Empirical information is presented on how researchers at Swedish institutes of education perceive, structure, and define educational and psychological problems. The collection, evaluation, and presentation of the results of the study were made on the basis of system theoretic assumptions in that the description and analysis of the initial phase of the research process was made from a micro-ecological perspective. This orientation focuses on the analysis of the constraints that influence the researcher's possibilities for action, and permits the application of a psychological model that emphasizes the researcher's possibilities for action. The model includes the following components: (1) the researcher's motivation, (2) the researcher's perception of problems (i.e. the generation of ideas, norms, and values), (3) the researcher's choice, transformation and structuring of problems, and the generation of hypotheses, (4) the researcher's choice of strategies concerning the search for information, the design and implementation of research plans, (5) the researcher's choice of methods and techniques for information and documentation of research results, design of investigations, collection and processing of data, (6) the researcher's frame of reference (i.e. the extent to which he or she identifies with a particular discipline) and (7) the formal and informal organizations within which researchers work. (EVH)