Chapter+1

__INTRODUCTION__ What should you write in Chapter 1?

There are a number of sections should be written in Chapter 1. These include the background of the study, problem statements, research objectives, research questions, significance of the study, scope of study and definitions of key terms. On this page you will find some useful tips on writing the relevant information for Chapter 1.

__SECTIONS IN CHAPTER 1__ __Background of the study__

In general, you may organize the background of the study into three paragraphs as follows:

//Paragraph 1// A general overview of the research to introduce the main idea, e.g. The danger of smoking.

//Paragraph 2// A clear, focused and detailed information to understand the reasons for investigation. Supports from cited resources should be included, .e.g. Health related effects of smoking, e.g. it causes cancer and leads to fetus malformation, which are supported in a finding by who and who (2012).

//Paragraph 3// A firm justification that indicates the need for further investigation, e.g. Smoking leads to cancer but many people still smoke. Therefore more research must be carried out to examine the relationship between smoking and cancer.

__Problem statements__

//What is a problem statement?//

A problem statement is the description of an issue currently existing which needs to be addressed. It provides the context for the research study and generates the questions which the research aims to answer. The statement of the problem is the focal point of any research. A good problem statement is just one sentence with several paragraphs of elaboration.

//How to get started writing the problem statements?//

You may use the 5 'W's - Who, What, Where, When and Why - to obtain pertinent information to start off the discussion. Examples: //**Why**// - Why is it important to fix the problem? - What impact does it have on the population? - What impact does it have on all stakeholders, e.g. employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, etc.
 * //Who//** - Who does the problem affect? Specific populations, groups, organizations, customers, etc. Who are influential in causing the problem?
 * //What//** - What are the boundaries of the problem, e.g. organizational, work flow, geographic, customer, etc. - What is the main issue? - What is the impact of the issue? - What impact is the issue causing? - What will happen when it is fixed? - What would happen if we didn’t solve the problem?
 * //When//** - When does the issue occur? - When does it need to be fixed?
 * //Where//** - Where is the issue occurring? Only in certain locations, processes, products, etc.

__Research objectives__

//What is an objective of a research?//

An objective is a clear statement of something that needs to be accomplished over a period of time.

1. Specific – states exactly what you need to achieve. Objectives should clearly state what you are expected to achieve, using action verbs to describe what has to be done. For example:

Not specific: Encourage more students to join UMP Tae Kwon Do (ITF) club Specific: Identify the reasons students joining students' clubs in UMP

Not specific: Conduct research on Softskills Specific: Examine the level of students awareness on Softskills in UMP

2. Measurable – includes a quality or quantity measure. Objectives should include a quality and/or quantity reference so that you can measure whether or not you have achieved them. For example:

Not measurable: Find out about membership of the UMP Tae Kwon Do (ITF) club Measurable: Investigate the benefits of membership of the UMP Tae Kwon Do (ITF) club

Not measurable: Plans for research on students interest in ICT applications in class Measurable: Formulate plans for research on students interest in ICT applications in class

3. Realistic – can be challenging but must be achievable. Objectives should be challenging but achievable i.e. they should not be unrealistic. For example, it might be realistic to carry out a research on obesity among UMP students but it would be unrealistic to conduct a research on obesity among the higher institutions students in Africa. Objectives should also take account of the skills, knowledge and resources needed to achieve them.

//How to write the objectives?//

The objectives should start with words such as: ‘to determine’, 'to analyze', 'to define', ‘to find out’, ‘to ascertain’, 'to provide', ‘to measure’, ‘to explore’, 'to examine' 'to evaluate' 'to investigate', 'to identify', etc.

The wording of objectives determines the type of research (descriptive, correlational, explanatory, exploratory and experimental) and the type of research design you need to adopt to achieve them. e.g. Descriptive studies: - To measure the effectiveness of ICT applications in English language classes in UMP. - To examine students' perceptions of the ICT applications in English language classes in UMP.

Let's complete these tasks.

__Research questions__

Research questions should guide you to answer the research objectives. As such, they should relate to each other.

__Significance of the study__

What should be included in this section? This section must illustrate the following to the readers:

1. The contributions of the study as new knowledge.

2. The usefulness of the study to the specific groups.

3. The persons and groups that benefit on your study/research.

The following phrases may be useful to help express the importance of your study:

- Researchers may find the findings useful as ……………

- This study will encourage the learners to ……………

- It will also serve as the catalyst to …………

- The study will promote ………..

- This study will contribute to …………

- This study can help boost the ………..

- Through this study, students will become aware of ……….

- The results of this study will provide some insights and information on how…..

__Scope of study__

In this section, you should describe the five 'W'- Where is the context of this research? - Who and how many are the participants? - When is the data collected (the duration of the collection)? - Why is the data important and/ or examined? - What are the instruments for data collection (interviews, questionnaire) ?

__Definitions of key terms__

Important terms which are not familiar or appear to be ambiguous should be explained.

__CONCLUSION__ The above describes the sections you will need to have in Chapter 1. More explanations and exercises can be found on pages 5-19 in the module.

The summary can be read here