Before you get started

Before you start your literature research, you need to carefully consider two things:

1. What issue do you want to investigate? This is also referred to as the problem definition. To do this, you need to map out the various aspects that you want to investigate.
2. What is the purpose of your research? This is also referred to as the 'objective'.

There are different possible objectives, for example: You want to gain insight into a particular problem. You want to (help) solve a problem through your research. You want to inform others.

Example:

Marco is a manager at a company that delivers laptops to people's homes. Many customers return their products, which generates a lot of waste. Nobody wants to buy the returned laptops, even though they are in perfect working order. This costs the company a lot of money (problem). That is the problem definition.

Marco asks you, as a student at a university of applied sciences, to design an effective marketing strategy that will encourage customers to buy the remaining laptops, generating more revenue for the company and producing less waste (purpose). Designing this effective marketing strategy is referred to as the objective.

The research question is a tool that aids you in gaining insight into the problem that needs to be researched and helps you achieve your objective. This is discussed in more detail in the Orientation chapter.