How to write your Background of the Study.pptx

Background of the Research for beginners

1. How to write your Background of the Study A beginner's guide on

2. How do you write the background of the study of your proposed research? First discuss the meaning and the Core elements that it should contain Understanding the nature of the background of the study in research and knowing exactly what to include in it, allow us to have both greater control and clear direction of the writing process

3. What is the Background of the Study? Forms the first section of the introduction to a research paper Provides the overview of the study; Establishes the context of the study Explains why the proposed research is important, and essential to understanding the main aspects of the study

4. The background of the study, therefore, is the section of the research paper or thesis that identifies the problem or gap of the study that needs to addressed and justifies the need for conducting the study. It also articulates the main goal of the study and the thesis statement , that is, the main claim or argument of the paper

5. The Background of the Study should contain the following major points (Core Elements) Brief discussion on what is known about the topic under An articulation of the research gap or problem that needs to be addressed What the researcher would like to do or aim to achieve in the study

6. The Background of the Study should contain the following major points (Core Elements) The thesis statement, that is, the main argument or contention of the paper (which also serves as the reason why the researcher would want to pursue the study The major significance or contribution of the study to a particular discipline; and Depending on the nature of the study, an articulation of the hypothesis of the study

7. How to Write the Opening Paragraphs of the Background of the Study

8. Let’s Assume: conducted a preliminary research on your chosen topic, read a lot of literature and gathered relevant information for writing the background of your study. identified the gap of your proposed research and have already developed the research questions and thesis statement.

9. There are different styles of writing the background of the study. There is no “one-size-fits-all” style of writing this part of the research You are free to develop your own

10. Begin the background of your study with an overview of your research topic. Suppose the topic of your study is: Lived experiences of students with mathematical anxiety Providing a definition of the key concepts Highlighting the main developments of the research topic You may start the background of your study with a discussion on the meaning, nature, and dynamics of the term “mathematical anxiety”. Highly technical term Not readily understandable to non-specialists in this field.

11. “Mathematical anxiety refers to the individual’s unpleasant emotional mood responses when confronted with a mathematical situation.” Since you did not invent the definition of the term “mathematical anxiety” then you need to provide a citation to the source of the material from which you are quoting.

12. “Mathematical anxiety refers to the individual’s unpleasant emotional mood responses when confronted with a mathematical situation (Elliot, 2020).” Then you may proceed with the discussion on the nature and dynamics of the term “mathematical anxiety”

13. “ Lou (2019) specifically identifies some of the manifestations of this type of anxiety, which include, but not limited to, depression, helplessness, nervousness and fearfulness in doing mathematical and numerical tasks.”

14. After explaining to your readers the meaning, nature, and dynamics (as well as some historical development if you wish to) of the term “mathematical anxiety” Proceed to showing the problem or gap of the study “Mathematical anxiety can negatively affect not just the academic achievement of the students but also their future career plans and total well-being. Also, there are no known studies that deal with the mathematical anxiety of junior high school students in New Zealand.” Suppose that your research problem or gap is:

15. “If left unchecked, as Shapiro (2019) claims, this problem will expand and create a total avoidance pattern on the part of the students, which can be expressed most visibly in the form of cutting classes and habitual absenteeism. As we can see, this will negatively affect the performance of students in mathematics. In fact, the study conducted by Luttenberger and Wimmer (2018) revealed that the outcomes of mathematical anxiety do not only negatively affect the students’ performance in math-related situations but also their future career as professionals. Without a doubt, therefore, mathematical anxiety is a recurring problem for many individuals which will negatively affect the academic success and future career of the student.”

16. Now that you already have both explained the meaning, nature, and dynamics of the term “mathematical anxiety” and articulated the gap of your proposed research State the main goal of your study “Hence, it is precisely in this context that the researcher aims to determine the lived experiences of those students with mathematical anxiety. In particular, this proposed research aims to determine the lived experiences of the junior high school students in New Zealand and identify the factors that caused them to become disinterested in mathematics.”

17. Articulate the thesis statement the thesis statement is the statement of your argument or contention in the study. It is more of a personal argument or claim of the researcher, which specifically highlights the possible contribution of the study.

18. “The researcher argues that there is a need to determine the lived experiences of these students with mathematical anxiety because knowing and understanding the difficulties and challenges that they have encountered will put the researcher in the best position to offer some alternatives to the problem. Indeed, it is only when we have performed some kind of a ‘diagnosis’ that we can offer practicable solutions to the problem. And in the case of the junior high school students in New Zealand who are having mathematical anxiety, determining their lived experiences as well as identifying the factors that caused them to become disinterested in mathematics are the very first steps in addressing the problem.”

19. Five essential elements that must be articulated in the background of the study, namely: A brief discussion on what is known about the topic under investigation An articulation of the research gap or problem that needs to be addressed What the researcher would like to do or aim to achieve in the study (research goal) The thesis statement, that is, the main argument or claim of the paper; and The major significance or contribution of the study to a particular discipline.

