Scope and delimitation, problem, questions

• Research Justification


  • It is considered as the initial step in writing a research paper.
  • It involves the skill on how the researcher will provide the readers with a critical background or contextual information that introduces the research topic.
  • It needs to indicate the reasons why the proposed research actually matters. In doing so, the researcher must be able to get the audience’s attention right from the audience.
• Existing Literature


  The background on what researches have already been done about the given subject
• Relevance to Local/Global Context


  It is the situational interconnectedness of individuals or things in varying perspectives. 
• Critical Background


  These are circumstances that form a background of an event, idea, or subject, that enables the readers to understand the nature of the problem. 
• Research Gap


  These are problems, issues, or questions that have not been addressed or are yet to be understood. 
• Proof of Urgency


  It is an urgent need to solve the existing problem
• Research Goal/Objective


  The purpose why there is a need for the proposed study to be conducted
• Rationale of Study

  1. Existing Literature
  2. Relevance to Local/Global Context
  3. Critical Background
  4. Research Gap
  5. Proof of Urgency
  6. Research Goal/Objectives
• Research title

  • It summarizes the main idea/s of your study.
  • It is the part of the paper that is read the most and is usually read first. 
  • It captures the reader’s attention and draws his attention to the research problem being investigated. 
  • It differentiates the paper from other papers of the same subject area.
  • It predicts the content.
• Writing a research title

  
  

  1. Keep it simple, brief and attractive
  2. Use appropriate descriptive words. 
  3. Avoid abbreviations and jargon.
  4. Create a ‘working’ research title first. 
• Guidelines in the formation of the research title

  1. The title must contain the subject matter or research problem, and the settings or locale of the study.
  2. The title must be broad enough to include all aspects of the study but should be brief and concise as possible. 
  3. The use of terms such as “Analysis of” “A Study of” “An Investigation of” and the like should be avoided. 
  4. If the title contains more than one line, it should be written in an inverted pyramid. 
  5. All words in the title should be in capital letters
• Statement of the Problem

  • It is a well-defined problem that is commonly pertained to as the “Statement of the Problem”
  • It clearly states the problem that can make the vagueness of the study be clarified. 
  • It presents other essential elements of research undertaking such as the major variables, objectives, and appropriate methodology.

  example: “The high school dropout rate in our community has risen by 20% over the past two years, negatively impacting our future workforce"
• General problem

  It pertains to the opening paragraph that gives specific details on other essential elements which are the purpose, major variables, participants, setting, and time coverage of the study. 
• Specific Problem

  • It is stated in a declarative form, these are stated as questions.
  • The formulated questions should all be anchored on the general problem.
• Guidelines in writing general problem

  • It should clearly state the main task/s of the researcher.
  • It should present the major variables related to the phenomenon to be investigated. 
  • It should identify the participants of the study. 
  • It should state the research setting as wel as the time period of the study. 
  • It may indicate the intended output of the study such as intervention program, module, policies, etc.
• Research Problem

  • It is a statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists. 
• Research Question

  • It enables you to generate a set of research questions. 
  • Your ability to identify and formulate the questions, depends on the background knowledge you have about the topic. 
  • To have a good idea of the problem, you must have rich background knowledge aboutthe topic through RRL (Review of Related Literature), which requires intensive reading about your topic. 
• Guidelines in writing research questions

  • It indicates the variables in the study.
  • It must be related to the identified problem.
  • It should convey the desired change or improvement. 
  • It must be writtenin a question form. 
  • It must follow the SMART Principle.
• Scope and delimitation


  An informative part of research where you declare the things you have to carry out and follow through the course of research.

  Where the parameters and boundaries are defined.
• Scope


  It describes the coverage of the study. It mentions the problems and questions, number of participants, and timeline.
• Delimitations

  The factors and variables not included in the study.

  The term is only used during proposal stage, it will be changed to LIMITATION.
• Limitations

  These are variables and factors that are excluded and the constraints in conducting the research.  Like; participation of respondents, unavailability.
• Non-researchable

  Close-ended questions
• Researchable questions


  Open-ended questions