ARTICLE 1 | Research Methods, One Step at a Time
From a Workplace Problem to a Research Question
Learn how to turn a workplace concern into a focused, researchable question, with practical examples from telecom and MBA research.
After 24 years in telecommunications, I have come to appreciate the value of practical experience. It helps us recognize problems, understand constraints, and make decisions when circumstances are demanding.
Research asks us to take that understanding further.
When we believe we understand a problem, what evidence supports our explanation? Which part remains uncertain? How could we investigate it systematically?
These questions connect professional experience with academic inquiry. They also offer a starting point for students who have many ideas but are unsure how to begin.
My MBA thesis focused on evaluating contractors’ risk management for telecom pole construction in the United Arab Emirates. In this article, I use that research context to explain how a broad area of interest can become a focused research question.
The examples below are teaching illustrations developed from that context, rather than quotations of my original research questions.
1. Begin with something you need to understand
A research project often begins with a concern.
In construction, that concern might involve delayed materials, coordination difficulties, or uncertainty about how risks are managed. In education, it might involve student participation. In business, it could concern customer retention or employee turnover.
At this stage, you have a reason to investigate. You may not yet have a researchable question.
Consider this starting point:
“I want to study risk management in telecom construction.”
It identifies an area of interest, but it leaves several decisions open. Which construction activities? Whose practices? Which aspects of risk management? In what setting?
A useful first step is to write down what you need to understand more clearly. Resist the temptation to select a sophisticated method immediately. The question should guide the choice of method.
2. Separate your topic from your research problem
The topic names the broad subject. The research problem explains the specific issue or uncertainty that deserves investigation.
For example:
Topic: Risk management in telecom construction.
Possible research problem: There is insufficient understanding of how contractors identify and document risks during a defined type of telecom construction project.
The second statement provides direction, but it still requires support. Before presenting “insufficient understanding” as an established gap, we need to examine relevant literature and available evidence.
Something may be unfamiliar to us while already being well understood by other researchers.
This distinction matters for experienced professionals as much as it does for students. Experience helps us notice worthwhile questions. Reading helps us establish what is already known about them.
Ask yourself:
- What has been observed or documented?
- What remains uncertain?
- Why would resolving that uncertainty matter?
Your answers provide the beginnings of a research problem.
3. Establish boundaries that make the study manageable
Telecommunications infrastructure covers many activities. Even within construction, different project types can involve different tasks, stakeholders, and risks.
My MBA study focused on GSM rooftop pole construction in the UAE. That boundary matters when explaining what the research can address and where its conclusions may apply.
A focused study needs practical boundaries. Consider:
The setting: Where will the research take place?
The participants or records: Who or what can provide relevant evidence?
The phenomenon: Which practice, experience, or relationship will you examine?
The feasibility: Can you obtain suitable evidence within the time and resources available?
For a student, access is especially important. A question may be interesting but difficult to investigate if it requires confidential records or participants you cannot reach.
Narrowing the scope helps you create a study you can carry out carefully.
4. Turn the uncertainty into a question
We can now move from the broad topic toward a possible question.
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Start with:
“How do contractors manage risks?”
This is understandable, but very broad. It could encompass many industries, countries, processes, and organizational arrangements.
Add the project context:
“How do contractors manage risks in UAE telecom rooftop pole construction?”
Then specify the practices of interest:
“What practices do contractors report using to identify and document risks in UAE telecom rooftop pole construction?”
The final version identifies a setting and a defined area of investigation. It also makes an important distinction: it asks about reported practices.
If we collect questionnaire responses, we obtain participants’ accounts. Establishing how consistently those practices occur in day-to-day work could require additional evidence, such as project documents or direct observation.
This is where alignment begins. The wording of the question should match the evidence we can realistically collect.
5. Keep the question open to an unexpected answer
Professional experience can give us strong expectations. Those expectations may help us develop ideas, but they should remain open to examination.
Consider this question:
“Why do contractors fail to manage risks effectively?”
It assumes failure before the investigation begins. Unless that failure has already been established and clearly defined, the wording can steer the study toward a predetermined conclusion.
A more open question might be:
“What challenges do contractors report when implementing risk-management practices?”
This allows participants to describe different experiences. Some may identify substantial challenges; others may report practices that work well.
Similarly, asking which practice “improves project performance” requires a design capable of supporting that claim. A survey asking for opinions may reveal perceived benefits without demonstrating an actual improvement.
Choose wording that leaves room for the evidence to surprise you.
6. Check the question before committing to it
Before developing your questionnaire or collecting data, test your proposed question against five practical checks.
Clarity: Can another person understand what you intend to investigate?
Focus: Is the question sufficiently bounded for one study?
Evidence: What information would allow you to answer it?
Feasibility: Can you obtain that information responsibly within your constraints?
Relevance: Who could benefit from the answer, and how?
You should also ask what the question contributes beyond existing research. That requires further reading and may lead you to revise the question.
Revision is part of developing a sound study. An initial question gives you direction; it does not prevent you from refining that direction as your understanding improves.
Try this with your own topic
Take a few minutes to complete these four sentences:
- My broad area of interest is…
- The specific issue or uncertainty I want to understand is…
- The people, setting, or records I can realistically study are…
- My proposed research question is…
Read the four sentences together. Do they describe the same investigation?
If your topic concerns risk identification but your question asks about overall project profitability, you may need to explain and investigate that connection — or narrow the question.
Alignment starts with these small decisions.
Where we go next
Your experience, curiosity, or concern can provide a meaningful starting point. A clear research question gives that starting point a direction you can investigate.
You do not need to understand every research method before taking this step. Begin by defining what you need to know, why it matters, and what evidence could help answer it.
In the next article, we will examine how to read the literature to establish what is already known — and whether the uncertainty you have identified represents a worthwhile research gap.
This is Article 1 of Research Methods, One Step at a Time, a series for students and professionals learning to connect practical questions with systematic inquiry.
The telecom context draws on my professional experience and my MBA thesis at Geneva Business School, published online as: Vitalicio, H. F. (2022). Evaluating Contractors’ Risk Management for Telecom Poles Construction in the United Arab Emirates. SciRJ Thesis Publication Series. The teaching examples are adaptations; this article does not report the thesis’s statistical findings.
