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Lecture 2
Problem Identification
Introduction to broad problem area
Defining the problem statement
Information gathering
Research questions and objectives
Lesson Outcome
– By the end of this topic, students should be able to:
Identify a problem of research interest
Describe the nature of that problem
Generate a good problem statement
Generate a set of research objectives
Create a set of research questions
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Recall a research process
A research must begin with a topic / issue. From a topic, you need to identify a problem.
Do you have an area of interest?
A problem can refer to any of the followings:
Area of concern
Situation or condition to be improved
Something bothers your mind
Difficulty that needs to be removed
01/04/2022 dr.m_econ@uitm.kedah
3 What is a problem? What is a problem?
Socio-economic issues / difficulties / challenges
– What are the current concerns of the public?
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Broad Problem Area
– Think of the BIG PICTURE
• Consider your field: economics
– Which is your area of interest? Do you have any?
– What is the problem you are concerned with?
– Think of something you like to learn more, understand more – Consult text books, relevant journals or your supervisor
– Pick one based on (narrowing the focus):
– Interest and relevance
– Magnitude of work involved – Level of expertise
– you and your advisors
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6 Economics
Micro &
macroeconomics Micro &
macroeconomics Monetary economics Monetary economics Financial economics Financial economics
Labour economics
Labour economics Agricultural economics Agricultural
economics Health economics Health economics
Public economics
Public economics Regional economics Regional economics Industrial economics Industrial economics
Public finance
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Government spending
• Govt final consumption expenditure
• Govt
operations
• Redistribution of wealth
• Transfer payment
Government revenue
• taxation
• Non-tax revenue
Deficit spending
• budget
• Surplus / deficit
Government debt
• Domestic
• foreign
Corporate finance
8 Accounting
audit Capital budgeting
Credit rating agency Financial
statement Leveraged
buyout Mergers and
acquisition Financial risk
management Structured
finance
Venture
capital
Personal finance
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Credit and debt
Employment contract
Financial
planning Retirement
Financial aid
Broad topic to narrow topic
Broad topic Narrow topics
Efficiency and
productivity of firms / labours
Factors influencing the efficiency of commercial banks
Factors influencing the productivity of labour force in Malaysia
Performance of public sector
Factors behind the growth of public debt Impact of public debt on economic growth Sustaining Agricultural
development Factors affecting the supply chain of agricultural product
The impact of manufacturing growth on agricultural sector
Sustaining Malaysia’s
economic growth Factors influencing the growth of manufacturing sector
Effect of external sector on national income
Determinants of domestic investment in Malaysia Determinants of outflow FDI from Malaysia
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Examples of research artiles:
Source: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/finance-research- letters/recent-articles
– Xuan Vinh Vo and Craig Ellis, 2017.
An empirical investigation of capital structure and firm value in Vietnam.
– Danilo Drago, Caterina Di Tommaso and John Thornton. 2017.
What determines bank credit default swap (CDS) spreads
? Evidence from European and US banks.
– Wenlong Bian and Chao Deng. 2017.
Ownership dispersion and bank performance: Evidence from China.
– Nicholas Apergis. 2017.
Democracy and market crashes: Evidence from a worldwide panel of countries Pradit Withisuphakorn and Pornsit Jiraporn. 2017.
CEO age and CEO gender: Are female CEOs older than their male counterparts
?
Maria Gerhardt and Rudi Vander Vennet. 2017 . Bank bailouts in Europe and bank performance
– Naseem Ahamed and Nitya Nand Tripathi. 2016. Capital
structure determinants: an empirical study in a growing economy of the eme rging market
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Example of research articles
Source: International Journal of Economics and Business Research
– Mouldi Ben Amor and Mustapha Ben Hassine. 2017. The
relationship between unemployment and economic growth: is Okun's Law valid for the Saudi Arabia case?.
– Md. Tofael Hossain Majumder and Mohammad Jashim Uddin. 2017. The determinants of profitability of nationalised banks in Bangladesh.