20. How to Write the Body of the Background of the Study What should be its content?

21. One of the best ways to write the body of the background of the study is to: Attack it from its vantage point of the research gap Research Gap: There are Junior High School students in New Zealand who are experiencing mathematical anxiety

22. “Epistemological” aspect of research Remember that a “statement” remains an assumption until you can provide concrete proofs to it Specific branch of philosophy that deals with the validity of knowledge To Validate knowledge is to provide concrete proofs to our statements

23. The body of the background of the study, therefore, should be a presentation and articulation of the proofs to our claim that indeed there are junior high school students in New Zealand who are experiencing mathematical anxiety.

24. Look for literature on mathematical anxiety among junior high school students in New Zealand and cite them here. If there are not enough literature on this topic in New Zealand, then we need to conduct initial interviews with these students or make actual classroom observations and record instances of mathematical anxiety among these students it is always a good idea if we combine literature review with interviews and actual observations.

25. Assuming you already have the data, then you may now proceed with the writing of the body of your background of the study “According to records and based on the researcher’s firsthand experience with students in some junior high schools in New Zealand, indeed, there are students who lost interest in mathematics. For one, while checking the daily attendance and monitoring of the students, it was observed that some of them are not always attending classes in mathematics but are regularly attending the rest of the required subjects.”

26. “As a matter of fact, this phenomenon is also observed in the work of Estonanto . In his study titled ‘Impact of Math Anxiety on Academic Performance in Pre-Calculus of Senior High School’, Estonanto (2019) found out that, inter alia, students with mathematical anxiety have the tendency to intentionally prioritize other subjects and commit habitual tardiness and absences.”

27. “With this initial knowledge in mind, the researcher conducted initial interviews with some of these students. The researcher learned that one student did not regularly attend his math subject because he believed that he is not good in math and no matter how he listens to the topic he will not learn.”

28. “Another student also mentioned that she was influenced by her friends’ perception that mathematics is hard; hence, she avoids the subject. Indeed, these are concrete proofs that there are some junior high school students in New Zealand who have mathematical anxiety. As already hinted, “disinterest” or the loss of interest in mathematics is one of the manifestations of a mathematical anxiety.”

29. And then you need to validate this observation by conducting another round of interview and observation in other schools So, you may continue writing the body of the background of the study with this “To validate the information gathered from the initial interviews and observations, the researcher conducted another round of interview and observation with other junior high school students in New Zealand.”

30. “On the one hand, the researcher found out that during mathematics time some students felt uneasy; in fact, they showed a feeling of being tensed or anxious while working with numbers and mathematical problems. Some were even afraid to seat in front, while some students at the back were secretly playing with their mobile phones. These students also show remarkable apprehension during board works like trembling hands, nervous laughter, and the like.”

31. “As Finlayson (2017) corroborates, emotional symptoms of mathematical anxiety involve feeling of helplessness, lack of confidence, and being nervous for being put on the spot. It must be noted that these occasionally extreme emotional reactions are not triggered by provocative procedures. As a matter of fact, there are no personally sensitive questions or intentional manipulations of stress. The teacher simply asked a very simple question, like identifying the parts of a circle. Certainly, this observation also conforms with the study of Ashcraft (2016) when he mentions that students with mathematical anxiety show a negative attitude towards math and hold self-perceptions about their mathematical abilities.”

32. “On the other hand, when the class had their other subjects, the students show a feeling of excitement. They even hurried to seat in front and attentively participating in the class discussion without hesitation and without the feeling of being tensed or anxious. For sure, this is another concrete proof that there are junior high school students in New Zealand who have mathematical anxiety.”

33. Solicit observations from other math teachers To further prove the point that there indeed junior high school students in New Zealand who have mathematical anxiety

34. “The researcher further verified if the problem is also happening in other sections and whether other mathematics teachers experienced the same observation that the researcher had. This validation or verification is important in establishing credibility of the claim (Buchbinder, 2016) and ensuring reliability and validity of the assertion (Morse et al., 2002). In this regard, the researcher attempted to open up the issue of math anxiety during the Departmentalized Learning Action Cell (LAC), a group discussion of educators per quarter, with the objective of ‘Teaching Strategies to Develop Critical Thinking of the Students’.

35. During the session, one teacher corroborates the researcher’s observation that there are indeed junior high school students in New Zealand who have mathematical anxiety. The teacher pointed out that truly there were students who showed no extra effort in mathematics class in addition to the fact that some students really avoided the subject. In addition, another math teacher expressed her frustrations about these students who have mathematical anxiety. She quipped: “How can a teacher develop the critical thinking skills or ability of the students if in the first place these students show avoidance and disinterest in the subject?’.”

36. How to Write the Concluding part of the Background of the Study

37. the conclusion of the background of the study is just a rehashing of the research gap and main goal of the study stated in the introductory paragraph. The purpose of this is just to emphasize , after presenting the justifications, what the study aims to attain and why it wants to do it.

38. “Given the above discussion, it is evident that there are indeed junior high school students in New Zealand who are experiencing mathematical anxiety. And as we can see, mathematical anxiety can negatively affect not just the academic achievement of the students but also their future career plans and total well-being. Again, it is for this reason that the researcher attempts to determine the lived experiences of those junior high school students in New Zealand who are experiencing a mathematical anxiety.”

39. Research Presentation End