MUNTINLUPA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL-MAIN

Type C, NBP Reservation, Poblacion, Muntinlupa City

Notes #3-Second Quarter

WRITING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY AND THE SCOPE AND
DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY FORMING ALL OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Writing the Significance of the Study

Research has only one main objective and that is the upliftment of the quality of life. Thus, before
you continue sitting down to write your research proposal, you have to be convinced that this study of yours
would lead to the ultimate goal of improving people’s lives, not just to comply with a requirement.
To be able to this, you may identify the groups who would eventually benefit from your study, starting
from the most direct beneficiaries to the ones who would indirectly benefitted by it. The study on the job
satisfaction and job performance would probably directly benefit the employees, their clients, the HR Managers,
and indirectly, the Department of Labor and Employment, the community, the society as a whole.
After identifying the beneficiaries of the study, discuss the specific benefit that they would get from it:
that is, by discussing how the study would help in solving existing problems of these identified groups leading
towards an upliftment of their situation.
Be careful not to make the study as something like a magic wand, that after conducting the study, it
has already worked changes even without interventions from concerned individuals, groups or institutions
through their programs, projects, and activities.

Here is an example of a discussion on the significance of the study from Rapanan (2012):
This study evaluated the effectiveness of the on-going Scholarship Program of the
Municipality of Castillejos with the hope that findings would prove useful to the following:
The policymakers may review the existing Scholarship Ordinance and consider certain
amendments which are necessary for the improvement of the Scholarship Program.
The implementers may consider the findings of this study in strengthening the
implementation of the program.
The scholars were given an opportunity to raise their sentiments regarding the program
and further benefit in the improved implementation of the program.
Public Officials in general may find that evaluation of public programs is necessary in
public administration and can be used as a powerful tool for them to know if the program is
delivering the intended impact.
And lastly the future public administration students may find this useful for any program
evaluation research.

Writing the Scope and Delimitations of the Study

Whatever topic you might have chosen, there is the tendency for you to go unending with all the
different areas and variables relative to it. This is likewise true in terms of the respondents, the locale and the
data gathering stage. If this happens, it might no longer be within your capability to manage it, not within
your time and financial resources or it might no longer be within the objectives you have set at the beginning
of the study, thereby ending with an unfinished research.
Thus, defining the scope and delimitations of the study becomes important. If at the beginning of the
study, it is already clear that your respondents are the regular employees who have been working at the agency
for at least three years, are presently connected with the agency, and who have been assigned to at least three
provinces in Central Luzon, then all those who do not meet the above description should not be part of the
study.
Likewise, if it is clear that only selected variables are included, then no other variables are supposed to
be part of the study even if these were included in parallel studies. You might have avoided other variables for
reasons of practicality, interest, or relativity to the study at hand.
The role that these variables have in relation to the topic should be included in the discussion. For
example, you should also mention that it will be determined if the variables will affect the work productivity, or
if these are motivating factors in their job performance.
Below is a sample of a scope and delimitations of the study from Abasta and Freal (2013).
The study covered the financial lifestyle management of employees at Central Luzon
College of Science and Technology, Olongapo City for the period covering February 18 to
March 11, 2013.
The study investigated on the financial data of the employees’ family which include the
monthly salary and income, assets, capital assets and liabilities. It includes details of their
monthly expenditures such as their household expenditures, living/personal expenditures,
 transportation expenditures, recreation and entertainment expenditures and government taxes
paid for the month.
The study also included questions in relation to their spending and saving practices and
the details of their borrowings.

Defining the Terms Used in the Study

It is important to include definition of terms in your research in order to understand the key terms being
used in the study. These terms should be clearly defined according to how they are used in the study for easy
understanding of the problem and avoid ambiguous meaning to terms which can be otherwise interpreted in
different ways. This is what we refer to as operational definition.
There are cases when you have to define terms based on actual concepts, that is, based on what has been
accepted as the definition as used by experts in the area. This is what we refer to as the conceptual definition.
This is also accepted provided you acknowledge the author from whom you borrowed the definition, then
proceed to define the terms operationally by applying the conceptual definition to the study and to finally arrive
at an operational definition of the term.
Make sure to define common terms that may have special meaning or used differently. To identify
terms to be defined start from the title. All terms in the title that may be given a double meaning or a meaning
different from how you intended it to be used in your study should be operationally defined.
From the title, proceed to the general statement and the sub-questions and look for the variables.
Variables which are used with a different meaning from the traditional or accepted meanings should be defined
while those variables with meanings similar to accepted or traditional definitions may no longer be included in
the definition of terms. Example is if you are referring to gender as male and female or age as the chronological
age.
If however you would like to expand your definition of age to mean mental age as required in the
study, then, you have to define age operationally.
As you progress in writing your research, you might be using terms which might be given a different
meaning from the usual as you used it in your study, from the introduction to the analysis and the
interpretation of data. These should also be given a proper place in the definition of terms.
Terms used by authors you cited but not actually used in your study may not be defined. If quoting
definitions from the dictionary as may sometimes be needed, avoid the circular definitions, such as “freedom
is the state of being free”, that is, using the root word of the term to define it. You will not be clarifying the
meaning of the terms in that manner.
In writing your definitions, make sure that the terms defined are arranged in alphabetical order and that
the definitions are presented in complete sentence, with a format similar to what are presented in the next page:
Adjustment. This is used interchangeably with marital adjustment which is the degree to
which a couple gets along with each other or have a good working relationship and are able to
satisfy each other’s needs over the marital life course. It is an ongoing process (Balolong,
2010).
Changes in Company Activities. These pertain to the possible organizational changes
that the company will undergo for the next five years such as internal growth, vertical
integration, horizontal expansion, company diversification, combination strategies, and
retrenchment. These also include turnaround, divestment, and liquidation. (Sy, 2013)
Gender Role. This refers to the beliefs about how the other person should behave in
relation to his/her partner, like whether a woman should serve the man or is she given more
liberties (Balolong, 2010).
Local Government Units. This refers to an administrative and political government
subsidiary to the national government which could itself consist of sub-units as in the case of the
Municipality of Castillejos. It has the legal authority to levy taxes, legislated, and execute
programs for the citizens (Rafanan, 2012).
Poverty Line/Threshold. This refers to the minimum montly income required or the
expenditure necessary to satisfy the food threshold of a family (Maniego, 2010).
Relationship With In-Laws. This is one area being considered in determining the
adjustment strategies of the respondents where their relationship with the relatives of their
Filipino partners and the relationship with the relatives of the Filipino women partners is being
considered. (Balong, 2010).