Before you choose a problem statement .....A few practical points.

This post is exclusively for all the nursing students pursuing masters degree and are preparing to select a research problem statement for their dissertations....
1.Make sure that you read a lot of journals and publications both online and in print before selecting an area for research.Subscribing to online journals and free updates will help in the long run.these are storehouses of ideas.
2.Join a forum of Msc nursing students so that you can interact with students from different places and can share their ideas and views regarding the topic. thanks to social networking sites this is easy now a days.It is also good to keep a track of international bloggers and interact with them to gain a better understanding of the problem from the global point of view.
3.Select a topic of your interest and make use of the talents that you posses..The more creative your study is ,the more you will enjoy it.(I know this person who had a great passion for music and she did a study on the effect of music therapy on patients with tachycardia)This also keeps you motivated throughout the process.
4.Make a list of all the people you know in your profession as well as out of your profession who can help you in the process.Many a times students only rely on experts from the profession.however it must be kept in mind that ,it was the physical labour of the daily wage workers,imagination of the sculptors,calculations of the architects and creativity of the artists that gave birth to wonders lie the Taj Mahal.So make sure that you make the best use of talents of people around you.
5.Once you have selected the topic,do some reading on the topic.It is best to read dissertations on similar studies to gain  insight into how the subject can be dealt with .Read full text articles of studies to gain a wider perspective of the problem under study and to know what have been done so far to address the problem.
6.Decide the setting and the samples that you will require for the study.be ready with a contingency plan  in case of unforeseen circumstances like cancellation of permission from a particular setting or massive sample attrition.
7.Find a statistician who can guide you throughout your study and discuss the research problem with him/her and take suggestions on how to go about it.
8.select a topic that will help you understand the research process thoroughly.It is not necessary that all the time you have to produce some breakthrough results.but the research should help you grow as a professional and also bring a positive change in the practice of nursing.
9.Prepare a budget for research work.keep aside some amount of money exclusively for research purposes.
10.Finally..remember that its your study and the first and most important person to be convinced about the importance of the study is yourself.So no matter what others say ..believe in yourself and go ahead....there lies a path untraveled,a place unexplored...take the first step and leave imprints for others to build a city there...