Significance, Scope and

De/Limitation

Emilyn Arboleda-Depon
Significance of the Study
• In simple terms, the significance of the study is
basically the importance of your research. 

• The significance of the study is a section in the

introduction of your thesis or paper. It’s purpose
is to make clear why your study was needed and
the specific contribution your research made to
furthering academic knowledge in your field.
Significance of the Study
• It provides details to the reader on how
the study will contribute such as what the
study will contribute and who will benefit
from it. It also includes an explanation of
the work’s importance as well as its
potential benefits.
Significance of the Study
• 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.
Significance of the Study
• Example
This study of service quality and task
performance can be an evaluation-impact
paradigm to enhance the delivery government
offices in the public service. The research
project’s goal is designed to assess and determine
the performance and service quality levels of the
various MENROs in the province ascribing
competence, develop excellence and effective
delivery of quality service to the public.
Tips in writing the significance of the study
…..
• Statement of the problem will guide you to write a
significance of the study.  Based on your statement
of the problem you will see the potential benefits of
your study. Just answer this question, “What are
the benefits or advantages of the study based on
statement of the problem?”

• Determine the specific contribution of your thesis

study to the society as well as to the individual
Scope
• The scope of a study explains the extent to which
the research area will be explored in the work
and specifies the parameters within the study
will be operating.
• Basically, this means that you will have to
define what the study is going to cover and
what it is focusing on. 
Scope
• The Scope of study in research contains the
explanation of what information or subject is
being analyzed.
• It defines clearly the extent of content that will
be covered by the means of the research in order
to come to more logical conclusions and give
conclusive and satisfactory answers to the
research.
Scope
• The scope of the study has to be defined at a
preliminary stage and that is very important. It
cannot be done in the later phase of doing the
research as it creates a lot of ambiguity about the
research goals.
• If the researcher fails to define the scope at the
initial stage itself it is indicative that the research
would eventually not meet the expectations set
by the advisory committee.
Scope
• Example:
• The main focus of this project is to determine the
service quality and performance of the different
MENRO’s in the province of Capiz. Data will be
gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire,
key informant interviews and focus group
discussions. It will cover the 16 MENRO offices
of the 16 municipalities, and will be conducted
from January-December 2021.
How to write the scope….
• The scope of the study is not just important to
determine the research goals for a clear focus but
also because it helps in letting the audiences
know as to what kind of information they are
looking at. It should be informative, detailed and
accurate. 
Limitation / Delimitation
Delimitations and limitations clarify the
boundaries, exceptions, and reservations
inherent in every study. The two concepts are
different in that:
• Delimitations aim to narrow the scope of a
study. For example, the scope may focus on
specific variables, specific participants, specific
sites, or narrowed to one type of research design
(e.g., ethnography or experimental research).
Limitation / Delimitation
• Limitations, however, aim to identify
potential weaknesses of the study. For example,
all statistical procedures and research strategies,
such as surveys or grounded theory studies have
limitations. In introductory discussions about
these strategies, authors typically mention both
their strengths and their weaknesses.
Limitation / Delimitation
• The limitations of a study are its flaws or
shortcomings which could be the result of
unavailability of resources, small sample size,
flawed methodology, etc. No study is completely
flawless or inclusive of all possible aspects. 
Limitation / Delimitation
• The limitations of the study are those characteristics
of design or methodology that impacted or influenced
the interpretation of the findings from your research.
• They are the constraints on generalizability,
applications to practice, and/or utility of findings that
are the result of the ways in which you initially chose
to design the study or the method used to establish
internal and external validity or the result of
unanticipated challenges that emerged during the
study.
Limitation / Delimitation
• Example:
A delimitation
• Initially, this study will confine itself to data
gathering thru questionnaire , the service quality
and performance of MENRO’s in Capiz
A limitation
• The purposive sampling procedure decreases the
generalizability of findings. This study will not be
generalizable to all areas of government service
How to write the De/Limitation
• Identify the limitations/ delimitations
• Briefly explain in detail.
• Provide a future direction/ studies.. or
• Present an alternative
References:
• Bethlehem, Jelke. "7: Cross-sectional Research." In Research
Methodology in the Social, Behavioural and Life Sciences. Herman J
Adèr and Gideon J Mellenbergh, editors. (London, England: Sage, 1999),
pp. 110-43; Bourque, Linda B. “Cross-Sectional Design.”
• Creswell, J.W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning,
Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research, 4th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
• Huberman, A. Michael and Matthew B. Miles. "Data Management and
Analysis Methods." In Handbook of Qualitative Research.
Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. (Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage, 1994)
•  URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide
• The SAGE Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. Michael S.
Lewis-Beck, Alan Bryman, and Tim Futing Liao. (Thousand Oaks, CA:
2004),