A statement of the problem is a short passage saying what is going wrong, whom it affects, and what your study will do about it. Mostly it is between half a page and two pages. It shows the reader what still cannot be explained, and gives the evidence that the problem really exists. In a PhD synopsis you place it just after the background. In the thesis it comes in chapter 1, ahead of the objectives.
We cover what goes into it and how long it should be. There are weak and strong examples from three different fields, and a comparison with the gap, the objectives and the hypothesis. A research proposal also needs a problem statement, just a shorter one. Last reviewed September 2026.
What is the statement of the problem in research?
This is the portion of your synopsis or chapter 1 which explains why the study is being done at all. Your objectives, design and sample are all there only to handle the problem you write down here.
Two terms get mixed up, and many scholars are using them as one. In 2008 Timothy Ellis and Yair Levy published a paper for new researchers in Informing Science. In their usage, the statement of the problem means the one or two sentences naming the problem the study takes up. The problem statement is that core along with the argument for why the problem is worth researching. Indian universities mostly treat both names as the same thing. Your passage should carry the core and the argument both.
The USC Libraries writing guide makes one more point. As per that guide, your research questions and hypotheses hang on the problem statement. Even the way you report results depends on it. That is why examiners keep coming back to it in the viva-voce.
A topic is something different. “Microfinance in Odisha” is only a topic. “Women who repay microfinance loans on time are still refused larger loans, and nobody knows why” is where a problem begins.
What should a problem statement include?
There are six parts in a complete statement of the problem. In a short proposal, two or three parts may come in the same sentence. Still, the reader must be able to locate each one of the six.
- Context. Only a few sentences, enough to place the reader in one clear setting. Please don’t write the full history of the sector here.
- The specific problem. Say what is going wrong, or what nobody can explain yet. Ellis and Levy are very direct about it. For them a problem is “something that is ‘going wrong’”.
- Evidence that it is real. Give citations, official reports or published data. These show the problem exists in the world and not only in your mind.
- Who is affected, and how. Write what it costs if nobody does anything. The cost can fall on people or on a policy. It can also fall on a theory which is now giving the wrong answer.
- What is not known. One or two sentences on why earlier researches have not settled the matter.
- What this study will do. Just one sentence. Later this line becomes your aim. No data is collected at that stage, so don’t put findings in it.
Ellis and Levy put the same idea as six questions, namely what, how, where, when, why and who. Their template wants at most two sentences on each of three points. The first point is what the problem is. The second is its impact, and the third is the cause the literature gives for it. For each point you need current, peer-reviewed references. This is the place where many Indian synopses are weak. A line like “During my teaching career I observed that…” is a hunch only. Ellis and Levy want a research-worthy problem to stand on more than one person’s observation, and I agree.
The detailed argument about the literature is the fifth part in its expanded form. It goes in the gap statement at the end of your review of literature. For that, read writing a research gap statement.
How long is a statement of the problem, and where does it go?
Most scholars write it longer than needed. UGC has no rule on the length, and university formats also rarely fix one. The lengths below are only what is commonly done, and no regulation fixes them.
- Admission research proposal: one or two paragraphs is enough. You can see how it fits inside a four-page proposal in the research proposal guide.
- Registration synopsis for the DC or RAC: keep it somewhere from half a page to one page. The heading is something like “Statement of the problem” or “Research problem”. The PhD synopsis format shows its position among the other sections.
- Thesis chapter 1: one to two pages. It comes after the background, and before the significance of the study, objectives and hypotheses. For the usual order in chapter 1, look at the thesis structure guide.
According to the USC guide it is typically a short paragraph. But many Indian theses fill five pages with national statistics, and in the end the committee remarks that it “could not find the problem”.
The tense also changes. In the synopsis you write “This study will examine…”. In the thesis it is usually “This study examined…” or “This thesis examines…”. Some departments differ, so ask your guide once.
Problem statement examples: weak and strong
We made up these examples only to show the difference. In your own, put a real source at each square bracket.
Agricultural economics: crop insurance claims
Weak: “Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. Farmers face many risks. Crop insurance is very important for farmers but they face many problems. Therefore the researcher wants to study the problems of farmers regarding crop insurance in Vidarbha region.”
Strong: “The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana sets timelines for settling claims after crop losses are assessed [cite the scheme’s operational guidelines]. Reports from Maharashtra describe long delays and rejected claims among small and tenant farmers [cite], who must then repay crop loans from other sources after a failed season [cite]. Studies of the scheme mostly measure enrolment and premiums at district level, so it is not known where in the claim process these claims stall. This study traces the claim process for small and tenant farmers in two districts of Vidarbha to identify where claims are delayed or lost.”
Nowhere does the weak version say what is actually wrong. Also, “the researcher wants to study” only expresses a wish, and a wish is no purpose. The strong version names a group, a process and a consequence.
Nursing: pain assessment after surgery
Weak: “Pain is a universal human experience. Pain management is an important responsibility of the nurse. During my clinical posting I observed that nurses do not assess pain properly. Therefore a study is needed to assess the knowledge of staff nurses regarding pain management.”
Strong: “Clinical guidelines recommend assessing post-operative pain regularly with a validated scale [cite guideline]. Studies from Indian surgical wards report that pain is recorded irregularly and seldom with a scale [cite], and poorly assessed pain is linked to delayed mobilisation [cite]. Most Indian studies have given nurses a knowledge questionnaire, but a questionnaire does not show what the nurse actually does at the bedside. This study observes how post-operative pain is assessed and documented in three district hospitals, and examines the ward-level factors associated with scale use.”
