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 Define
the Problem
What prevents you from reaching your goal?
You may need to state the problem in broad terms since the exact
problem may not be obvious.
- you may lack information to define it
- you can confuse symptoms with underlying causes
Prepare a statement of the problem and find someone you trust to review
it and to talk it over. If the problem is a job situation, review it
with your supervisor or the appropriate committee or resource.
Consider these questions:
- What is the problem?
- Is it my problem?
- Can I solve it? Is it worth solving?
- Is this the real problem, or merely a symptom of a larger one?
- If this is an old problem, what's wrong with the previous solution?
- Does it need an immediate solution, or can it wait?
- Is it likely to go away by itself?
- Can I risk ignoring it?
- Does the problem have ethical dimensions?
- What conditions must the solution satisfy?
- Will the solution affect something that must remain unchanged?
 Gather
Information
Stakeholders
Individuals, groups, organizations that are affected by the problem,
or its solution. Begin with yourself. Decision makers and
those close to us are very important to identify.
Facts & data
- Research
- Results from experimentation and studies
- Interviews of "experts" and trusted sources
- Observed events, past or present, either personally observed or
reported
Boundaries
The boundaries or constraints of the situation are difficult to change.
They include lack of funds or other resources. If a solution is
surrounded by too many constraints, the constraints themselves may be
the problem.
Opinions and Assumptions
Opinions of decision makers, committees or groups, or other powerful
groups will be important to the success of your decision. It is
important to recognize truth, bias, or prejudice in the opinion.
Assumptions can save time and work since is often difficult to get
"all the facts." Recognize that some things are accepted on
faith. Assumptions also have a risk factor, must be recognized for
what they are, and should be discarded when they are proven wrong.
Page 3: Developing, evaluating, and
deciding on alternatives
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The Study Guides and Strategies web site was created and is
maintained by Joe
Landsberger,
academic web site developer at the University
of St. Thomas (UST), St. Paul, Minnesota. It is collaboratively
maintained across institutional and national boundaries, and last revised
September 04, 2002 .
Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt, print,
transmit, and distribute
Study Guides in settings that benefit learners. On the WWW, however, please link
rather than put up your own page since pages are frequently modified and
improved in consideration of educational research. No request to link is
necessary. Additional contributions and translations are warmly
received.
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