CHAPTER 1.

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACGROUND

Introduction.
The literary part begins with the Introduction where topic is presented in a general level.

 At least 3 paragraphs

-1st paragraph- provide a reader’s mental warm-up, giving them info on what the thesis is
about. 1. Context: What your audience will need to know in order to understand the problem
you are going to confront. For instance, “Over the past two decades, research in this field has
focused on … ”.

-2nd paragraph- carries the bulk of the intro.

 Use s.o.p as frame of reference, this statement will echo what was said in the opening, but
will have much more resonance for the reader who now has a deeper understanding of the
research context. The problem statement will explain what you want to understand (or
reveal or explain or explore or reinterpret or contest) and why it will matter to have done
so.
 Mention purpose, scope and coverage and significance of the study. Mention the purpose
of the study. For instance, “However, [topic] is still poorly understood (or under-
examined or excluded or misinterpreted). This lack of attention is significant because
knowing [about this topic] will provide a benefit OR not knowing [about this topic] will
incur a cost”.

-3rd paragraph- closing portion. Write something interesting by creating a Roadmap: Brief
indication of how the thesis will proceed. Eg. With the foregoing impressions of the writer, this
study hopes to…

The Statement of the Problem:

-written in paragraph form with an introductory clause.

E.g.

This research study aims to analyse the…(title/topic).

This study hopes to evaluate the store’s customer services of SM North EDsa as determinants of
the frequency of their customers for the third quarter of 1994.
-Hence, the need to define subproblems provide direction and delimitation (to set the limit) to
your research work. Subproblems required should at least be 3.

Specifically, this study will answer the following questions:…..

1.

2.

3.

-the first subproblem should be the independent variable. The I.V. can be delimited by
defining and and enumerating certain variables which will become the major concentration of
your research study.

WHAT IS A VARIABLE?

Research cannot be possible without taking into account measurable factors that are subject to change
due to certain conditions or situations. Anything that can be changed in research due to circumstances is
called a variable.

A variable is any object or event or category which can be measured. Although what can be considered
variable in one study may not necessarily be a variable in another study. A variable is the characteristics
of a data set that is something that can change. Ex. Gender, age.

e.g. SOP 1. WHAT IS THE I.V. in YOUR STUDY ?

-the 2nd subproblem should be the dependent variable.

SOP 2. What is the D.V. in the YOUR STUDY?

-3rd subproblem- simply a combination of sop 1 & 2 because the objective is to test the
relationship between the given IV (sop1)) & DV.( sop2)

SOP 3. IS there a relationship between...

Statement of Hypothesis
Since concepts are judged as true or false, they are propositions. When a proposition is
formulated for empirical testing, we call it hypothesis. A hypothesis is a declarative statement
which is tentative in nature. As such, it must be tested, explained, estimated and measured and
serves as references for stating conclusions.
For Causal-correlations, there is an implication that the existence of, or a change in one variable
causes or leads to an effect on the other variable. The causal is the IV and the other is the DV.

A good hypothesis must be in the null form. This is a negative declarative statement of the
guess or tentative solution to the study. It is better because it challenges the researcher to
really go on with this study.

e.g. There is no relationship between….

Significance of the Study

Who will benefit from the study? From the respondents to the community around?

Scope and Delimitation

-1st paragraph, Scope. It is similar to the 2nd paragraph of the introduction using your problem
or thesis title as your frame of reference.

-2nd paragraph- Delimitation. It refers to how far or near the research study has gone. Mention
limitations in terms of method used, respondents, instrumentation, sampling procedure,
statistics and variables studied.

Definition of Terms:
Words have different meanings. CERtain word and terms used will need clarifications, such as
the IV and DV. In addition, the subvariables that gave delimitations of the study must likewise
be defined. Define terms in your own wordings. Arrange alphabetically.