic

research?

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
From the Research Question to Hypotheses
• Tentative answers to the research question
help in the identification of variables that could
be used as explanatory factors for building up
the argumentation in the development of
propositions relevant to the topic.
• The factors may be the prospects of
membership of female workers of labor unions,
actual membership, support of their men folk
for membership, participation in the general
body meetings, membership of the executive
body of labor union, and so on.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
The Research Problem
• One of the first tasks, therefore, on the way to
deciding on the detailed topic of research is to
find a question, an unresolved controversy, a
gap in knowledge or an unrequited need within
the chosen subject.
• This search requires an awareness of current
issues in the subject and an inquisitive and
questioning mind.
• Although you will find that the world is
teeming with questions and unresolved
problems, not every one of these is a suitable
subject for research.

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 Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Here is a list of the most important:
i) It should be of great interest to you.
• You will have to spend many months
investigating the problem.
• A lively interest in the subject will be an
invaluable incentive to persevere.
ii) The problem should be significant.
• It is not worth time and effort investigating
a trivial problem or repeating work which
has already been done elsewhere.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

iii) It should be delineated.

• Consider the time you have to complete
the work, and the depth to which the
problem will be addressed.
• You can cover a wide field only
superficially, and the more you restrict the
field, the more detailed the study can be.
• You should also consider the cost of
necessary travel and other expenses.

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 Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

iv) You should be able to obtain the data(or

information) required.

• You cannot carry out research if you fail to

collect the relevant information needed to tackle
your problem, either :
• because you lack access to documents or
other sources, and/or
• because you have not obtained the co-
operation of individuals or organizations
essential to your research.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
V) You should be able to draw conclusions related
to the problem .
• The point of asking a question is to find an
answer.
• The problem should be one to which the
research can offer some solution, or at
least the elimination of some false
‘solutions’.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
vi)You should be able to state the problem clearly and
concisely.
• A precise, well thought out and fully articulated
sentence, understandable by anyone, should
normally clearly be able to explain just what the
problem is.
• It is not easy to decide on and define a research
problem, and you will not be expected to do so
immediately.
• The important thing, at this stage, is to know
what you are looking for, and to explore your
subject for suitable possibilities.
• The problem can be generated either by an
initiating idea, or by a perceived problem area.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
• Problem definition or problem statement is a clear,
precise, and concise statement of the question or issue
that is to be investigated with the goal of finding an answer
or solution.
• For example the problem could pertain to:
• Existing business problems where the manager is
looking for a solution,
• Situation that may not pose any current problems
but which the manager feels have scope for
improvement,
• Areas where some conceptual clarity is needed for
better theory building, or
• Situations in which a researcher is trying to answer a
research question empirically because of interest in
the topic.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Research Problem Definition

• This stage requires an enquiring mind, an eye for inconsistencies
and inadequacies in current theory and a measure of
imagination.
• It is often useful in identifying a specific problem to pose a
simple question,
• For Example,
• ‘Does the presence of indoor plants affect
people’s frame of mind?’ or
• ‘How can prevention measures reduce the
spread of vandalism?’ or
• ‘Can planning and building regulations prevent the
destruction of indigenous architecture?’
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 Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
The Sub-problems
• Most research problems are difficult, or even impossible, to solve
without breaking them down into smaller problems.
• The short sentences devised during the problem formulation
period can give a clue to presence of sub-problems.
• Does one aspect have to be researched before another aspect can
be begun?
• For example,
• in one of the research questions asked above,
• the kinds of prevention measures that can be used
against vandalism,
• how they can be employed and
• for what types of vandalism they are suitable, will have
to be examined.
• The sub-problems should describe the scope of the work and,
taken together, should define the entire problem to be tackled as
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summarized in the main problem.
Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

According to Booth et al. (1995, p. 40) you can organize

your questions to define the sub-problems by looking at
your topic from these four perspectives:
• What are the parts of your topic and what larger whole
is it a part of?
• What is its history and what larger history is it a part of?
• What kind of categories can you find in it, and to what
larger categories of things does it belong?
• What good is it? What can you use it for?

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Meaning of Variables
• Variable is central idea in research.
• Simply defined, variable is a concept
that varies.
• There are two types of concepts:
• those that refer to a fixed
phenomenon and
• those that vary in quantity, intensity,
or amount (e.g. amount of education).

