Research Methods in Social
Sciences
LECTURE 2
What is a research problem?
 A problem is a set of conditions needing discussion, a
solution, and information.
 implies the possibility of empirical investigation, that
is, of data collection and analysis
 The problem statement is more specific than
a topic and it limits the scope of the research
problem.
A Problem Statement:
1. Introduces the reader to the importance of the problem.
The reader is oriented to the significance of the study and
the research questions or hypotheses to follow.
2. Places the problem in a context
3. Provides the framework for reporting the results.
Indicate what is probably necessary to conduct the study
and explain how the findings will present this
information.
 You could relate the findings to prior research,
 or it could be presented as a comparison,
 or you could draw implications from the findings to
generalize to other related conditions.
Statements of Research Purpose
 The purpose of this study is to . . . (it should
imply the question, define the variables for
the purpose of the study, and define the
population of the study)
 To clarify the focus and logic of the problem decide
on:




major construct
variables
population
& then the logic to use for the problem
Example
 The purpose of this study is to find out if there are
any purchasing power differences between different
regions or cities of Turkey. I will basically look to see
if the differences in wages around the cities are offset
by the differences in prices. For this purpose I will
choose one city from each region of Turkey and
check the average price of a week's groceries in each
city with the average income. Then I will check if
they are proportional or not.
Developing an effective research question
Three questions must be answered

1.
What is the research topic

2.
What is the research question

3.
General area (unemployment, pollution, poverty)
One-sentence question
What is the research hypothesis

Proposed answer to your question
1.
What is the research topic

2.
What is the research question

3.
Unemployment and growth relationship
Is there a negative relationship between growth and
unemployment?
What is the research hypothesis

There is not a negative relationship between growth and
unemployment
 Research Topic
 Advertising and Share Prices
 Research Question
 How does the running of a TV advertising campaign
designed to boost the image of a company affect its
share price?
 Research Topic
 Job recruitment with internet
 Research Question
 How effective is recruiting for new staff with the
internet in comparison with traditional methods?
Developing an effective research question –
How to begin
 Choose a general topic
 Journal of Economic Literature Classification

http://www.aeaweb.org/journal/jel_class_system.html
 Start reading the literature
 What has been done
 What questions remain
 Are there contradictions in the literature
 Select a research question from the gaps in the
literature
Developing an effective research question - How to
find the gaps in the literature
 Introduction to articles
 Every article will identify the research question and
how it differs from other research in the introduction
 Conclusion of articles
 Every article should list its weaknesses and areas for
further study in the conclusion
Organization of your final paper
Introduction
1.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Define general topic
What research has been done on this already
What are gaps in literature
Define your specific research question
How will you answer your question (method)
Order of remaining paper
Organization of your final paper
Literature review and hypothesis
2.
What does previous research say about topic
•
•
•
•
•
Each paragraph represents one study
Each paragraph represents one theme
Summarize gaps in literature
What is your own hypothesis
Organization of your final paper
Empirical Analysis
3.
•
•
•
•
•
Descriptive statistics
Regression analysis
Before and after
Case studies
Forecasting
Organization of your final paper
Conclusions
4.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Restate the hypothesis or research question
Summarize your results
Did you confirm your hypothesis
Weaknesses of your study
Areas for further study
No new citations, tables, or footnotes
Types of research in economics
 Propose a new theory
 Evaluate an existing theory with data
 Evaluate existing literature
 Evaluate current or future policies
 Using theory to explain historical situation
 Evaluate historical policies and their consequences
in the past
 Predict a future situation based on historical
trends