International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development

International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development

Online ISSN: 2349-4182, Print ISSN: 2349-5979; Impact Factor: RJIF 5.72
Received: 13-03-2020; Accepted: 16-04-2020; Published: 24-04-2020
www.allsubjectjournal.com
Volume 7; Issue 4; 2020; Page No. 16-19

Challenges faced by students during conducting research: A review

Zain ul Abdin Rind

Faculty of Education, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan

Abstract
The current study examined the problems and challenges faced by the researchers after course work. The purpose of this study
was to explore the problems and difficulties faced by the researchers. A review study was conducted to examine the research
problems and challenges. Hence review report generalized these research difficulties which keep researchers at problem
throughout research studies. This review study reveals that almost all researchers faced above-mentioned difficulties during
their research work. There is an extreme need to sort out the above problems and issues so that researchers could focus on
research work rather than solving these inconveniencies.

Keywords: research, challenges, problems, researcher

1. Introduction carefully select. One cannot do anything until he or she

A variety of students from all levels must require research. found the basic focus of the topic. Taskeen., et al (2014) [9]
Many research studies have been carried out in different mentioned that research study starts by selecting new
fields of study. According to Bandele (2004), research can research questions. Research problem should be original,
be used as a hyphenated compound word search again can be studied, and must carry meaning, but it will lead to
means a new interpretation searching for something or impenetrability because it is not easy to find a new problem
repeated search. It is a process of solving problems and and a significant population. This is the first step in the
issues. It is an effort to push back the frontiers of ignorance research investigation. Choose a new topic is difficult
to advance research knowledge. According to Kerlinger because researchers do not know how to choose a theme and
(1977), research is a systematic study of hypothetical based on what criteria they should choose it. The selection
propositions on the relationship between national process starts selecting a specific area of interest within that
phenomena. A research process needs to be addressed by area a problem is selected and narrowed down. However,
standard procedures, which will lead to solutions to the due to a lack of sufficient knowledge regarding the selection
problems. So much is heard about research in the negative of a problem, researchers waste a lot of time in selecting
light. Everyone hears that word just about every day by worthless research topics. Khan. T (2014) mentioned the
researchers: selection of a new topic is difficult for many research
“Research is difficult” students.
“Research is complicated subject”
“Research is complex subject” 2. Supervisor related difficulties
“Research is stressful” Supervisors are misleading/misguiding investigators in the
Where do the above obsessions come from? In most cases process of research because they do not have much training.
this attitude towards research develops when researcher Supervisors are found with ambiguous concepts. They
starts research after course work. This review study was cannot supervise in a real way. It will not be wrong to think
designed to explore the problems and challenges faced by that, in most cases, supervisors and researchers have the
research students during research. same level of understanding of research techniques.
(Taskeen, Shehzadi, Khan & Saleem 2014) [9]. Agha (2015)
[1]
2. Problems and challenges faced by researchers revealed that one day Dr. Masood, called her student and
According to Ojo (2007) [6], research serves for innovation asked for a research paper. He forced him for including his
as a springboard for subsequent development. Research name and also for the paid of the publication fee, she
work requires a clear understanding of what is to be done, it agreed. She added when she was leaving his office, he said
requires determination and effort. It builds on the existing that don’t forget tomorrow is your final Ph.D. seminar. I am
data, which requires the full use of journals, textbooks and the signatory to your degree.
library facilities. According to Bandele, (2004), educational Agha (2015) [1] found a doctoral student named Samreen,
research is carried out, to increase human knowledge to she told as I attended a doctorate, the supervisor started to
solve contemporary problems and establish decision-making ask her to go out with him for the dinners. He also told her
basis, to make discoveries and promote the contemporary that all my seminars would succeed if I fulfill his wish. She
modern evidence to help educational innovations and tried his best to have a professional relationship with him
improve educational services. but failed. Finally, she quit Ph. D because she had no other
choice. Agha (2015) [1] said another doctoral student, Naeem
2.1 Research topic selection told that his guide always avoided him but there was always
The research topic is the foundation of all, so it is the key to time for his batch partners because they keep giving gifts.

16
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development http://www.allsubjectjournal.com

