Problem Question Examples
EXAMPLE F: Problem
Identification Paper
(A failing paper)
I have often wondered why women have to work harder to advance in organizations. I feel that it is important to help women improve there promotability in organizations. This paper attempts to find out how women can face this in the organization.
How to help women get a fair chance for promotions is an important problem in our society. I feel this problem is meaningful to solve because the way you communicate causes you to be perceived differently.
In conclusion, how women are given their due is an impotant communication problem.
EXAMPLE A: Problem Identification Paper
(A successful paper)
For some time communication scholars have been interested in message effects from male and female sources (Schein, 1975; Bunyi & Andrews, 1985). In formal organizations, the impact messages from male and female communicators may be an area of productive inquiry. This paper suggests a research problem on this topic.
Among women's distinctive message behaviors, tag questions have stimulated interest and study (Bradley, 1981). When women are observed in organizational settings, their use of tag questions might be expected to influence such variables as their rates of promotion and their work performance ratings. Based on such speculation, the following problem is advanced for research: What is the relationship between the degree to which women use tag questions in their speech and their rate of promotions in formal organizations?
This paper has isolated tag questions in women's speech as a communication variable and asked a research question relating it to rates of promotion in the organization. This problem suggests a potentially fruitful research area to guide future investigation.
References
Bradley, P. H. (1981). The folk-linguistics of women's speech: An empirical examination. Communication_Monographs, 48, 73-90.
Bunyi, J. M., & Andrews, P. H. (1985). Gender and leadership emergence: An experimental study. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 50, 246-260.
Schein, V. E. (1975). Relationships between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics among female managers. Journal_of_Applied_Psychology, 60, 340-344.