The Background of the study

THE BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

            The background of the study establishes the context of the research. This section explains why this particular research topic is important and essential to understanding the main aspects of the study. Usually, the background forms the first section of a research article/thesis and justifies the need for conducting the study and summarizes what the study aims to achieve.

HOW TO STRUCTURE THE BACKGROUND?

          In this section, the author usually outlines the historical developments in the literature that led to the current topic of research concisely. If the study is interdisciplinary, it should describe how different disciplines are connected and what aspects of each discipline will be studied.

          Additionally, authors should briefly highlight the main developments of their research topic and identify the main gaps that need to be addressed. In other words, this section should give an overview of your study.

 

THE SECTION SHOULD BE ORGANIZED AS:

a.    What is known about the broad topic?

b.    What are the gaps or missing links that need to be addressed?

c.     What is the significance of addressing those gaps?

d.    What are the rationale and hypothesis of your study?

                     The background section, therefore, should provide general information about the topic of your research and emphasize the main aims of the study. Please ensure that you only discuss the main and relevant aspects of the studies that have led to your aims. Do not elaborate on them as this should be done in the literature review section. The background section should discuss your findings in a chronological manner to accentuate the progress in the field and the missing points that need to be addressed. The background should be written as a summary of your interpretation of previous research and what your study proposes to accomplish.

HOW TO MAKE THE BACKGROUND ENGAGING?

               As the background includes a lot of information, it can become a long drag, causing the readers to lose interest. To ensure that your background is engaging, you should try to build a story around the central theme of your research.

              Ensure that the story adheres to the core idea and does not digress into a broad literature review. Each idea should lead to the next so that readers are able to grasp the story and themselves identify the gaps that your study is going to address.

 

HOW TO AVOID COMMON MISTAKES IN WRITING THE BACKGROUND? While writing an effective background, you ought to steer clear of some mistakes.

 

 THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN WRITING THE BACKGROUND INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

 

a.    DON’T WRITE A BACKGROUND THAT IS TOO LONG OR TOO SHORT. Focus on including all the important details but write concisely.

b.    DON’T BE AMBIGUOUS. Writing in a way that does not convey the message to the readers defeats the purpose of the background, so express yourself keeping in mind that the reader does not know your research intimately. 

c.     DON’T DISCUSS UNRELATED THEMES. Try and center your discussion around the pivotal aspects of your research topic i.e. highlight the gaps in the literature, state the novelty of the study, and the need to conduct the study.

d.    DON’T BE DISORGANIZED. Not discussing the themes in a chronological manner can confuse the reader about the progress in the field, so try and organize your writing carefully.

 

STEPS TO FOLLOW IN WRITING THE NATURE AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY.

 

THREE SUGGESTED STEPS TO FOLLOW:

 

1.    PRESENT THE GENERAL STATEMENT OF FACT RELATED TO THE STUDY. You may use the definition of terms in stating general knowledge.

2.    INDICATE A MORE SPECIFIC STATEMENT ABOUT THE ISSUES OR PROBLEMS ALREADY PROVEN IN OTHER RELATED RESEARCHERS. You may compare or contrast the methods and finding discussed in the related studies.

 

3.    USE STATEMENTS THAT LEAD TO THE NEED FOR MORE INVESTIGATION. You must emphasize the rationale of doing your research by using statements such as the following: ''Previous investigations related hardly provide evidences that may explain the existence of such phenomena; hence, the dearth of information motivation the researcher to conduct this study.