He believed in his ability and didn’t become his yes-men. done by other researchers regarding the current study; this is
The results; batch mates completed their degree, while even why this part is very important. But unfortunately, our
after eight years; he is in the process. Phillips and Pugh researchers cannot obtain proper review as appropriate
(2000, p. 193) argue that the supervisor is responsible for literature is not unavailable or there is no access to the
providing all students development require assistance in appropriate related literature and without going through the
subject content, topics and research methods and, as well as literature a research work cannot enjoy access to success.
instill professionalism and personal support. This is a major problem the researchers faced during
Wakeford (2004, and 2006) said that this is not always the research work.
matter. The reality is often different. Many research students
found their original supervisors unavailable or too busy, 4. Time period of degree
because of illness, study leaves, personal problems, and Agha (2015) [1] mentioned completing M.Phil./MS and a
promotion or retirement. The association between a student doctorate degree at the time is another major issue, as the
and a supervisor is so important that students cannot afford system doesn’t implement an appropriate timetable.
to leave it to chance. It must be managed. According to Pakistan doubled its time to comply with the timetable than
Murphy (2009) the supervision emphasizes more on the other countries. The final submission occurs only if the
people, and is often seen as guidance has been more supervisor is ‘satisfied’ with the scholar; otherwise, the
supportive, but not effective for all students. Grant (2003) students have to keep waiting.
disclosed that while the production of a paper/ thesis is an
important part of supervised practice, the professional 5. Research culture
development of students is also vital. Rashid (2014) argue that the culture of research at the
Some published studies identified several difficulties and university level is deficient. That’s why students strive to be
obstacles in postgraduate students. Grant and Graham a master on the research basis. Research culture cannot be
(1999) stated that providing poor feedback, inaccessibility, constructed with the laboratory construction and the
sexual harassment and not keeping appointments leads to purchase of expensive apparatus but a change in the way
unsatisfactory supervision. Supervisors and students might student’s thinking. In this case, students understanding by
make friendship difficult due to dynamic power between critical analysis is a general lack of graduate (Bachelor) and
them (Ives and Raleigh, 2005) friendship of doctoral studies postgraduate (Master/MS/M.Phil.) institutions in Pakistan.
in the early stages, may lead to supervision difficulties, after Generally, students do not introduce the concept of critical
a few years’ supervisors may not be able to escape it (Lee, analysis and its significance. It is vital to find gaps and a
2008). Wadesango and Machingambi (2011) argued that contradiction, looking for advantages and disadvantages to
only a small number of students were satisfied with their see what is there and what is not.
supervisors. Lack of effective supervision and support, other
workloads of supervisors and poor feedback were the 6. Lack of research funding
difficulties they face in conducting research. Memarpour (2015) [5] in his research study showed that a
Researchers working under the supervision of their shortage of funding in conducting research is a major
supervisors are responsible and bond to provide proper problem for students as cited in previous studies. This may
assistance and guidance to researchers as researchers involve the fact that, in some countries, funding for research
themselves cannot work well. Supervisors, on the other on expensive materials and equipment has been limited.
hand, take it easy. Instead of helping and guiding students Saidinia (2013) pointed out the lack of research funding
they impose the responsibility on researchers, no, any research projects as the main problem.
guidance or assistance is provided by the supervisor. With
the start of researcher’s study supervisors usually disappear, 7. Lack of research knowledge and skills
their attitude changes, researchers are entangled between Research is a complex skill that requires different
research study and supervisor’s attitude and finally when techniques to use the database and evaluating results of
research study is accomplished and a researcher has research. Others need planned thinking, such as knowing
conducted the whole research, his/her research work is which tools are effective and appropriate for different
finally rejected by supervisor because it appears as below research questions. In addition, to develop the proficiency
the standard thought of supervisor (Taskeen et al, 2014) [9]. and development capabilities in all these areas, students
must be capable of integrating all of these. Linden (2012) [11]
3. Unavailability of appropriate literature revealed in his study that the students also experienced a
According to Hart (1998), reading the literature will give an certain development of their research knowledge and skills.
overview of the major theories and ideas that previous They believed that they developed their knowledge and
researchers have guided about a particular topic. To develop skills more in science-oriented topics and less in research
an appropriate vocabulary for writing and communicate methods and research designs. The knowledge and skills of
ideas student must have a good knowledge of the key the science-oriented scale are strongly related to aspects of a
concepts in their related field of study. According to the positive attitude towards research. For example, the
study of Neuman (1997), the review of related literature is knowledge and skills related to ‘critically evaluating
based on the assumption that research should build on the research by others’, ‘the validity of research’ and ‘analyzing
work of other researchers. Taskeen, Khan, Shehzadi & and interpreting data’. Rani and Priya (2014) pointed out
Saleem (2014) [9] mentioned that almost all of the research students’ face difficulties due to a lack of research methods
studies include the literature review section which is and time.
intended to cover the gap between past and present studies.
A literature review of research tells the researchers how 8. Poor library management
much work and what type of work from the past have been Shehzadi et al (2014) argued that the libraries are not

