The one constant for all dissertations, and for all research for that matter, is the need to state the problem of the study based on the scholarly literature. Doctoral programs commonly require that students take a sequence of research courses that usually focus on how to carry-out a study. That is, the design, the methodology, and the data-analysis techniques, whether they be quantitative or qualitative in nature. Unfortunately, what is often omitted from most research sequences is an understanding of what constitutes a research problem in the first place and how to articulate the problem statement in a logical manner. For many students as emerging scholars, constructing the problem statement often presents an intellectual challenge of a new sort, apart from designing the study and analyzing the data.This article has four purposes. First, the article discusses the role of the problem statement in doing research in human resource development and adult education. Second, it discusses the various bases for deriving problems for doing research. Third, it presents a four-part logical system, or syllogism, for constructing problem statements. Finally, the article discusses the implications for attending to the problem statement. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)