– Ilias A. Makris. 2017. Analysing
the effect of macroeconomic characteristics, on firm performance: evidence from selected c ountries of
Eurozone
– Jordan French. 2016. Economic determinants of wine consumption in Thailand.
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How much choice you
have
Your motivation
Regulations and expectations Your subject
or field of
study The size of
your topic The time
you have available The cost of
research
The resources you have available Your need
for support
Access issues Methods for
researching
Issues to consid
er
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What to research:
– Stereotype approach?
– Reverse psychology?
– A step beyond?
– New knowledge?
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Never try a topic that you
believe can change the
world !!!
WHY???
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Information gathering
– Do you really understand the nature of the problem?
– Have you generated and refined research ideas?
– Have you identified potential variables involved?
– Are the variables measurable or not?
– Do you have access to the data?
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Generating research ideas
Techniques for generating and refining research ideas
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Rational Thinking Creative Thinking
Examining your own strengths
and interests Keeping a notebook of your ideas
Examining staff research
interests Exploring personal
preferences using past projects
Looking at past project titles Exploring relevance to
business using the literature
Discussion Relevance trees
Searching the literature Brainstorming Scanning the media
Source : Saunders et al, 2012, p 31.
Defining a problem statement
Research as a problem-oriented approach
Problems can be identified as evidence that objectives are not being achieved.
Thus a problem can be identified by referring to a set of objectives
But the two concepts, objectives and problems, are two sides of the same coin.
We can start either with objectives or problems and come to the same conclusions. Normally starts with a problem
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the basic
question is ‘how do we know we
have got a
problem?
Examples of objectives to be achieved
– Malaysia sets an objective of economic growth of 4% in 2017.
– Maybank plans to achieve a 5% loan growth in 2017.
– Malaysian government sets a 3% budget deficit of GDP in 2017.
– BNM targets an inflation of 3% in 2017.
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Research questions and objectives
– Research ideas must be turned into research projects
– Defining research questions is not a straight forward matter (Saunders et al, 2012). The research questions will lead to research objectives.
– Consider a research idea about the outflow of capital from Malaysia to abroad and the following set of questions:
“What is the trend of capital outflow from Malaysia for the last 20 years?”
“When does the outflow of capital from Malaysia exceed the inflow of capital into Malaysia?”
“What are the reasons for capital outflow from Malaysia?”
What is the impact of capital outflow on Malaysian economy?
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– Consider a question that commences with
What
When
Where
Who
How
Why
To what extend
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Examples of research ideas and resulting research questions
Research ideas Research questions
Outflow of FDI and investment
incentives in the host country Do the tax incentives offered by Vietnam have any impact on the outflow of FDI from Malaysia?
Corporate social responsibility and firm
performance What is the impact of CSR upon Bank
Rakyat performance?
The value of a currency and trade
balance To what extend the trade balance
affect the currency value?
Internet and banking operation What is the impact of internet transaction on the banking performance?
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Writing research objectives
– Research question is about the issue or problem that you want to study.
– Research objective is about how to operationalise the question i.e. to state the steps you intend to take to answer it.
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Criterion Purpose
Transparency The meaning of the research objective is clear and unambiguous.
Specificity The purpose of the research objective is clear and easily understood.
Relevance The research objective’s link to the research question and wider research project is clear.
Interconnectivity The research objectives illustrate the steps in the research process from its start to its conclusion.
Answerability The intended outcome of the research objective is achievable.
Measurability The intended product of the research objective will be evident when it has been achieved.
Ways to think of a research topic
– Ask your supervisor, manager, colleagues, clients, customers etc – Look at previous research works of one’s research area
– Develop some of your previous research or your practice at work – Related to your other interests
– Think of a title
– Start from a quote that engages you – Follow your hunches
– Draw your self a picture or a diagram – Just start anywhere
– But be prepared to change direction
Source: Blaxter, Hughes and Tight (2001)