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
The second type of concept and measures of the concept are
variables.
• A variable is defined as anything that varies or changes
in value.
• Variables take on two or more values.
• Because variable represents a quality that can exhibit
differences in value, usually magnitude or strength, it
may be said that a variable generally is anything that
may assume different numerical or categorical values.
For Example
• Gender is a variable; it can take two values: male or
female.
• Marital status is a variable; it can take on values of
never married, single, married, divorced, or widowed.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Types of Variable
a. Continuous and Discontinuous variables
• Variables have different properties and to these
properties we assign numerical values.
• If the values of a variable can be divided into
fractions then we call it a continuous variable.
• Such a variable can take infinite number of
values. Income, temperature, age, or a test score
are examples of continuous variables.
• These variables may take on values within
a given range or, in some cases, an infinite
set.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
• Any variable that has a limited number of
distinct values and which cannot be divided into
fractions, is a discontinuous variable.
• Such a variable is also called as categorical
variable or classificatory variable, or discrete
variable.
• Some variables have only two values, reflecting
the presence or absence of a property:
employed-unemployed or male-female have
two values.
• These variables are referred to as
dichotomous.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
• There are others that can take added categories
such as the demographic variables of race, religion.
• All such variables that produce data that fit into categories
are said to be discrete/ categorical/classificatory, since only
certain values are possible.

• An automotive variable, for example, where

“Chevrolet” is assigned a 5 and “Honda” is
assigned a 6, provides no option for a 5.5 (i.e. the
values cannot be divided into fractions).

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Dependent and Independent Variables

• Researchers who focus on causal relations usually begin

with an effect, and then search for its causes.
• The cause variable, or the one that identifies forces or
conditions that act on something else, is the
independent variable.
• The variable that is the effect or is the result or
outcome of another variable is the dependent variable
(also referred to as outcome variable or effect
variable).
• The independent variable is “independent of” prior
causes that act on it, whereas the dependent variable
“depends on” the cause.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
• In statistical analysis a variable is identified by:
• the symbol (X) for independent variable and
• by the symbol (Y) for the dependent variable.
• In the research vocabulary different labels have been
associated with the independent and dependent
variables like:
• Research studies indicate that successful new product
development has an influence on the stock market
price of a company.
• Therefore, the success of the new product is the
independent variable, and stock market price the
dependent variable.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
c. Moderating Variables
• A moderating variable is one that has a strong contingent
effect on the independent variable-dependent variable
relationship.
• That is, the presence of a third variable (the moderating
variable) modifies the original relationship between the
independent and the dependent variable.
• For Example,
• A strong relationship has been observed between the
quality of library facilities (X) and the performance of the
students (Y).
• Although this relationship is supposed to be true
generally, it is nevertheless contingent on the interest and
inclination of the students.
• It means that only those students who have the interest and
inclination to use the library will show improved performance
in their studies.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Intervening Variables
• A basic causal relationship requires only independent
and dependent variable.
• A third type of variable, the intervening variable,
appears in more complex causal relationships.
• It comes between the independent and dependent
variables and shows the link or mechanism between
them.
• Advances in knowledge depend not only on
documenting cause and effect relationship but also
on specifying the mechanisms that account for the
causal relation.
• In a sense, the intervening variable acts as a
dependent variable with respect to independent
variable and acts as an independent variable toward
the dependent variable.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Extraneous Variables
• An almost infinite number of extraneous variables (EV)
exist that might conceivably affect a given relationship.
• Some can be treated as independent or moderating
variables, but most must either be assumed or
excluded from the study.
• Such variables have to be identified by the researcher.
• In order to identify the true relationship between the
independent and the dependent variable, the effect of
the extraneous variables may have to be controlled.
• This is necessary, if we are conducting an experiment
where the effect of the confounding factors has to be
controlled.
• Confounding factors is another name used for
extraneous variables.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Relationship Among variables
• Once the variables relevant to the topic of
research have been identified, then the researcher
is interested in the relationship among them.
• A statement containing the variable is called a
proposition.
• It may contain one or more than one variable.
• The proposition having one variable in it may be
called as Univariate proposition, those with two
variables as bivariate proposition, and then of
course multivariate containing three or more
variables.
• Prior to the formulation of a proposition the researcher
has to develop strong logical arguments which could
help in establishing the relationship.

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 Logistics Performance Model
The impact of logistics performance on organizational performance in a supply
chain context
The model incorporates the following constructs:
1) Supply chain management strategy;
2) Logistics performance;
3) Marketing performance; and
4) Financial performance.

