How to create a good problem statement?

Question

The professor keeps rejecting our problem statement, because it "has no depth" as she said.

Here is what we submitted: How does pricing influence college students' attitude towards healthier instant noodles?

Here's the problem we had in mind:

College students love instant noodles.

Instant noodles are unhealthy.

Healthier instant noodles have been made.

But they are more expensive.

We want to find out the DIFFERENTIAL THRESHOLD between the cheaper noodles and the healthier noodles, in other words: is the increase in price negligible? Or is it noticeable enough to alter purchasing behavior?

What about some variables other than but related to pricing? This would help in making the statement more concise and meaningful.

Help please. Suggestions are very welcome.

Answer 1

Kind of hard to get into the head space of your prof but I think what she means is that it will be challenging to do significant research on your problem statement as it is worded.  

So.  

Restated:  (note - a problem statement can be, and often is, more than one sentence)

In the instant noodles market, what role does price elasticity of demand have on the buyer behavior of college students?  This research project will investigate buyer behavior in purchasing no-name or generica brand instant noodles, brand name instant noodles, and a healthier brand of instant noodles and the role that price plays.  

You could change/add "the role price plays" to add "the role price, brand identity and health plays";  that would give you more depth (3 variables) but it does make for a more challenging study design.

Good luck.