In the strong one the clinical posting story is gone and published evidence comes in. The study is now also looking at the real problem, that is bedside practice, and it doesn’t go back to a knowledge questionnaire.
English literature: a regional novelist in translation
Weak: “Women writers have always been neglected in Indian literature. [Author] is one of the most important Kannada writers. This study will analyse her novels from a feminist perspective.”
Strong: “[Author]’s novels have reached English readers mainly through translations published in the last two decades [cite]. Criticism in English reads them largely as protest fiction [cite], while Kannada criticism places them in a tradition of [cite]. The translations often shorten dialect-heavy passages [cite, or show it with your own comparison of two chapters]. Her place in English-language courses on Indian women’s writing may therefore rest on texts that differ from the originals. This study compares the Kannada originals with their English translations to examine how translation choices have shaped her critical reception.”
In humanities, problems are mostly about reading and meaning. Even then, something should be going wrong. In this example the criticism and the texts behind it don’t match. A phrase like “analyse from a feminist perspective” gives a method, but there is no problem attached to it.
How is the problem statement different from the research gap, objectives and hypothesis?
All four come near each other in chapter 1. The table takes one topic through each of them.
| What it says | Usual form | Example (crop insurance topic) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement of the problem | What is going wrong, for whom, and why it matters | A few plain statements with citations, never a question | Small tenant farmers in Vidarbha report long delays and rejections in crop insurance claims, leaving them to repay crop loans after a failed season |
| Research gap | What the literature has not established | A short argument that comes out of the literature review | Studies of the scheme measure enrolment and premiums at district level, so nobody has traced where individual claims stall |
| Aim and objectives | What the study will do to address the problem | One aim, then objectives starting with a verb | To trace the claim process for small and tenant farmers in two districts and identify the stages where claims are delayed or lost |
| Hypothesis | A testable prediction, only where the design is confirmatory | A statement the data can either support or go against | Tenant farmers are less likely than owner-cultivators to have claims settled within the scheme’s timeline |
A problem is about something in the world, or some theory giving a wrong answer. Gap is about the literature, and objectives are about what your own study will do. Now if your “statement of the problem” paragraph mostly cites what earlier researchers failed to do, what you have written there is actually a gap. And if it lists your plans, it is objectives only.
Ellis and Levy make two more points. One is that the statement of the problem should not be phrased as a question. Research questions come later, they are narrower and they name the variables or constructs. The other is that a comparison of two groups is not a problem by itself. Their example compares productivity before and after ERP training. As a study it is valid. The problem underneath, though, is the drop in productivity after the new system came. Plenty of synopses stop at “a comparative study of X and Y” and never say what is wrong.
The pieces that come next are covered in research objectives and questions and in the guide to writing a research hypothesis. Once problem and objectives are fixed, design comes out of them. Our guide on types of research design discuss about those choices.
How to write a statement of the problem, step by step
You will mostly write this passage three times or more before it settles.
Write the bare problem in two sentences
Before any background, write down what is going wrong and who is facing it. If this takes you a full paragraph, then what you have is still a field of study and not yet a problem.
Collect the evidence for each claim
Against every sentence, write down where it comes from. That may be a paper, a government report, audit data or a published dataset. Any sentence without a source has to get one, or you remove it.
Add the consequence and the unknown
Write who loses what when the problem is left unsolved. After that, use one sentence to say why the existing studies don’t answer it.
End with the purpose sentence
The last sentence starts with “This study” and says what the study will examine, test or develop. Read it beside your aim. If the two say different things, one has to change.
What DC and RAC members push back on
Committee members raise the same objections in one meeting after another.
- The opening page talks only about how important the sector is for the nation.
- The problem is so wide that no single PhD can address it (“unemployment among youth in India”).
- The objectives go off in some other direction from the problem. For example the statement is on delays in claims and objectives ask how much farmers know about the scheme.
- Before any data is collected, the purpose sentence already promises a result (“This study will prove that…”).
Suppose your supervisor wants the synopsis by Monday and this half page is still weak. Do the corrections here first. Even a neat literature review cannot save the synopsis when committee cannot see the problem.
Want a specialist to help with this in your own work? Research Proposal and Synopsis: a free first consultation, then a written scope and fixed quote.
Sources
FAQ
Questions scholars ask
Can I write the problem statement as a question?
Better to avoid that. Put the problem down in plain statements and give evidence for each one. The questions belong in the research questions which come after it. A few supervisors are fine with one broad question at the end. How to phrase the questions is covered in the objectives and questions guide.
How many references should a problem statement have?
There is no fixed number in any rule. Since every factual claim needs a source, a synopsis anyway ends up with several recent references. For a thesis chapter, Ellis and Levy’s template is a fair target to follow. It asks for three peer-reviewed references on each of its three points.
Do qualitative and humanities theses need a statement of the problem?
Yes, even if your department calls the heading something else. Even a literature or history thesis has to say what remains unexplained, misread or contested, and it has to show this with critical or archival evidence.
Should the problem statement in the thesis be the same as in the synopsis?
Keep the core problem the same. The committee approved your synopsis on that problem only. Only the evidence gets updated, and the tense changes. Sometimes the problem shifts while the study is going on. In that case first agree the change with your supervisor, and then record it as per your university’s procedure.