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 Hypothesis on Logistics Performance Model

• H1. A supply chain management strategy is positively

associated with logistics performance.
• H2. A supply chain management strategy is positively
associated with marketing performance.
• H3. A supply chain management strategy is positively
associated with financial performance.
• H4. Logistics performance is positively associated with
marketing performance.
• H5. Logistics performance is positively associated with
financial performance.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Assignment On Problem Formulation

• In order to exercise what you have learned
about the characteristics of the research
problem and how it should be presented, pick
any article or thesis from your library or the
internet and review a research proposal.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

After reading the proposal, check the report against the

following criteria:
1) Is the research problem clearly stated? What is it?
Write it out. If it is not clear, try to detect what it
probably is and then summarize it.
2) Does the problem seem to arise naturally from the
background information and questions?
3) Summarize the main points of the argument which
lead up to the problem. If you have difficulty finding
the relevant background information and argument,
explain where you see the gaps.
4) Are any sub-problems stated? If so, what are they?
Write them out. Do they really form parts of the
main problem?

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
5) Is the proposed research limited in scope?
What are the limitations? (It will help you if
you think of different aspects of the research,
e.g. time, place etc.)
6) Did the researcher state what type of research
approach would be used? If so, write a summary of
the research activities to be undertaken.
7) Is there any indication of the importance of the study?
Describe how, if at all, this is conveyed.
8) Is there any reference to, or discussion of,
related literature or studies by other
researchers? If so, which?
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Hypothesis Development

• We have already seen that propositions are

statements about variables considered to be true or
false.
• If the phenomenon under consideration happens to
be observable reality then the said statement could
be empirically tested.
• A proposition that can be verified to determine its
reality is a hypothesis.
• Therefore one can say that a hypothesis is a verifiable
counterpart of a proposition.
• A hypothesis may be defined as a logically
conjectured relationship between two or more
variables, expressed in the form of a testable
statement
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Examples of Hypotheses:
1. Officers in my organization have higher
than average level of commitment
(variable).
2. Level of job commitment of the officers is
associated with their level of efficiency.
3. Level of job commitment of the officers is
positively associated with their level of
efficiency.
4. The higher the level of job commitment of
the officers the lower their level of
absenteeism.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Types of Hypotheses
i)Descriptive Hypothesis
• Descriptive hypothesis contains only one variable
thereby it is also called as Univariate hypothesis.
• Descriptive hypotheses typically state the existence,
size, form, or distribution of some variable.
• The first hypothesis contains only one variable.
• It only shows the distribution of the level of
commitment among the officers of the
organization which is higher than average.
• Such a hypothesis is an example of a
Descriptive Hypothesis. Researchers usually use
research questions rather than descriptive
hypothesis.
• For example, a question can be:
• What is the level of commitment of the
officers in your organization?
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
ii) Relational Hypothesis
• These are the propositions that describe a
relationship between two variables.
• The relationship could be non-directional or
directional, positive or negative, causal or simply
correlational.
• While stating the relationship between the two
variables, if the terms of positive, negative, more
than, or less than are used then such hypotheses
are directional because the direction of the
relationship between the variables
(positive/negative) has been indicated (see
hypotheses 3 and 4).
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
iii) Correlational hypotheses
• State merely that the variables occur together in some
specified manner without implying that one causes the
other.
• Such weak claims are often made when we believe that
there are more basic causal forces that affect both
variables. (Hypothesis 2)
• Level of job commitment of the officers is
positively associated with their level of
efficiency.
• Here we do not make any claim that one variable
causes the other to change.
• That will be possible only if we have control on all other
factors that could influence our dependent variable.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
iv)Explanatory (causal) hypotheses
• Imply the existence of, or a change in, one
variable causes or leads to a change in the other
variable.
• This brings in the notions of independent and the
dependent variables.
• Cause means to “help make happen.” So the
independent variable may not be the sole reason
for the existence of, or change in the dependent
variable.
• The researcher may have to identify the other
possible causes, and control their effect in case the
causal effect of independent variable has to be
determined on the dependent variable.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Different ways to state hypotheses
• High motivation causes high efficiency.
• High motivation leads to High efficiency.
• High motivation is related to high efficiency.
• High motivation influences high efficiency.
• High motivation is associated with high efficiency.
• High motivation produces high efficiency.
• High motivation results in high efficiency.
• If high motivation then high efficiency.
• The higher the motivation, the higher the
efficiency.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
v) Null Hypothesis
• It is used for testing the hypothesis formulated by
the researcher.
• Researchers treat evidence that supports a
hypothesis differently from the evidence that
opposes it.
• They give negative evidence more importance than
to the positive one.
• It is because the negative evidence tarnishes the
hypothesis.
• It shows that the predictions made by the hypothesis
are wrong.
• The null hypothesis simply states that there is no
relationship between the variables or the relationship
between the variables is “zero.”
• That is, how symbolically null hypothesis is denoted
as “H0”.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

