PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

Lesson 6
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

In this lesson, you will learn about the rationale of the study. It is one of the major
components in the introductory part of your research paper. With this, let us first define what
rationale is.
According to Merriam-Webster, a rationale is:
1 : an explanation of controlling principles of opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena
2 : an underlying reason : basis

In the context of research writing, a rationale pertains to the reasons why the study must
be conducted. Such justification is provided by the researcher to highlight the significant
points of the problem to be addressed in the study. Now that you already have a glimpse of
what rationale is, let us dig deeper on how it is used in research.

Rationale of the Study

As a student-researcher, you have to determine the sense of all the things you plan to do
in your proposed study. Consider the following questions: Is there a need to conduct a study
about your chosen research topic? Does it pose a significant research problem? Does it matter
to your academic discipline?

If your answers in the previously asked questions are ‘Yes’, then that can be a good starting
point for establishing the rationale of your study.

Research justification is considered as the initial step in writing a research paper. This step
involves the skill on how the researcher will provide the readers with critical background or
contextual information that introduces the research topic. Moreover, 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 introduction.

How to Write the Rationale of the Study

The rationale of the study must contain the following components:
1. Existing Literature
✓ A background on what researches have already been done about the given
subject.

2. Relevance to Local/Global Context

✓ Situational interconnectedness of individuals or things in varying perspectives.

3. Critical Background/Contextual Information

✓ Circumstances forming a background of an event, idea or subject, that enables
the readers to understand the nature of the problem.

4. Research Gap
✓ Problems, issues or questions that have not been addressed or are yet to be
understood.

5. Proof of Urgency
✓ An urgent need to solve the existing problem.

6. Research Goal/Objective
✓ The purpose why there is a need for the proposed study to be conducted.
Here are some questions to be considered in presenting justifications:
✓ Why is this research important?
✓ What real life or everyday problem, issue, or question does the research relate to?
✓ Can people relate to the problem in local or global context?
✓ What benefit does the research promise?
✓ Are the units of analysis and observation clearly identified?
✓ What does the researcher hope to find out?
✓ What was wrong or incomplete about prior efforts already conducted?
✓ Does the research extend understanding of the phenomena being investigated?
✓ Does it elaborate or fill in the gaps in the present knowledge?
✓ What is the research ultimately trying to achieve?

Now, read and study the following sample of Rationale of the Study.

The Educated Citizen: Cultural and Gender Capital in the Schooling of

Aetas’ Children in the Municipality of Janiuay
(Moralista & Delariarte, 2014)

Republic Act No. 8371 is an act to recognize, protect and promote the rights of
indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples, created a National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples, established implementing mechanisms, appropriated funds therefore,
and for other purposes (Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines in Congress, 1997). This Act is known as "The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of
1997." The State shall recognize and promote all the rights of Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) as enumerated within the framework of the
Constitution.
Toward these ends, the State shall institute and establish the necessary mechanisms to
enforce and guarantee the realization of these rights, taking into consideration their
customs, traditions, values, beliefs, interests and institutions, and to adopt and implement
measures to protect their rights to their ancestral domains (Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines Third Regular Session. No. 1728; H. No. 9125, 1997). The State
recognizes its obligations to respond to the strong expression of the ICCs/IPs for cultural
integrity by assuring maximum ICC/IP participation in the direction of education, health, as
well as other services of ICCs/IPs, in order to render such services more responsive to the
needs and desires of these communities.
The UN Declaration of Human Rights especially on education and the 1987 Constitution
of the Republic the Philippines are among the foundations on which this study was
anchored. As educators, the researchers are curious about the plight of the Aetas, their
hopes and how they see education in relation to their own indigenous culture.
This study aims to understand the cultural practices of Aetas’ children in the
Municipality of Janiuay; to investigate the gender capital in the schooling of Etas’ children
in the Municipality of Janiuay; to determine the Aetas’ role in preserving their cultural
practices as influence.
 Here is another sample of Rationale of the Study for you to have a simpler idea on how to
make one. It is labelled with the components that you need to include in justifying the
reasons for conducting your proposed study. You can use this as a guide in composing your
write-up for your own rationale.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Political Speeches:

A Critical Discourse Analysis
(Remorosa, 2018)

A message from the president is given almost unparalleled

importance in contrast to other communications. Speeches and
addresses of any sort should therefore be read as statements of
presidential power and they are all attempts to assert the power of
Existing Literature
the presidency in some way either through policy proposal,
attempts to move public opinion through appeals to the people, or
direct address to specific audiences (Chimbarange, Takavarasha,&
Kombe, 2014).
The present study is concerned with investigating an aspect of
discourse that has not received adequate attention within the
Relevance to local
Philippine political discourse. The absence of a research study in the
and global context
national and local setting has prompted more the researcher to
conduct this investigation.
It has been found out that due to the pressure of media and
its effort to catch the attention of their consumers the traditional Critical
view of political speeches has been changing and is now nearer to background/
the everyday informal speech. Political speeches should therefore contextual
be not only interesting but also entertaining so as to be enticing to information
media holders who have the privilege of what would be presented
and how (Brno, 2011).
The researcher has noticed that analyses of oral texts,
particularly in political speeches as a discourse, have been rarely
studied by CDA researchers. Thus, Wang (2010) calls for more Research Gap
attention to CDA studies since they can help explore the
relationship between language, ideology, and power.
There is an urgent need to pursue this research because the
Philippines is now facing a great change in administrative reform, Proof of urgency
thus it is in the realm to listen to the core messages of the current
president and understand his plans as well as visions to uplift the life
Research goal or
of every constituent, and the country as a whole. Through Critical
objective.
Discourse Analysis, this study aims to bring understanding on the
discourse of politics as well as power and dominance.