How is the Research Question related to the Problem Statement?

As a lecturer and a postgraduate study leader, I constantly have to explain to students what a problem statement is, what a research question is, and what the relationship between the two is. 

Let me try and explain how the problem statement and research question works. These are my own explanations and are not meant to be academic and scientific. The purpose of this explanation is to help students understand the link between these two parts of research.

The problem statement is a sentence, not a question. It must describe a problem that must be solved. So, if you are interested in the topic of talent management and competitive advantage, what is the problem that you are trying to solve regarding talent management and competitive advantage? The problem is important because that problem is the reason your article/thesis/essay becomes worthwhile to read. If you just give me an essay that details talent management, the related processes, performance management and other topics, I can find that information myself. However, when you link these topics to a problem, I see the value in your study. When you link what literature says to the problem that you have identified, a contribution to scholarship could emerge.

Once you identify the problem statement, you will then dive into the various concepts in your problem statement. If talent management is a concern, you will look into literature to see what scholars have said about talent management (definition, characteristics, benefits, recent trends, etc.). You will also look at and unpack performance management and other topics linked to your problem statement.

As you scan literature, you may realise that there are aspects of your problem statement that have already been identified and studied by some scholars. You will discuss those aspects in the body of your literature review.

You may also find that there are some aspects of your problem statement that have not been studied. This ‘gap’ in literature is what you must identify. Your research question will address this gap. The gap or the research question is what you will go out into the field to find the answer of. So, while you may not be able to solve the problem in the problem statement, if you were to do research, by answering the research question, you would be solving a part of the puzzle that is the problem.

Let me use an example. Your poodle is not eating its food. There is a problem there, isn’t it? The problem statement is that the poodle is not eating its food. Now, you will read literature to look at what dogs are, what different breeds there are, what are the eating habits of different dogs, what types of food do they eat, recent trends in dog food, etc. As you read, you realise that while all of this information is useful, the information available makes you understand your dog and dog food more, but it is not telling you why your dog is not eating its food. So, the problem is still not solved.

However, you find out that no one has studied the relationship between different breeds of dog and their preference of dog foods, for example. Here’s the ‘gap’. Perhaps, there is a link between the breed and type of dog food. So, your research question will be ‘What is the relationship between the breed of the dog and its preference towards various brands of dog food?’. 

If you had the opportunity to do the research, you would have tested different brands of dog food on different breeds, and you would have perhaps found that your poodle does not like the brand of dog food that you gave it. So, then, you can buy another brand and try that. If the dog eats that food, problem solved. If not, you are one step closer to solving the problem.

Many may say that the key to a good study is to get the research question right. In my opinion, the key to a good study is to get the problem statement right. Remember, if your dog is eating its food, then there is no problem to investigate. So, now go work on what problem you are trying to solve.

GUILTY AS CHARGED

When I do not write, I feel guilty; 

When I write a paragraph, I feel guilty;

And after all that trouble, I finally complete a page; 

but the guilt stays with me.

When I ask for help, I feel guilty; 

When I do not, I feel guilty; 

Finally, when I solve the problem with or without help, 

the guilt somehow remains with me.

When I play with my baby, I feel guilty; 

When I wish she would go away, I feel guilty;

And when she tells me, ‘Ma, I understand that you have to work’, 

the guilt overwhelms me.

When I am selfish, I feel guilty;

When I am selfless, I feel guilty;

And when I lie in bed and reflect on the day that went by, 

the guilt is all I see.

The more I ponder, lying there in bed,

the more I see that the guilt is not outside of me. 

No - I realise in dismal shock -

I am guilty as charged by none other than me.

 

Why predict, when one can mould

I am obsessed with prediction. My PhD is about predicting the future of HR. I am constantly trying to predict behaviours. We live in a world where people are trying to predict everything. In fact, those of us who use data and information to predict what will happen next are admired and showcased. Prediction seems so cool.

