SCOPE & LIMITATIONS

what is SCOPE?
Scope refers to how far the research area has
explored and parameters in with the study will be operating
in.
The type of information to be included in the scope of a
research project would include facts and theories about the
subject of the project.
 The coverage of the study is in terms of:
1. General purpose
2. Population or sample
3. Time or duration
4. Subject matters and topics discussed
5. Area or locality
Example:

This investigation as conducted to determine the status

of the teaching of science in the high schools of Province
A as perceived by the teachers and students in science
classes during the school year 1989-1990. The aspects
looked into were the qualifications of teachers, their
methods and strategies, facilities forms of supervisory
assistance, problems and proposed solutions to the
problems.
What Has Been Included...
• General purpose: To determine the status of the
teaching of science.
• Subject matter: The teaching of science
• Topics (aspects) studied: Qualifications of teachers,
their methods and strategies, facilities, form of supervisory
assistance, problems and proposed solutions to problems
• Population or sample: teachers and students
• Area or locality: High schools of Province A
• Time or duration: School year 1989-1990
what is LIMITATION?

Limitations, also known as the bounds, are

influences that the researcher cannot control. They are the
shortcomings, conditions or influences that cannot be
controlled by the researcher that place restrictions on your
methodology and conclusions. Any limitations that might
influence the results should be mentioned.
 delimitations
Delimitations are choices made by the researcher which should be
mentioned. They describe the boundaries that you have set for the
study. 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).
EXAMPLE:
Although the research has reached its aims, there were
some unavoidable limitations. First, because of the time limit,
this research was conducted only on a small size of
population who were attending the Writing 3 course in their
third semester at CTU. Therefore, to generalize the results
for larger groups, the study should have involved more
participants at different levels. Second, the students'
overloaded work, to some extent, might affect the result of
the correlation between the students' motivation in learning
 When considering what limitations there might be in
your investigation, be thorough. Consider all of the
following:

1. your analysis
2. the nature of self-reporting
3. the instruments you utilized
4. the sample
5. time constraints
to write in English and their writing performance because
they were required to take part in many studies at the same
time. Finally, the slow network might discourage
participants' interests and motivation in joining peer
feedback activities.
IMPORTANCE of limitations
• Always acknowledge a study's limitations.
It is far better for you to identify and acknowledge
your study's limitations than to have them pointed out by
your professor and be graded down because you appear
to have ignored them.

• Keep in mind that acknowledgement of a study's

limitations is an opportunity to make suggestions
for further research.
• Claming limitations is a subjective process because
you must evaluate the impact of those limitations.
Don't just list key weaknesses and the magnitude of a
study's limitattions. Limitations require a critical, overall
appraisal and interpretation of their impact. You should
answer the question: do these problem with errors,
methods, validity, etc. eventually matter and, if so, to what
extent?
 Descriptions of possible limitations

• All studies have limitations.

However, it is important that you restrict your
discussion to limitations related to the research problem
under investigation.
* Do not apologize for not addressing issues that you didn't
promise to investigate in your paper.
possible methodological limitations

• Sample size - the number of the units of analysis you

use in your study is dictated by the type of research
problem you are investigating.
• Lack of available and/or reliable data - lack of
reliable data will likely require you to limit the scope of
your analysis, the size of your sample, or it can be a
significant obstacle in finding a trend and a meaningful
relationship.
• Lack of prior research studies on the topic - citing
prior research studies forms the basis of your literature
review and helps lay a foundation for understanding the
research problem you're investigating.
• Measure used to collect the data - sometimes, after
completing your interpretation of the findings, you discover
that the way you gatherd data inhibited your ability to
conduct a thorough analysis of the results.
• Self-reported data - whether you are relying on pre-
existing self-reported data or you are conducting a
qualitative research study and gathering the data yourself,
self-reported data is limited by the fact that it rarely can
be independently verified.
possible limitations of the researcher
• Longitudinal effects - Be sure to choose a topic that does
not require an excessive amount of time to complete the
literature review, apply the methodology, and gather and
interpret the results.
• Cultural and other type of bias - Note that if you detect
bias in a prior research, it must be acknowledged and
measures taken should be explained to avoid perpetuating
bias.
Bias - when a person, place, or thing is viewed or shown in a consistently
inaccurate way.
• Access - if study depends on access to people,
organizations, or for whatever reason, access is denied or
limited, it needs to be described.
• Fluency in a language - if your research focuses on
measuring the perceived value of after-school tutoring
among Mexican-American ESL students, and you're not
fluent in Spanish, you're limited in being able to read and
interpret Spanish language research studies. This deficiency
should be acknowledged.
when discussing limitations, be sure to...
• Describe each limitation in detailed but concise terms.
• Explain why each limitation exists.
• Provide the reasons why each limitation couldn't be
overcome using the method/s chosen to gather the data.
• Assess the impact of each limitation in relation to the
overall findings and conclusions.
• If appropriate, describe how these limitations could point
to the need of further research.
 Writing tips
× Don't inflate the importance of your findings!
We all want our academic work to be viewed as
excellent and worthy of a good grade, but it is important
that you understand and openly acknowledge the limitations
of your study. Inflating the importance of your study's
findings in an attempt to hide its flaws is a big turn off to
your readers.
× Negative results are not a limitation!
Negative evidence refers to findings that unexpectedly
challenge rather than support your hypothesis. If you didn't
get the results you anticipated, it may mean your hypothesis
was incorrect or you stumbled onto something unexpected
that warrants further study. Don't fall into the trap of thinking
that results contrary to what you expected is a limitation to
your study.
× Sample size limitations in qualitative research

Determining adequate sample size in qualitative research

is ultimately a matter of judgment and experience in
evaluating the quality of the information collected against the
uses to which it will be applied and the particular research
method and purposive sampling strategy employed.
Remember…

• Stating the study limitations not only provides

extra credence to the study but provides the
reader caution not to expect beyond what the
study can and promises to deliver, not
withstanding certain constraints.