For Example:
• H0 = There is no relationship between the level
of job commitment and the level of efficiency. Or
• H0 = the relationship between level of job
commitment and the level of efficiency is zero. Or

• The two variables are independent of each other.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
vi) Alternative Hypothesis

• The alternative (to the null) hypothesis simply states

that there is a relationship between the variables under
study.
• In our example it could be: there is a relationship
between the level of job commitment and the level of
efficiency.
• Not only there is an association between the two
variables under study but also the relationship is perfect
which is indicated by the number “1”.
• Thereby the alternative hypothesis is symbolically
denoted as “H1”. It can be written like this:
• H1: There is a relationship between the level of job
commitment of the officers and their level of efficiency.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
vii) Research Hypothesis
• Research hypothesis is the actual hypothesis
formulated by the researcher which may also
suggest the nature of relationship i.e. the
direction of relationship.
• In our example it could be:
• Level of job commitment of the officers is
positively associated with their level of
efficiency.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
The Role of Hypothesis

In research, a hypothesis serves several important functions:

a) It guides the direction of the study

• Quite frequently one comes across a situation when the
researcher tries to collect all possible information on
which he could lay his hands on.
• Later on he may find that only part of it he could
utilize.
• Hence there was an unnecessary use of resources on
trivial concerns.
• In such a situation, hypothesis limits what shall be
studied and what shall not be.
b) It identifies facts that are relevant and those that are not
• Who shall be studied (married couples), in what
context they shall be studied (their consumer decision
making), and
• what shall be studied (their individual perceptions of
their roles).
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
c) It suggests which form of research design is likely to
be the most appropriate
• Depending upon the type of hypothesis a
decision is made about the relative
appropriateness of different research designs
for the study under consideration.
• The design could be a survey design,
experimental design, content analysis, case
study, participation observation study, and/or
Focus Group Discussions.
d) It provides a framework for organizing the
conclusions of the findings.

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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Characteristics of a Testable Hypothesis
1) Hypothesis must be conceptually
clear.
• The concepts used in the hypothesis
should be clearly defined, operationally if
possible.

• Such definitions should be commonly

accepted and easily communicable among
the research scholars.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
2) Hypothesis should have empirical
referents.
• The variables contained in the hypothesis
should be empirical realities.
• In case these are not empirical realities
then it will not be possible to make the
observations.
• Being handicapped by the data
collection, it may not be possible to test
the hypothesis.
• Watch for words like ought, should, bad. 48
Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

3)Hypothesis must be specific.

• The hypothesis should not only be specific to a
place and situation but also these should be
narrowed down with respect to its operation.

• Let there be no global use of concepts whereby

the researcher is using such a broad concept
which may be all inclusive and may not be able
to tell anything.

• For Example
• somebody may try to propose the
relationship between urbanization and
family size.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
4)Hypothesis should be related to a body of
theory.
• Hypothesis has to be supported by
theoretical argumentation.
• For this purpose, the research may
develop his/her theoretical framework
which could help in the generation of
relevant hypothesis.
• For the development of a framework the
researcher shall depend on the existing
body of knowledge.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic

Sponsored Researches
• So far we have been discussing research project
primarily from the perspective that a researcher is
likely to carry the study on his/her own initiative.
• Although such an initiator can be a business manager
or Organizational Management trying to arrest some of
the issues in the organization, yet the actual researcher
may be a hired consultant.
• In such a situation the researcher has to ascertain the
decision maker’s objectives.
• There might simply be some symptoms, and just like
the iceberg principle, the dangerous part of many
business problems is neither visible to nor understood
by business managers.
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Formulating and Clarifying The Research Topic
Sponsored Researches
• Occasionally, research specialists may be asked by the
sponsors to participate in unethical behavior.
• Compliance by the researcher would be a breach of ethical
standards.
• Some examples to be avoided are:
• Violating respondent confidentiality.
• Changing data or creating false data to meet the
desired objective.
• Changing data presentation or interpretations.
• Interpreting data from a biased perspective.
• Omitting sections of data analysis and conclusions.
• Making recommendations beyond the scope of data
collected.

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END OF CHAPTER 3

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