SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF

THE STUDY
AL CAMERON G. AVILA
TEACHER I, SHS | 07-04, 2019
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
OF THE STUDY

These are two elements of a research

paper that inform the reader what
information is included in the research
and explain why the author chose that
information.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of a study is a section of a

research paper that explains what
information or subject is being analyzed.
Since it is impossible to study every aspect
of every subject, the scope of study tells the
reader which aspects of a subject the writer
has chosen to analyze.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research is limited in scope by

sample size, time and geographic area.
DELIMITATION OF THE
STUDY

This is the explanation of the scope of

the study.
This section allows the writer to
explain why certain aspects of a subject
were chosen and why others were
excluded.
 DELIMITATION
VS LIMITATION

 A limitation identifies potential weaknesses of the study.

 Limitations are influences that the researcher cannot
control.
 Consider all the following:
 Your analysis
 The nature of self-reporting
 The instruments you utilized
 The sample
 Time constraints
 DELIMITATION
VS LIMITATION

A delimitation addresses how a study will be

narrowed in scope, that is, how it is bounded.
This is the place to explain:
 The things that you are not doing and why you
have chosen not to do them
 The literature you will not review (and why not)
 The population you are not studying (and why not)
 The methodological procedures you will not use
(and why you will not use them)
 In writing this section,
• cite data collection
• identify school involved, number of classes, their grade/year
level, number of participants (or respondents, subjects), and
topics of lessons covered (if applicable).
• state inadequate measures of variables, loss or lack of
participants, small sample sizes, errors in measurement, and
other factors typically related to data collection and analysis.
 HOW TO INDICATE THE SCOPE AND
DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1. Start with any of these sample phrases that express the
scope of the study:
1. The coverage of this study . . .
2. The study consists of . . .
3. The study covers the/This study is focused on . . .
2. Explain what information or subject is being studied or
analyzed.
3. Start with any of these sample phrases that express the
delimitation of the study:
1. The study does not cover the/The researcher limited
his research to/This study is limited to . . .
HOW TO INDICATE THE SCOPE AND
DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
EXAMPLES:
o The study gathered data in one of the public elementary
schools in City of Batac, Ilocos Norte. The respondents
were from the intermediate level, grades four, five and six.
Variables such as sex, type of residence and presence or
absence of dogs and cats at home were considered in this
study. The study was conducted for the first semester of
Academic Year 2017-2018. The pupil’s awareness and
knowledge were only the scope of the 2017th edition of the
questionnaire that was adapted from Global Alliance on
Rabies Control (GARC).
 HOW TO INDICATE THE SCOPE AND
DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
EXAMPLES:
 This study only focused on the level of awareness and conservation
practices of FEMSHS students on indigenous food plants (IFPs) of Ilocos
Norte. Part of the list of the IFPs used in this study was lifted from the
study of Antonio, Utrera, Agustin, Jamias, Badar and Pascua (2011)
regarding the 46 IFPs in Ilocos Norte. Other IFPs were lifted from other
sources.
 The type of residence as a demographic variable was used to test
whether it is related to the FEMSHS students’ level of awareness. No
other demographic variables were considered. Over-all, this study
involved a total of 83 student respondents of FEMSHS randomly selected
from Grade 11 and Grade 12. The study was conducted for the
Academic Year 2018-2019.
 HOW TO INDICATE THE SCOPE AND
DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
EXAMPLES:
 Limitations of this study include the argument that personal
experiences are based on an individual level and cannot be
attributed to an entire population, as well as that the sample
size is small (N=8) an in concentrate area, rather than from
several different geographic areas.
 Recognizing and identifying protective factors for those at
risk of dropping out of high school has been the goal of
much previous research on this topic. However, this study
was limited to identifying risk factors and indicators, without
really identifying protective factors for each individual.