3. The background of a study is the first
section of the paper and establishes the
context underlying the research. It contains
the rationale, the key problem statement,
and a brief overview of research questions
that are addressed in the rest of the paper.
5. The section should be organized as:
•What is known about the broad topic?
•What are the gaps or missing links that
need to be addressed?
•What is the significance of addressing
those gaps?
•What are the rationale and hypothesis of
your study?
6. 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.
7. How to avoid common
mistakes in writing the
background?
8. Don’t write a background that is too
long or too short.
Don’t be ambiguous.
Don’t discuss unrelated themes.
Don’t be disorganized.
9. How is the background different from the
literature review?
10. The literature review section should follow the
background section, as the second section of
your manuscript/thesis. This section basically
supports the background section by providing
evidence for the proposed hypothesis. This
section should be more comprehensive and
thoroughly describe all the studies that you
have mentioned in the background section. It
should also elaborate on all studies that form
evidence for the present study and discuss the
current trends.
11. A Step-by-Step on How to Do a Background Study for a
Thesis
• Conduct preliminary research in the beginning stages of
formulating a thesis, when many issues are unclear and
thoughts need to be solidified.
• Read the information and develop a research question or
thesis statement that will guide your thesis.
• Write a thesis statement or research question.
• Complete your research using your thesis statement and
research question as your guide.
12. •Create relevant sections as you write the
background study.
•Conclude by identifying any further study that
needs to be done in that area, or provide
possible solutions to the issue that haven't
been considered before.
•Revise and edit your background study.
14. The terms ‘conceptual framework’
and ‘theoretical framework’ are
commonly used in referring to the
overall structure that shapes a
research project. However, there
are subtle differences between the
two.
15. Concept vs. theory
•A concept is an idea that has been
formally developed and organized.
•A theory is a set of concepts, models,
principles, definitions etc. that make sense
of a phenomenon by determining
relationships among variables. Theories
are established and validated by
experiments and evidence.
16. While a theoretical framework
explores the relationship between
things in a given phenomenon in a
broad and general way, a conceptual
framework is more specific and
represents the researcher’s idea on
how the research problem will be
explored.
17. A conceptual framework is like a
roadmap for your study, helping you
visualize your research project and put
it into action. It defines the relevant
variables for your study and maps out
how they might relate to each other.
18. Conceptual Framework Theoretical Framework
It is more about the approach that a
researcher takes in answering a research
question.
It is developed from existing theory/theories.
It is derived from concepts. It is derived from theory.
A conceptual framework is composed of
several concepts. Further, a conceptual
framework may include a theoretical
framework.
By itself, one theory alone can serve as a
theoretical framework.
Conceptual frameworks identify factors
influencing a particular field, e.g., exploration
of ‘masquerade’ mimicry in animals based
on phenomena such as protective mimicry,
crypsis and aposematism.
A theoretical framework arises from
outcomes beyond a single study, based on
one or more theories, e.g. Darwin’s theory of
evolution by natural selection.
19. Here's how to create a theoretical
framework for your study or
research paper in four steps:
20. 1. Define your objective
2. Write a problem statement
3. Present your research
questions
4. Create a literature review to
highlight relevant theories
21. Step 1: Choose your research question
Example: Research question Let’s say
you want to study whether students
who study more hours get higher exam
scores. To investigate this question, you
can use methods such as
an experiment or a survey to test the
relationship between variables.
22. Step 2: Select your independent and
dependent variables
•Example: VariablesFollowing our example:
•The expected cause, “hours of study,” is
the independent variable (the predictor, or
explanatory variable)
•The expected effect, “exam score,” is
the dependent variable (the response, or
outcome variable).
23. • Step 3: Visualize your cause-and-effect relationship
24. • Step 4: Identify other influencing variables
25.
26. • Moderator vs. mediator
• It’s important not to confuse moderating and mediating
variables. To remember the difference, you can think of them
in relation to the independent variable:
• A moderating variable is not affected by the independent
variable, even though it affects the dependent variable. For
example, no matter how many hours you study (the
independent variable), your IQ will not get higher.
• A mediating variable is affected by the independent variable.
In turn, it also affects the dependent variable. Therefore, it
links the two variables and helps explain the relationship
between them.
