Scope and Delimitation

LESSON 8
LEARNING TARGET:
I can create scope and delimitation of a research
REFERENCES:
https://www.discoverphds.com/blog/scope-and-
delimitations
You are chosen as one of the coordinators for Miss
Philippines 2024. Your task is to look for pure
blooded young Filipina women with the age range
between 18-29 years old. Apart from that, you also
need to consider how many candidates will you get,
the process of application and their qualifications.
How are you going to choose your candidates? What
are the limitations and standards you have to put in
mind?
The scope and delimitation of a thesis,
dissertation or research paper define the topic
and boundaries of the research problem to be
investigated. The scope details how in-depth
your study is to explore the research question
and the parameters in which it will operate in
relation to the population and timeframe.
• The delimitation of a study are the factors and
variables not to be included in the investigation.
In other words, they are the boundaries the
researcher sets in terms of study duration,
population size and type of participants, etc.
• Limitations are matters and occurrences that
arise during a study which are out of the
researcher’s control. This has the extensity where
a study can go and affect the end result and
conclusion which can be drawn.
 Difference Between Delimitations and
Limitations

• Delimitations refer to the boundaries of the research study, based on the

researcher’s decision of what to include and what to exclude. They narrow
your study to make it more manageable and relevant to what you are trying
to prove.
• Limitations relate to the validity and reliability of the study. They are
characteristics of the research design or methodology that are out of your
control but influence your research findings. Because of this, they determine
the internal and external validity of your study and are considered potential
weaknesses.
 Difference Between Delimitations and
Limitations

• In other words, limitations are what the researcher cannot do

(elements outside of their control) and delimitations are what the
researcher will not do (elements outside of the boundaries they
have set). Both are important because they help to put the
research findings into context, and although they explain how the
study is limited, they increase the credibility and validity of a
research project.
 Guidelines on how to make the Scope

Why  the general aims and objectives (purpose) of the research.

What  the subject to be investigated, and the included variables.
Where  the location or setting of the study, i.e. where the data will be
gathered and to which entity the data will belong.
When  the timeframe within which the data is to be collected.
Who  the subject matter of the study and the population from which
they will be selected. This population needs to be large enough
to be able to make generalizations.
How  how the research is to be conducted, including a description of
the research design.
How to Start Writing Your Study Scope

• This study focuses on …

• This study covers the …
• This study aims to …
Example title: Mainstreaming of Students with
Disabilities to Regular Physical Education Classes:
MAPEH Teacher’s Perception

This study is to focus on the socio-demographic profile

and aims to determine perception of MAPEH teachers
towards mainstreaming of students with disabilities to
regular Physical Education classes. This will be
conducted to the selected primary and secondary public
schools in Davao City.
Guidelines on How to Write Delimitations

Since the delimitation parameters are within the

researcher’s control, readers need to know why they were
set, what alternative options were available, and why these
alternatives were rejected. For example, if you are
collecting data that can be derived from three different
but similar experiments, the reader needs to understand
how and why you decided to select the one you have
(2020 DiscoverPhDs).
How to Start Writing Your Study Delimitations
• Use the below prompts as an effective way to start
writing your study delimitations:
• This study does not cover …
• This study is limited to …
• The following has been excluded from this study
…
Example title: Mainstreaming of Students with
Disabilities to Regular Physical Education Classes:
MAPEH Teacher’s Perception
• This study does not cover the MAPEH teachers in any
primary and secondary private schools, tertiary public
and private schools in Davao City. It is limited to 90
MAPEH teachers only as respondents of the study. The
following has been excluded from this study: All subject
teachers except MAPEH teachers, MAPEH teachers in
public schools outside Davao City, students and
student-teachers, principals and other administrators.
Significance of the
Study
LESSON 9
LEARNING TARGET: I can identify the benefits and
beneficiaries of research.
REFERENCES: Uy, et.al (2016) Practical Research 2
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has produced
new organic fertilizers to all farmers in the nearby
provinces of Davao. This was done through the
active Dabawenyo researchers. The fertilizers were
given to all farmers in the said province. The
significance of this project is to help farmers in the
community and to rebuild the livelihood which was
ruined by a simultaneous typhoon last year. Aside
from that, it was made organic to make it eco-
friendly.
• The significance of the study is a written statement that
explains why your research was needed. It’s a
justification of the importance of your work and
impact it has on your research field, its contribution to
new knowledge and how others will benefit from it.
• The section on significance of the study provides
information to the reader on how the study will
contribute. It must be stated specifically on how the
study can contribute to its locale and who will enjoy it.
TWO STEPS IN WRITING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1. Confer with the statement of the problem

