Problem Formulation Outline

The Statement of the Problem section of any complete research proposal informs your audience about the
severity, history, and reaches of what you, as the social work researcher are identifying as the problem. This
section makes clear to your reader that this problem exists, is negatively affecting the quality of life for specific
communities, and is a priority for the social work profession to investigate en route to addressing this problem.
Formulating the problem is the foundation to then offering a review of what has been said about this problem
thus far; the literature review/MA#3. You are invited to practice this skill by composing your Problem
Formulation section of the course Research Proposal. For MA#2, the title of this section is Problem
Formulation because this what you, as the author of this research proposal, are in the process of doing;
formulating the research problem.
Please reply to the questions below in essay form, utilizing each Section I, II, and III as section headers in the
paper. Section headers are not necessary for subsections a, b, c, d, and e. Be sure to use Times New Roman
in 12pt font size, double spaces, Microsoft word file, and APA style in-text and reference page citations. Please
locate four (4) sources that inform your understanding of this research problem. It is requested that sources for
MA#2 be organization or government reports, peer reviewed journal articles, or information from an
organization or agency website. The formulation of the problem includes:
Problem Formulation
Section I: A brief statement naming and describing the research problem
What is the problem?
What are two to three components of this problem?
Who are the people and communities that are affected by this problem??
Why is it a problem that this particular group of people is experiencing this problem?
What makes this a social work problem?
What do you want to know about this problem?
Sources Note: This section is where the demographic information is placed. For instance, characteristics
regarding who is affected, how they are affected, how many people are affected, and where or what
geographical information may be most affected is shared.
Section II: A brief background placing the importance of the research problem in the context of social work
service delivery.
What is the history of this problem?
How has this problem (or ones similar to it) been addressed in the past?
Sources Note: This section is where sources about the history of the problem and other studies that have
explored this problem are placed.
Section III: A discussion of why it is important to study this problem with respect to social work practice.
Will greater research into this problem area will benefit social workers and or social work clients? If so, explain