Scope of Study

About boundaries of research.

All the things that will be covered in a research project.

It must be determined in the early stage of a research.

Determining it in the later phase of research creates a lot of ambiguity about the research goals.

Main Purpose

To explain the extent to which the research area will be explored
To specify the parameters/variables to be observed.
To define what the study will cover and the elements that it will not.
To acquire a high level of research and writing capability.

Guidelines for writing the scope of the study

The major things that the researcher should keep in mind while writing the scope of the study are as follows.

Time period: While writing the scope of the study the researcher should first mention or state categorically the time periods the study will cover. Generally, the researchers combine the scope of the study with the limitation of the study. These things are quite interwoven. The main difference between the two is that limitations further covers the points like the monetary constraints or the un-cooperation from the side of the target audience.

Geography: In addition to this another major point where the researcher should keep in mind that scope of the study should state the specific aspect of the data that needs to be collected like the geographic locations and the variables.

Research population: Another major aspect that should be involved while writing the scope of the study is the sample size or the population that the researcher has selected for the study. The sampling plan must clearly indicate the sample universe, target population, their profile and sample size with justification.

Theories: The researcher should state the academic theories that are being applied to the data collected so that the reader better knows the lens of the analysis. This is presented in the ‘theoretical framework’ section.

Purpose: The scope of the study must indicate the purpose behind it. It must briefly define the larger picture, i.e. the overall goal the researcher is trying to achieve.

Limitations: It is impossible to avoid roadblocks in research. Every research is restricted in scope and is subjected to certain limitations. By acknowledging these limitations and how they are restricting the study makes its findings even more credible.

Example

Example 1

With the increase in the number of the social media users and its use in everyday communication at the individual and the organizational levels, there has been a corresponding increase in its incorporation in the educational development and especially in a country like India. In view of this situation, the present study analyzes the role of social media on the educational development of the students. To this end, the study will also cover the changes in the usage of the social media in educational filed over the time period ranging from 2000-2015. The scope of the study is restricted to select social media platforms, specifically Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The empirical study in this research is restricted to five universities located across India, wherein the opinions of 30 teachers were studied in interview sessions. Further, the study also involves an analysis of students’ perspectives on the role of social media in education from the same university. Therefore the scope of this study is limited to India, and more specifically to those offering Arts and Science-related courses.

Example 2

The study emphases on investigating the linkage between lean manufacturing, operations performance, and business performance quantitatively and qualitatively. It was assumed that implementation of lean manufacturing significantly improves operations performance and subsequently leads to business performance. The contribution of all the nine lean manufacturing practices (i.e., flexible resources, cellular layouts, pull system, small lot production, quick setups, uniform production level, quality control, total productive maintenance, and supplier networks) on operations performance measures (i.e., quality, manufacturing flexibility, lead time reduction, inventory minimization, productivity, and cost reduction) and business performance measures (i.e., profitability, sales, and customer satisfaction) were investigated. In addition, the role of operations performance in mediating the relationship between lean manufacturing practices and business performance was examined. Therefore, the independent variable of the study was lean manufacturing; the mediating variable was operations performance; and the dependent variable was business performance.

Contextualized in a developing country, Indonesia, the quantitative study concerned to large manufacturing companies and discrete process industries. Large manufacturers were selected because they tended to implement lean manufacturing more frequently than do small and medium manufacturers (Fullerton & McWatters, 2001; Shah & Ward, 2003, 2007; Susilawati et al., 2011). In addition, according to Shah and Ward (2003), lean manufacturing was commonly implemented in the discrete part industries rather than continuous process industries. Therefore, respondents of the quantitative study are as follows, textiles; wearing apparel; tanning and dressing of leather; wood and products of wood except furniture and plaiting materials; machinery and equipment; electrical machinery and apparatus; radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus; medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks; motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; other transport equipment; and furniture.

In the qualitative phase, a case study method was held at Toyota Indonesia. This selection was because Toyota was the pioneer of lean manufacturing and had been implementing the lean manufacturing system since it was established. The study was conducted in four plants, namely stamping plant, engine production plant, component export and vanning plant, and vehicle assembly plant. The four plants were selected because of different characteristics of each plant. Thus, it may contribute to the rich and comprehensive findings.

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