Q: Can you help me write the problem statement and specific objective for my thesis?

Hi Nasra – welcome to the forum!

Your topic is quite relevant, as challenges in health service provision or of providers can impact the treatment and recovery rates in a hospital. However, as your thesis is about a particular hospital, it may be challenging to provide specific inputs. So, here are some broad pointers on how to write the problem statement and draft research objectives.

Firstly, with regard to the inputs you are seeking, the flow in your research should be:

Research question > Problem statement > Research objectives

So, you first need to come up with a research question. This will come from an analysis of the problem under study. This can also come from a comprehensive literature search, in case previous studies have been done around similar or related aspects of the hospital’s services. All this information will feed into your research question, which should be focused, because that will also help you write a concise problem statement.

The problem statement has to explain three aspects around the problem: the current situation regarding the problem, the desired or ideal situation, and how your remedy or solution will help attain this ideal situation.

If you have been focused and concise so far, this should lead to drafting specific objective(s). In your case, as you are studying only one hospital, you may not need too many objectives, but again, this would depend on your research question and problem statement definition. The key thing though is that they should come from the main question or objective and should help answer that question or attain that overarching objective.

For more help with the various points discussed above, you may refer to the following resources:

• How to choose a research question
• The basics of writing a statement of the problem for your research proposal
• How to formulate research objectives?

All the best with your thesis!