17
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development http://www.allsubjectjournal.com

managed systematically. Most researchers spend valuable research papers will include grammar, vocabulary,
time for searching books, newspapers, reports and more punctuation and spelling problems. It’s a huge challenge for
rather searching relevant information. Contents have been most students to write good grammatical English. Especially
lost, researchers find relevant data by looking at and in the absence of sufficient vocabulary to write papers will
observing each section one by one, which can drain their land the students in trouble. The researchers also read a lot
time and make it harder for them to focus on the subject of while conducting research. Researchers must go through a
the study. lot of research papers to get a clear picture of the language.
All these difficulties focused on language problems. When
9. Data collection difficulties all of these together exist in one place the effect will be
Difficulties were faced during the data collection period, in completing frustrating. The research papers should be
most of the surveys and some of which were similar among perfect in all respects which is submitted for the highest
countries. Shehzadi et al, (2014) stated that during the study degree. This indicates how significant the amendment and
researcher can’t rely on one or two of the data sources rather modification of the draft are in the study. By default, a few
they have to collect from different sources, so there is no rounds of changes must be made by a research supervisor
easy access to data sources. Hoskins & White (2013) said before it gets the green signal. To write a high-impact
that establishing rapport may be difficult for researchers research papers, these linguistic difficulties must be
who are different from their subjects and who are resolved on an individual basis.
experiencing interviews. Bonevski et al., (2014) mentioned
that the opinions of the subject’s during data collection were 3. Conclusion
also identified. The participants reported that the researchers It can be concluded that research becomes difficult when
felt uncomfortable during the data collection period. researcher faced several difficulties during their research
Bonevski (2014) pointed out that to address the difficulties work. This review study reveals that almost all researchers
in a survey; the researchers were given suggestions to create faced above-mentioned difficulties during their research
a comfortable environment for participants during data work. There is an extreme need to sort out the above
collection. problems and issues so that researchers could focus on
research work rather than solving these inconveniencies.
10. Interpersonal difficulties
Logan (n.d) mentioned that every time self-problems can 4. References
affect a certain cognitive capacity and involve in academic 1. Agha N. Research culture in Pakistan: The
pursuits. Sometimes, a problematic solution depends on ‘undisclosed’ moral decadence. Dawn Newspaper,
what the reason, in this case, must be to find out why the 2015.
difficulties occurred. Research is found to be tiring and 2. Bocar A. Difficulties encountered by the student -
boring for most of the students; however, teachers and Researchers and the effects on their Research output.
students could not leave this work because usually, this is an Proceeding of The Global Summit on Education, 2013.
academic requirement. Locke (2005) found that 3. Creswell J. Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
interpersonal difficulties are often associated with other Quantitative and Qualitative Research (4th ed.).
people’s difficulties. He further mentioned that interpersonal Pearson Education, United States of America, 2012, P.
problems might be associated to anticipate for how others 3 & 16.
will react. This might be sensitive or insensitive to people’s 4. Farooq u. Difficulties in social research, 2013.
reactions to others. Another research study of Bocar (2013) Retrieved from
revealed that collaboration among subjects outside the http://www.studylecturenotes.com/social-research-
academic institution was a critical issue for researchers. methodology/difficulties-in-social research
Because of personal difficulties, such as stress management 5. Memarpour M, Fard A, Ghasemi R. Evaluation of
and time interference sixty-six percent of the subjects find it attitude to, knowledge of and barriers toward research
difficult and end their research study. among medical science students. Asia Pacific Family
Medicine, 2015, 14(1).
11. Time management difficulties 6. Ojo OO. Attitude of University Graduating Students to
According to Wells-Moran & Dombeck (2006) time Research; Implications for Counselling. Journal of
management skills deal with consciousness, organization, Educational Foundations and Management. 2007;
and commitment. One should comprehend and collect all 5(1):1-8.
the things one is doing as those are important things that can 7. Papanastasiou E. Rasch rating scale analysis of the
be done in due time. It also needs the commitment to Attitudes toward Research scale. Journal of Applied
maintain a schedule, and not attracted to other interesting Measurement, 2014, 15(2).
things happening around. They also stressed that 8. Sabzwari S, Kauser S, Khuwaja A. Experiences,
organizational skills and time management were not related attitudes and barriers towards research amongst junior
to various life tasks that one should decide to take those faculty of Pakistani medical universities. BMC Medical
measures. University of Cincinnati (2001) suggested Education, 2009, 9(68).
“unexamined and untreated considerable emotional 9. Taskeen S, Shehzadi A, Khan T, Saleem N. Difficulties
problems as those of loss, depression, and anxiety might faced by novice researchers: A study of universities in
lead candidates to feel inadequate or cause major Pakistan. International Journal of Art and Literature.
institutional difficulties and failure”. 2014; 1(No.1):1-4.
10. Verhoef et al., Identifying the barriers to conducting
12. Linguistic difficulties outcomes research in integrative health care clinic
Students' get difficulties in language aspects of writing settings - a qualitative study. BMC Health Services

18
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development http://www.allsubjectjournal.com

Research, 2010, 10(14).

11. Wietse van der Linden. Student teachers’ development
of a positive attitude towards research and research
knowledge and skills. European Journal of Teacher
Education. 2013; 35(4):401-419.

19