Dissertation Assignment: Research Problem Statement
Work with your chair to determine any specific instructions or guidance that he or she may have for you about your topic selection development document.
Although in a business research environment a problem statement may articulate a very clear issue the organization is pondering (e.g., does marketing process A or B generate the most sales?), in an academic environment, you may think of the problem statement as a gap in the current research literature. What has not been studied yet? What is missing? Why is [your!] research needed?
Let's consider an example. In Milestone 1 instructions, a sample topic refinement emerged by adding the subtopic "ethics" to a main topic "transformational leaders." Suppose that your preliminary review of the literature discovered several statements touting the idea that transformational leaders raise the ethical values and behaviors of followers. However, also suppose that you have been unable to locate any empirical research testing the proposed relationship between transformational leaders and the ethical behaviors of followers. Accordingly, you may have located a gap in the literature, a problem, or research that needs to be conducted.
Your dissertation needs to defend the existence of that problem (gap) in the literature to justify the need for your study.
One note of caution: Let the literature speak! In other words, as your refine your topic and look for the gap, be careful not to make the literature say what you want it to say. Stay disciplined. Stay open. Let the literature lead you to your conclusions.
Using your topic development work to-date and the feedback from your instructor in the previous task, conduct further review in the literature (e.g., at least another eight to ten scholarly sources), further refine your topic and create a problem statement. What is the gap? When written appropriately, your problem statement should explain and justify your envisioned research.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
(1) The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
(2) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
(3) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.