Chapter 1 is the introduction to the book. The chapter provides the background to the problem. The anti-dumping investigations are conducted with complicated procedural rules so that exporters cannot cooperate with the investigating authorities. Investigating authorities tend to inflate anti-dumping duties and use anti-dumping for protectionist purposes taking advantage of the non-cooperation. In this context, research questions are listed in connection to the main problem. The scope of the research is also set in Chapter 1.

Problems, that is ‘questions’, drive research. Without research questions there would hardly be any research at all. Research problems are not ‘given’, however; they are detected and constructed. How research problems are captured and framed drives subsequent research activities. In normal research situations, we first select a topic and then formulate a research problem within that topic. The process of constructing a research problem is not straightforward and often involves a lot of back-and-forth adjustments and refinement. In this chapter we particularly focus on how to construct and adequately capture research problems. The role of reviewing past literature to identify weaknesses and gaps is also examined.

Problems, that is ‘questions’, drive research. Without research questions there would hardly be any research at all. Research problems are not ‘given’, however; they are detected and constructed. How research problems are captured and framed drives subsequent research activities. In normal research situations, we first select a topic and then formulate a research problem within that topic. The process of constructing a research problem is not straightforward and often involves a lot of back-and-forth adjustments and refinement. In this chapter we particularly focus on how to construct and adequately capture research problems. The role of reviewing past literature to identify weaknesses and gaps is also examined.