PROBLEM FORMULATION MOHAMMAD SAEED AZIZI بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

REFERENCE  Encyclopedia of case study research, Problem Formulation, Fred Eidlin  The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, Research Problem, Margarete Sandelowski  The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, Research Question, Margarete Sandelowski  « پژوهش با فرضیه آغاز می شود نا با پرسش » ، کیومرث اشتریان

THE MEANING OF “PROBLEM” It comes from the Greek problema, meaning,originally,“a shield,bulwark or a hurdle, or an impediment.” In present-day usage: it retains the sense of an impediment, a blockage, an unresolved dilemma, or something that stands in the way of moving forward

PRIMARY DEFINITION OF PROBLEM FORMULATION Is the act of identifying an unresolved dilemma for further study and lays the foundation for ensuing research.

CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW AND DISCUSSION  Intellectual Problems  Ethical Problems  Political Problems  Practical Problems

INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS  Conceptual Overview  Discussion : Intellectual Problems & Questions

INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS Conceptual Overview  Drive scientific research  Arise within the human mind or within human knowledge  Attempt to make sense of reality  when we discover an apparent contradiction between our supposed knowledge and the supposed facts.  The research problem addresses what researchers perceive is wrong, missing, or puzzling, or what requires changing, in the world.  Intellectual problems are solved by explanations  بسیاری از مسائل پژوهش که اطراف خود می بینیم با معنایی که از مساله ذهنی بیان کردیم تطابق ندارد، چرا که این مسائل با تکیه بر نظریه ‌ ای پذیرفته شده به فرضیه سازی می پردازند و پژوهش تلاشی است برای اثبات آن فرضیه ( پژوهش با فرضیه آغاز می شود نه با پرسش، کیومرث اشتریان ) ، به عبارت دیگر خبری از تناقض درونی که ذکر شد نیست.

INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS Discussion: Intellectual Problems & Questions  A long tradition: intellectual problems are understood to be questions  Jagdish N. Hattiangadi notes: the existence of idle questions is generally recognized  Questions are problematic or unproblematic  Problem is discovery of an inner contradiction not any idle question

ETHICAL PROBLEMS  The origin: A sense of right and wrong, that is, a conscience.  to escape from dilemmas of conscience.  they need not necessarily do so  Arise when a person is torn between values.  Solving  Intellectualizing  Other ways

POLITICAL PROBLEMS  Arise from people having to live together in the same political community  decisions applying  Solving  Sometimes be solved by intellectualizing  Political skills: arm-twisting, persuasive talent, verbal obfuscation, …

PRACTICAL PROBLEMS  Arise when some impediment to practice or action arises.  Solving:  Intellectual  Nonintellectual

APPLICATION: SOLVING NONINTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS BY INTELLECTUALIZATION  Except in pure science, it is often not intellectual problems.  There need not be anything puzzling about them.  The intellectual problems solved will be trivial.  Better solutions might have been found by intellectualizing these problems.  Intellectual problems are widely confused with the nonintellectual problems  Practical application comes after the solving intellectual problems  scientists grapple with unsolved puzzles on the way to solving the practical problems  practical problems occupy center stage  a practical problem is intellectualized and the intellectual problem solved, yet the practical problem that gave rise to it remains unsolved.

CRITICAL SUMMARY 1.Psychological stress  minds work instinctively to close or obscure problem 2.In facing real-life problems, simple, crude, nonintellectual solutions will be preferred. 3.difficulty of locating and articulating the logical contradiction(s) at the root of a vague sense Much of our knowledge is taken-for-granted commonsense knowledge

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