Hatch (1982:4) suggest some steps to state research problems, from identifying topics to be studied, focusing the scope, reviewing related references, to stating the research problems. Research Problems and Research objectives basically have the same meaning. Therefore, very often research problems are stated in the same way as the research objectives. This indicates the important role of research problems and research objectives in research activities. However, research objectives should be stated differently from the research problems, as the research problems are stated as questions to be answered by the researchers, while the objectives are stated as the goal of research to be achieved by the researchers.
Herbert J. Rubin (1983) in Newman (1997) states that research objectives are more focused than research problems. The objective of academic research, whether by sociologist. political scientists, or anthropologists, is to try to find answers to theoretical questions within their respective fields. In contrast, the objective of applied social research is to use data so that decisions can be made.
The following are the examples of statements of research problems and the related research objectives:
- For the research problem "Do male junior high school students achieve better in reading comprehension than female students of the same level?" the right statement of the research of the research objective is "to measure the effect of sex to junior high school students' achievement in reading comprehension".
- For the research problem, "Does the group taught vocabulary using Collaborative Teaching and Learning instruction gain better score than the group under picture series instruction". The research objective is "to measure the effectiveness of Collaborative teaching and Learning instruction".
- For the research problem, "Do the students taught by using K-W-L technique have better writing achievement than those taught by non K-W-L technique". The objective of research is "to measure the effectiveness of writing instructional strategy using K-W-L technique".
- For the research problem, "Do college students learning listening in a language laboratory achieve better listening proficiency than those in a conventional classroom?". The objective of the research is "to measure the effectiveness of using language laboratory in teaching listening".
- For the research problem, "Do the more English Department students in fifth semester read English Novels, the better they can write in English?". The research objective is "to measure the correlation between the amount of reading English Novels and the students writing skills".
- For the research problem, "How is the effective instruction model to enhance the students' writing ability through mind mapping technique?". The research objective is "to produce the instructional strategy mind mapping technique that can enhance the students' writing ability".
- "What material in teaching speaking is effective to the difference age students of Pondok Pesantren Lirboyo, Kediri?". The objective is "to develop instructional materials that can be used as a textbook in the teaching of speaking at the Pondok Pesantren Lirboyo, Kediri".
- "Is there any statistically significant difference in the use of reading strategies in reading Indonesian and English Journal by College students with good and poor Reading achievement"?
I think that's all about the Stating Research Problems and Objectives on Educational Research. Good research problems is one of the successful indicator doing the research. Someone who can state good research problem and objective they will understand their purpose of the research.