Choosing a Research Problem

Sources for the Research Problem

There are several ways by which you can find interesting topics for your research problem. The most common activity that you can carry out is to observe your surroundings; this is called environmental scanning. The environment becomes the primary source of your topic. Any situation that appears to be occurring, recurring, disappearing, or already gone, and that makes your environment deviate from its normal situation can be a source of a topic or problem for research.

Consider the Pasig River. It used to be a clean river where aquatic plants and freshwater fish thrived in abundance. Today, though, it is filled with trash and pollutants of all kinds and only water hyacinths and janitor fish can survive in its waters. What can be done to improve the water quality of the river? What can one do with the water hyacinths and janitor fish that grow in abundance in its polluted waters? These questions can lead you to formulate a research problem.