Today, 4 incidents occurred that made me wonder about predictions. Four events from mutually exclusive fields.

Event 1 – I was feeling this lack of purpose. Things have been a bit quieter than usual, and instead of enjoying it, I am looking for my next busy high. Therefore, I asked a friend who is 10 years older about what his ambition is, and what he chases. He said, ‘Nothing’. He does not chase anymore, he is happy just being and enjoying the moment. I, on the other hand, chase. I, in fact, live from event to event, from holiday to holiday, from some form of excitement to the next form. I wonder if I will ever just enjoy being. Maybe for some small period. However, I will always want to achieve something. I am very future-oriented and therefore, I am always trying to predict what the future looks like. Sometimes, I imagine what a particular situation will look like, and almost always get it wrong. And it gets me disappointed.

Lesson 1 - Prediction has been a part of who I am, or how I identify with the world.

Event 2 – During my lecture, I made my students do some free writing. One of the students wrote about how they feel dejected because the University is not preparing them for the future world. My response to her is that the University cannot really predict what the future skills are. We are all trying to predict, but we can never get it right. What we can do is to prepare you with what we already know, so that the past at least is not as obscure as the future is.

Lesson 2 -  By looking to the past, one may be better prepared to face the future, not because one can predict, but because one can only be prepared with what one already knows.

Event 3 – I was listening to a linguistics lecture on Audible on my way home, when the speaker spoke of how the process of grammaticalisation changed various words over the years. He spoke about how many words do not come from the etymology that we may assume in our current practice. For example, alone does not come from a-lone person, but from all-one. In fact, lone comes from alone and from all-one. Similarly, hamburger comes from Hamburg-er steak, which is a steak that was developed in Hamburg, Germany. Now we use the term burger to describe fish burgers and vegetarian burgers, because we assumed that burger was a piece of meat with ham, because ham is associated with meat. In other words, in linguistics, one cannot really predict what a particular word will evolve into. One can try, but never get it right always.

Lesson 3 -  Predictions can never be accurate. This is truer for social sciences, than for natural sciences. Even in natural sciences, predictions are only a 100% accurate in controlled environments. In general, there are way too many things that are out of one’s control.

Event 4 – The previous events got me thinking about the concept of project management, where planning is such an integral part of the process. The purpose of planning is to predict the steps that must be taken to achieve a particular outcome, and in the process, what the outcome will look like. However, if you look at design thinking, planning is not focused much on. It’s all about developing a prototype and working from it. Perhaps, the beauty of design thinking is in that one does not know what one will come up with. As long as the purpose is in the right place, the outcome can be developed.

Lesson 4 - We need to move from always trying to predict, to determining the purpose behind what we are trying to do. 

We will then shift from trying to control behaviour based on predictions and data to moulding behaviours based on purpose, which is definitely more convincing. In any case, one cannot predict behaviour, so why even bother trying? Let us rather mould the future, instead of wasting time predicting.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. But am I?

When I saw the book titled 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' in the top 10 in the Goodreads ranking, I realised that I hadn’t read fiction in a long while, and I almost always read mysteries and adventures. This particular day, when I bought this book, I was bored, waiting for my flight. This book would be a welcome change.

The back of the book said something about loneliness. I figured that the book would make me feel sorry for the character and grieve for her. I figured that if she was real, I would have adopted her and looked after her. But what a pleasant surprise! She made me relook at my life, about the things I do to myself and for myself. For instance, in my not-so-lonely life, I rarely find time to look after my needs. Eleanor made me crave for some things like makeup, and buying an outfit for myself. Eleanor has a structured life, with routine and clarity of purpose. Eleanor reminded me that I am kind, but that I should be outwardly kind more often. She is teaching me a few things. In fact, if she was real, she would perhaps feel sorry for me.
Things do get a bit dark towards the end of the book, but even there, through her friend, kindness prevails. It made me realize that we definitely need more kindness in this world. I really want to be more kind, since I read this book.

