Rationale of the Study

• provide the
justifications/reasons
for conducting
research
RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

• It is one of the major components in the

introductory part of your research paper.

• According to Merriam-Webster, a rationale is:

➢an explanation of controlling principles of
opinion, belief, practice, or phenomena
➢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.
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?
 Research justification is considered as
the initial step in writing a research
paper. This step involves the skill of 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 A 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.
 HOW TO WRITE A RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
The rationale of the study must contain the following components:

2. Relevance to Local/Global Context

- situational interconnectedness
of individuals or things in
varying perspectives.
HOW TO WRITE A RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

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
HOW TO WRITE A RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

4. Research Gap
- problems, issues or questions that
have not been addressed or are yet
to be understood.
HOW TO WRITE A RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

5. Proof of Urgency
- an urgent need to solve the
existing problem.
HOW TO WRITE A RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

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?
Here are some questions to be considered
in presenting justifications:
✓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?
- Cher Reg