• The problem statement can guide in identifying the precise contribution
of the study. It is done by observing a one-to-one correspondence
between the statement of the problem and also the significance of the
study.
2. Write from general to specific contribution
• Write the importance of the study by looking into the overall contribution
of the study like its importance within the society as a whole then proceed
to specific- towards its contribution to individuals which may include the
researcher.
In simple terms, the significance of the study is basically
the importance of your research. The significance of a
study must be stated in the Introduction section of your
research paper. While stating the significance, you must
highlight how your research will be beneficial to the
development of science and the society in general. You can
first outline the significance in a broader sense by stating
how your research will contribute to the broader problem
in your field and gradually narrow it down to demonstrate
the specific group that will benefit from your research.
While writing the significance of your study, you
must answer questions like:
• Why should your research be published?
• How will this study contribute to the development
of your field?
The possible beneficiaries are:
• Experts which concern about the topic.
• Administrators/Policy Makers which make
decisions and implement programs.
• The subjects
• The future researchers
• Those who are affected by the problem.
Statement of the
Problem
LESSON 10
• LEARNING TARGET: I can formulate questions based on the
research statement.
• REFERENCES: Cadomigara, M., 2002. Fundamentals of
Research, Methods and Models Pyrczak, F., Bruce, R. 2003. The
Problem Statement in the Research Paper
Mang Antonio is a farmer with a beautiful garden in his
yard. Last month, he harvested 300 sacks of tomatoes
because of his hard work in putting healthy soil and
fertilizers, and giving enough water. Hence, he gained a
lot of profit. Due to its demand, he changed the
mechanism and process of planting. Sadly, this month is
said to be bad for him. He harvested 150 tomatoes only
from 300 last month. What are the factors why the
harvest of Mang Antonio this month reduced compare to
the harvest last month?
In connection to the statement of the problem, from
this scenario we can determine that the main point
of this is all about the factors affecting the harvest
of Mang Antonio. We can see that based on the
question being asked. The statement of the problem
is the description of an issue currently existing
which needs to be addressed. It provides the context
for the research study and generates the questions
which the research aims to answer.
The statement of the problem is the focal point of
any research. A good problem statement is just one
sentence (with several paragraphs of elaboration.)
For example it could be: “The frequency of job
layoffs is creating fear, anxiety, and a loss of
productivity in middle management workers
KEY COMPONENTS OF THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

1. The problem itself

- must be stated clearly and with enough contextual detail to
establish why is it important.
2. The method of solving the problem
- often stated as a claim or a working thesis.
3. The purpose
- statement of the objective and scope of the project being
proposed.
CRITERIA FOR RESEARCH PROBLEM
STATEMENT
• The statement of the problem should clearly indicate
what is to be investigated.
• The actual statement may be in a declarative or in a
question form.
• The statement should indicate the variables of interest
and the specific relationship between the variables that
are to be studied.
The statement of the problem is also called the
purpose statement where it provides a focus
for the researcher and is an essential step in
investigation. It gives the reader and user of the
research important information.
 HOW TO WRITE THE STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM?

1. Know that you are looking for something wrong or

something that needs close attention.
Your problem statement is the statement that makes a point about
the issues and information you are discussing. It is not just your
topic, but what you are saying about your topic. In other words, there
must be a very good communication between your topic and the
statement of the problem.
 HOW TO WRITE THE STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM?

2. The importance of the problem should receive considerable and

persuasive attention.
The importance is inevitably subjective and will vary from researcher to
researcher. Objectivity must injected by answering questions such as:
• Is the problem of current interest? Is it topical?
• Is the problem likely to continue into the future?
• Will more information about the problem have practical application?
• How large is the population affected the problem?
 HOW TO WRITE THE STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM?

3. The problem statement should persuasively indicate major variables.

• Major variables can be measured in some meaningful way.
4. Problem statement could close with a question.
• The question could contain two variables, a measurable relationship, and
some indication of population. Example: “What is the relationship between
farm productivity and farmer use of fertilizer?”. The information needed is
(1) productivity levels and (2) some measure of fertilizer use.
WHAT’S INSIDE THE STATEMENT OF
THE PROBLEM?
• Here are the following guide questions:
• •
• •
• •

• •
•
•
•
 The statement of the problem:
• Should not be general or too specific.
• Contain sufficient detail and information in a sentence that is clear
and succinct.
• Should be (Researchable, Important, Indicate the type of research,
and Clear)
• Should include terms that are not ambiguous.
Review of Related
Literature
LESSON 11
• LEARNING TARGET: I can select good and relevant
Review of Related Literature.
• REFERENCES: Baraceros (2016). Practical Research 1
Do you know that the Review of Related Literature (RRL)
is said to be the heart of the research?
The Review of Related Literature (RRL) is a continuous
journey that precedes the conceptualization of the research
topic and might end before the research is finally published.
This gives a valuable case to start thinking that while the
research itself is the body system, the literature serves as
the heart pumping ideas to form the research which is
composed of the literature and studies read, reviewed, and
processed by you as the researcher.
Review of Related Literature
• is an oral or written record of man’s significant
experiences that are artistically conveyed in a prosaic
manner. Embodied in any literary work like essay, novel,
journal, story, biography, etc.
• an analysis of man’s written or spoken knowledge of the
world.
 PURPOSES OF REVIEW OF REATED
LITERATURE (RRL)