I think the author meant for this book to be about a woman embracing her fears and getting out of a rut through the kindness of friends and, in some instances, strangers. Based on my understanding, however, in spite of the agony, Eleanor is a role model for a busy person like me. It might be unkind of me to say it, because one may say that I am ignoring her problems. But hey, she's a fictional character. So, maybe I can be a bit unkind. Also, it's high time we stopped looking at people with certain behaviours as needing kindness. Everyone needs kindness. 
Eleanor Oliphant is quite fine, if you ask me. She actually is.

The World According to Garp: According to Me

John Irving, in the author’s afterword of 'The World According to Garp', writes that he debated a lot on what the book was really about. As I read the book (very slowly, I must admit), I was also constantly and consciously trying to find out what the book’s purpose really was. Until the end of the book, it never really came to me. And that partly became my motivation to read on.

In the afterword, John mentions that he initially, and to his own shock, thought that the book was about the temptations of lust. He goes on to reject the idea later, and I agree completely. The book definitely talks about it, but that’s just one of many aspects dealt with.

He goes on to talk about polarization of sexes as a dominant theme. This theme is definitely prominent in the book, with numerous strong feminist characters and the interaction of the protagonist, Garp’s and other men’s characters with these and other women. But again, that theme somehow didn’t appeal to me as the single most outstanding theme of this book.

Finally, John Irving is convinced that 'The World According to Garp' is about a father’s fears. That is perhaps a very accurate description of this book, and coming from the author himself, I am in no place to question that.

Let's just focus on a set of characters in this book. The Ellen Jamesians are a group of women who cut their tongues, to show their support towards Ellen James, a 11-year old rape victim whose tongue was cut so that she couldn't describe the rapist. Some Ellen Jamesians are rape victims themselves, whereas others just want to show their support. Some others cut their tongues to make their voices heard. But, Ellen James hates Ellen Jamesians. To her, they were a shallow political imitiation of a very private trauma. They were prolonging her anguish. And these women were trying to help? What a pity!

This instance in mind, and based on many more characters, what I took out of this book is a lesson that I hope to carry with me through life. And that simple lesson is that each individual is different. Time and various experiences constantly gave me reason to think that people have a lot in common, which is true. My human resources background compel me to group people into sets and pools. And so does my profession as a lecturer. These theories became so much a part of my life, that somewhere down the road, I convinced myself that people have more commonalities, than dissimilarities. This book reminded me otherwise.

Each person has a very different history that he/she comes from, takes very different paths from other individuals and will have different futures ahead of them. In these differences, individuals might cross paths; for example: attend the same school, like the same celebrities on Facebook, join the same terrorist organization or use the same train to move from one place to another. But that’s where the similarities end.

People have different reasons for being at a particular place, or believing in a particular principle. And each person deserves the right to have different reasons. It would be wrong and completely unfair to think that all or even a majority of a group are doing the same thing for the same reasons. Hence, going forward, I would endeavor to constantly remind myself to accept people in their differences and to learn about these differences when given an opportunity to do so. Because that’s the appeal that we have to ourselves. That’s why the purpose of this book according to me is different to the purpose of this book according to John Irving. That’s what makes us interesting to us.

Thank you, Raghav, for gifting me this book.

The Strength of a Woman

I was sitting on the train to Victoria Terminus. As the train started moving from Kurla station, a woman came and sat next to me. She was wearing a black purdah, but her face was not covered. I could not help but look at her. She was tall and healthy, very much like me. She had a beautiful face. Her smile was so pleasant that you would want to smile back at her. And underneath the purdah, she was wearing a colorful salwar kameez, which somehow made me feel that this girl has a colorful personality herself.

After a while, she takes out an ultramodern phone, dials a number and starts speaking. In perfect English! I was completely taken aback. She talked for about a minute or two, and then hung up silently. As her station approached, she adjusted her purdah, took out a black scarf and tied it across her face. Now the only parts of her that were visible were her eyes, her hands and her feet.

