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Defining the social problem

As a public policy analyst, your group or your class will first need to select a problem topic and then specifically define a social problem. A social problem is a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable.

Here are some steps to consider in selecting and defining a social problem for your public policy analysis:

• Review the Sample list of social problems.

• From the list (or additions that were made), select a social problem that everyone would be interested in studying.

• Decide on the specific community location in which to study the problem

• Define your specific social problem by using one of methods in the Information Tools.

• See an example

• Worksheet1: "Defining the social problem"(MSWORD)
• Worksheet1: "Defining the social problem"(HTML)

• Hoja de Trabajo 1: "Defina el problema"(MSWORD)