1. To obtain background knowledge of your research

2. To relate your study to the current condition or situation of the world
3. To show the capacity of your research work to introduce new knowledge
4. To expand, prove, or disprove the findings of the previous research studies
5. To increase your understanding about the underlying theories, principles, or
concepts if your research
 PURPOSES OF REVIEW OF REATED
LITERATURE (RRL)

6. To explain technical terms, involve in your research study

7. To highlight the significance of your work with the kind of evidence it
gathered to support the conclusion of your research
8. To avoid repeating previous research studies
9. To recommend the necessity of a further research on a certain topic
STYLES OR APPROACHES OF REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE (RRL)
1. Traditional Review of Literature
• To do a Review of Literature in a traditional way, summarize
present forms of knowledge on a specific subject. Your aim here
is to give an expanded or new understanding of an existing work.
• It does not require you to describe the method of reviewing
literature but expects you to state your intensions in conducting a
review and to name the sources of information (Jesson 2011).
Types of Traditional Review
• Conceptual Review- analysis of concepts or ideas to give meaning to some
national or world issues.
• Critical Review- focuses on theories or hypotheses and examines meanings
and results of their application to situations.
• State of the Art Review- makes the researcher deal with the latest research
studies on the subject.
• Expert Review- encourages a well-known expert to do the RRL because of
the influence of a certain ideology, paradigm, or belief on him/her.
• Scoping Review- prepares a situation for a future research work in the form
of project making about community development, government policies, and
health services.
STYLES OR APPROACHES OF REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE (RRL)
2. Systematic Review of Literature
• As indicated by its name, systematic, which means methodical, is a
style of RRL that involves sequential acts of a review of related
literature. Unlike the traditional review that has no particular
method, systematic review requires you to go through the
following RRL steps (Ridley 2012):
• Have a Clear Understanding about the Research Question
• - serving as a compass to direct your research activities, the research
questions tell you what to collect and where to obtain those data you want to
collect.
• Plan Your Manner of Obtaining the Data
• - imagining how you will get to where the data are, you will come to think
also of what keyword to use for easy searching and how to accord courtesy
and respect to people or institution from where the data will come such as
planning how to communicate your request to these resources of data.
• Do the Literature Search
• - using keywords, you look for the needed information from all sources of
knowledge: internet, books, journals, periodicals, government publications,
and general references.
• Using a Certain Standard
• - determine which data, studies, or sources of knowledge are valuable or not
to warrant the reasonableness of your decision to take some data and junk
the rest.
• Determine the Methodological Soundness of the Research Studies
• - use a checklist or a certain set of criteria in assessing the ways researchers
conduct their studies to arrive at a certain solution.
• Summarize what you have gathered from Various Sources of Data
• - to concisely present a synthesis of your report, use a graph such as a table
and other presentation formats that are not prone to verbosity.
Ethical Standards in
Review of Related
Literature

LESSON 12
• LEARNING TARGET: I can identify Ethical
Standards in Review of Related Literature.
• REFERENCES: Uy et al. (2016) Practical Research 2
 Ana has a writing assignment for her history class. Her friend
Elsa, took the same class but they were on different sections. Ana
found out that Elsa got the highest score in their class and wanted
to be just like her. So she asked for a copy from Elsa’s paper which
she turned to be her own after making a few small tweaks.
If you were on the situation of Elsa, how would you feel
knowing that someone took your work and as if it’s their own?
The fact that someone gives you permission to copy their work
doesn’t make it okay to submit it as your own. It can be your
reference or source but never take it as if it is yours. In this lesson,
we will know what are the ethical standards that we need to consider
in writing the review of related literature.
The following are the three terms used to express your appreciation
or recognition of people’s ownership of borrowed ideas (Sharp
2012):
• Acknowledgement- the beginning portion of the work that
identifies individuals who have contributed something for the
production of the paper.
• References or Bibliography- a complete list of all reading
materials, including books, journals, and periodicals from where
the borrowed ideas came from.
• Citation or In-text Citation- references within the main body of
the text, especially in review of related literature.
Plagiarism is described as the careful representation
of another’s ideas or words as one’s own without
credits in connection with submission of academic
work (UNC Instrument of Student Judicial
Governance, Section II.B.1).
There are proper ways of writing your paper. Use the
attached guidelines in using the APA format (ANNEX
A).
• A. The purpose of research should be clearly defined to the participants.
• B. The purpose of research should be clear to the potential participants so that they
can decide to join or not to join.
• C. Transparency is important to be able to conduct the study in ethical manner.
• D. A consent form should be given to the participants for information transparency.
• E. Participants should not be exposed to potential hazards in any form.
• F. There should be no alteration or misinterpretation of data.
There are proper ways of writing your paper. Use the
attached guidelines in using the APA format (ANNEX
A).
• G. Researcher should guard against any fraudulent practices.
• H. There should be a confidentiality of the participants’ identities.
• I. Researcher must guard against using biased or subjective language.
• J. Assuming authorship of another person’s work in unethical.
• K. No to plagiarism.
• L. Research findings should be properly disseminated for accountability, accuracy and
authenticity.
• M. Disclosure of the personal and professional information of participant for a prescriptive
period should be followed.