This particular incident made me think in 2 ways. The first thought might have struck you as well. Here’s a woman, young, spirited, educated and beautiful who may have all the same habits that I have. But only because of her religion, the world cannot see her smile. Only because of her religion, she is not allowed the freedom that the girl seated next to her, dressed in a colorful shirt and a pair of jeans, enjoys lavishly. But the second thought was very positive. Here’s a woman, young and spirited, who did not allow religion and the dogma attached with it, affect her life. She’s living just like other women except that it is beneath the blackness. She is the best that she could be, even under the restrictions imposed on her. That’s strength… that’s energy and that’s what all women should be able to replicate.

With this somewhere in the back of my mind, I set out to work today. On my way to office, I caught today’s newspaper headlines. A bridegroom in Delhi was arrested for raping his ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend claims that she had consented to sex because he promised that he would marry her. And then a hundred other articles about the rape incidents that have happened this year (including the recent one where 2 shopkeepers raped a women in a busy Delhi market) and the legal and social aspects of rape.

There was another article about girls in a slum in Malwani; some had gone missing and some were found dead after being raped brutally. There was also an article about a court order banning women to work on night shifts. All this made me start wondering: When will the woman’s agony cease to be?

Being an Orthodox Christian, I grew up learning that Eve was made out of a rib bone of Adam. And from young times, I have been seeing women as subordinate to men. I have seen women being treated brutally by their husbands just because there wasn’t enough salt in the food. Even working women are expected to prepare food and wash clothes even if she comes in along with her husband, as tired as he is.

Over time, I started respecting the things that women do. My mother herself is a shining example of a woman who had to face both sides of the coin. She initially was the working woman that I mentioned above. She had to come back home after work and cook and look after two extremely notorious kids. That was the time when we were all together as a family in Kuwait.

As time passed by, my father moved to Dubai and my mother, my sister and I moved to Kerala, where we built our house. Since then, my mother has been proving herself. She proved it not to herself but also to the whole world. She managed an entire household herself. She brought up 2 girls, giving us the best facilities and sacrificing a lot of her own joys to ensure that we had it all. She took care of, at different times, almost 16 dogs, 45 puppies, 2 cows, a goat, some cats. She even had a broiler farm. When I was in high school, she saw a great opportunity in anthurium and orchid farming. Our backyard was soon full of beautiful flowers and she made a decent fortune out of the business. My mother got herself involved in a lot of businesses and in my dad’s absence, was a great source of support for me and my sister. My father of course used to visit once in a while and was a significant contributor in our lives. But our mom is the one who inculcated in us a sense of pride in being a woman. She is the one who made us realize that by no means is housework subordinate to any other work. She is the one who told us through her life that you don’t have to restrict yourself to housework thinking that’s your destiny. In fact, I sometimes feel that housework and rearing up children is a huger responsibility than anything else. You have to take care of so many things and bringing up children is no mean job.

What I am trying to say by all this is that women need to be proud about the achievements that we make in our fields. Mothers have brought up amazing men and women, daughters have taken care of their parents and finally wives, their husbands. If it weren’t for the women in their lives, men may have managed, but I don’t think we as mankind would have reached where we are.

Feminism and all the crap – its just like reservation in education – If equality is the target, it’s never going to happen. Feminism in a way is just like socialism. Equality is a great concept, but practically, I have my doubts. All the rules haven’t helped in liberating women, have they? Now the law itself is curbing women from being equal to men by preventing night shifts. How is this helping in equality?

