What is an example of a problem statement?
What is an example of a problem statement?
Here is an example of a problem statement that might be found in organizational research in financial services contexts.
The financial services industry suffers from issues arising from poor customer service, and the problem’s financial costs continue to rise as the demand for financial services increases. Research and professional literature on the financial services industry have long posited that a business world increasingly dependent on automation and digitization is a root cause negatively affecting the financial service workforce’s morale.
However, there is insufficient primary research to provide insights as to how to improve workplace conditions, a prerequisite for implementing solutions to provide better customer care. Further study is required in order to identify how financial service business leaders can create a productive workplace necessary for quality customer service outcomes.
The above problem statement looks at key workplace aspects influencing a financial services company’s ability to identify potential solutions to deliver outstanding customer service. It refers to existing discussions in scholarly research and professional publications while asserting that such discussions have yet to illustrate any useful solutions to the problem that needs to be addressed.
The format of a problem statement
A study’s own problem statement has three main components: a synthesis or summary of the existing knowledge relevant to the research inquiry, the gaps identified by that review and why those gaps are important, and the kind of research necessary to fill those gaps.
Let’s examine the parts of another example problem statement that might belong in a larger study about education:
The contemporary literature has highlighted numerous cases where literacy teachers have elicited detailed and well-supported ideas from their students when asking more open-ended questions.
In the sentence above, the author has pointed to previous research (which should be described and correctly referenced in the literature review) about the effects of open-ended questions on high school students. In particular, students offer more details for ideas during interaction.
However, previous research has not examined whether the engaging classroom interactions from open-ended questions are related to other learning outcomes.
Here, a lack of empirical evidence illustrates a gap in the research that needs to be filled.
Moreover, any evidence presented thus far has been primarily focused on learning outcomes that can be measured in standarized tests. This leaves other important learning outcomes overlooked, such as students’ motivation, comprehension, or creativity.
The problem statement goes further by pointing out a methodological gap in understanding the effects of classroom interaction and why this is important.
Further research that captures students’ perceptions and interpretations of being asked open-ended questions by their teachers can meaningfully extend current theory and practice by shedding light on other important learning outcomes.
The last component highlights how the present research makes a novel and interesting contribution to existing literature, thus justifying the research to be presented.
