Problem
Concept Paper: Practice Writing a Problem Statement
Discuss a societal or clinical problem (social work related) that fits our dataset (substance abuse treatment).
Discuss how pervasive this problem is and the possible implications to the field of social work (e.g. clients, agencies, society in general). To help you better understand how to come up with a problem statement, please consider the following:
A. Do not use the word "I" or "my" or "me" in the entire paper.
B. Start with a global statement about the problem and then work your way towards more narrow statements (e.g. specific types of populations/clients, specific types of agencies or practice, specific social work content areas, specific geographical areas). For example, don't start with a statement like this: "Students in my practice often have problems learning because they live in chaotic home environments". Instead, you will start broader and more objective with statements like, "The relationship between poverty/abuse/significant life stressors/(or whatever else you wish to say) and poor cognitive retention has been well-established."
C. In discussing your identified problem, begin to narrow it down to a specific client struggles or geographic area or age group or some subject area of interest. For example, "This is especially true for students who have lost parents to violence."
D. In discussing this important problem, you must use at least three real references from someone of authority (e.g. text books, governmental source like the Campbell or Chochrane Collaboration, Census Bureau, journal article). You may quote liberally from these sources as long as you give them credit.
E. While you must reference sources, do not quote someone directly unless they are of major significance (e.g. a major government entity or panel specially devoted to providing sage advice on the topic). Instead, you would write something like, "Some researchers have proposed" or "There is some evidence to suggest" or "Jones has suggested" that x could be the cause of y.
F. This is neither an opinion piece nor a position paper. After the first sentence or two, you can no longer globally state the problem or expand on the problem without facts. You must back up every statement. You can make up your source at times, but you have to write technically. Here is an example of quoting a made-up source: "Texas institutions of higher education mirror the national trend in this area (Smith and Jones, 2002). (I made up that reference.)
G. Write MODESTLY. Don't sell. Let the evidence sell the reader.
H. Some things to consider: What is the problem? How big is the problem? What are the costs to clients? agencies? society? Why should we care? Is this issue especially problematic to any groups? How will this problem pertain to the study I eventually hope to do? What does research say might or might not help this problem? You have a literature review to do later, but you are introducing the framework of the literature review.
I. A problem at your agency is not a problem. While it can be happening at your agency, you must think in terms of the societal problem, not how it is manifesting with your particular client.