Women should be proud and happy about their contribution to the society. There are a large number of activities towards women’s education and women’s societal upgradation. That’s definitely good. Let that go on. But that shouldn’t be seen as a fight against men. Women need men as much men need women in their lives. Its all a matter of self esteem. It’s a matter of satisfaction. I mean, there are certain things that women do well. Be it cooking or research, women are equal to men. But there are certain physiological and psychological differences between men and women. We were not born equal that way. Just like men are good at certain things, women are good at certain other things. It’s just that over the years, the male ego has titled women’s work as inferior. If we women realize that the work we do is equally important and that it has its place in this world, we would be a better lot. Forget the men who are always waiting to exploit us… let’s not let them win. We can win on other racecourses!

Ta Ra Rum Pum Pum Dum DUMB!

Last night, I had the 'pleasant' experience of watching Ta Ra Rum Pum. Well, to be real honest, it's a decent watch.. for someone who has never watched English movies, who doesn't know what the American life is all about, and also for someone who has no intentions of saving.
I might be highly sarcastic and rude here, but that is NOT coincidental or unintentional.
In short, the movie is about a degree-less racer, who falls in love with a degree-less pianist, and at the same time, becomes the no:1 racer in New York (or wait! is it the entire US of A? You never know!). Anyway, they get married without her pa's permission, but live happily and have two kids. They have a great car, a beautiful house in Manhattan and she wears a huge diamond ring, which have all been purchased on loans.But their happiness is short-lived as the racer meets with an accident and can't get back to form because of the trauma that he faced during and after the accident. They go broke and have to move into a single room apartment. But they don't want their children to be sad. They therefore lie to their children that all this is part of a reality show. The 'greatest' racer and the 'greatest' pianist now have to drive a taxi and play in hotels and restaurants to make money so that their children can go to school. The children who come to know of the hardships their parents are going through forsake their lunch to save money. But the boy can't stand the hunger, due to which he eats food thrown into the waste bin. He accidentally swallows a glass piece because of which he is admitted in the hospital and needs to be operated immediately. A sudden need for money causes the racer to go back to his ex-boss who humiliates him. All this causes our hero to suddenly gather courage and fight back only to win the race and his life back. WOWWWW!!!
The movie attempts to portray family values. It tells you the story of a youngster who loses all that he has because of a sudden tragic turn in his life. It shows how the family sticks together through thick and thin. It shows the importance of saving. But most importantly, it shows you the importance of saying the truth. Because if you don't say the truth, your wife will beat you up and tell your kids the truth (to whom both you and your wife have been lying).. and also claim that you will now commit murders also because you lied once..What the hell??
There are so many aspects of the movie that make it lose its authenticity. The bankrupt father takes his family to celebrate in a toy shop in the middle of the night. The mother wears designer clothes and shoes even while her kids are eating out of the waste bin. She stuffs food into her designer bag because she can't afford the food otherwise. And after all this, she has the nerve to fight with her husband just because he lied to get some money that they desperately needed. Man, her tolerance levels are amazing.
Poor comedy by Jaaved Jaaferi adds so much life to the movie. And the heroine's pathetic hairstyle. Guess they spent the money that they were supposed to spend on mirrors on the permits to vacate the streets of New York for the song scenes. Not to mention the same old streets that we have seen in Kal Ho Na Ho and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. The racing scenes are ok; but it's disappointing that they still have to have scenes where the hero is sitting on the steering wheel of a fake car and there is some artificial scenery going on behind. Reality bites? I guess the producer got bitten more than enough that he decided not to include reality at all in his movie.
It's one of those movies that is definitely not a reflection of real life. This is an argument that I have with my friend all the time. He always states that movies are a reflection of real life. And I always say that reflections don't give you 100% of the actual light. In this case, this is not even close to reflection. It's like a black hole that absorbs all the light possible. Complete emptiness!
I couldn't wait for the movie to end, honestly. Someone mentioned to me that the movie was a tearjerker. The only thing it jerked out of me was pure irritation and frustration.. since I was waiting for the tears all through the movie.
Altogether, a below average movie. They tried to make it colorful and sweet and nice. But at the end of it all, you wonder whether you learnt anything from it, except for, how not to make a movie!