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BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
In this post, I am discussing the Background to the Study.
Each section in the research proposal, dissertation and thesis is designed to carry out a specific function that contributes to the achievement of the aim of the study.
It is, therefore, important to understand the specific purpose of each section in the research proposal, dissertation and thesis.
Besides, all sections in the research proposal, dissertation and thesis are important, and should be treated so.
The Background to the Study is one of the sections in the research proposal, dissertation and thesis.
A good Background to the Study should DISCUSS among others, the:
•Basic understanding of the research problem to be studied;
•History of the research problem with reference to literature;
•Nature of the research problem with reference to literature;
•Root of the problem being studied;
•Context of the problem in relation to theory, research, and/or practice;
•Scope of the study – what is going to be studied and not to be studied;
•Extent to which previous studies have successfully investigated the problem;
•Existing gaps that the study attempts to deal with;
•Hard facts on the existence of the research problem to be studied;
•Evidence on the need to study the research problem; and the
•Need to contribute to understanding or solving the research problem.
The background to the study does not replace the literature review section of the research proposal, dissertation and thesis; it is designed to place the research problem in a proper context.
In conclusion, the background to the study presents evidence on the essential context needed to understand the research problem before unpacking it in the problem statement or research problem section to be discussed in our next post.

ISSUES TO CONSIDER WHEN DEVELOPING A RESEARCH TOPIC
Choosing a good research topic is one of the postgraduate students' challenges in their research journey. Here are some of the issues to consider when developing a research topic:
*PERSONAL INTEREST: choose a research topic that draws your attention, concern and curiosity to want to know or learn about it. Your research topic should bring direct or indirect benefits to you as an individual and other people.
*TIME: ensure that you have enough time to consciously complete your study within the timeframe given to you by the university.
*RESEARCH SKILLS: ensure that you have research skills to operationalise research methods chosen to underpin your research topic. You cannot use, for example, the quantitative approach if you do not have the quantitative knowledge and skills to implement quantitative research techniques. It is, therefore, important to first acquire knowledge and skills on the research method selected for the study.
*MANAGEABILITY: choose a research topic that will be easy or possible to study. Conventional wisdom holds that a shorter hairstyle is easy to manage; so is a narrow research topic.
*ETHICAL ISSUES: choose a research topic that will allow you to easily get permission to conduct the study and uphold all human rights.
*RESOURCES: a postgraduate student should have a supply of money, materials, people, and other assets that can be drawn on to study the research topic.
*RELEVANCE: a good research topic must be beneficial to the student, science or body of knowledge and society in general.
*AVAILABILITY OF DATA: choose a research topic that will allow you to easily collect data needed to achieve the aim of the study.
*FEASIBILITY: a good research topic should be easy to study without too much to do or difficulty. There is no need to generate a research topic you are not capable of studying successfully

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JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY
Let us briefly discuss the Justification for doing research, also called the Rationale.
The justification section in the research proposal, dissertation, or thesis is important in the research processes.
The word "justification" comes from the Latin word justus "do justice to" or "to administer justice".
The word justus was used in court proceedings when the judge was asked to discern or show in a court hearing that something is just or unjust, right or wrong, or show both respectively based on the existing evidence.
Therefore, the word justification has a legal underpinning that implies demonstrating what is right or wrong to either exonerate or implicate. It is a process of showing convincingly why a certain action should be taken as informed by evidence.
Therefore, when writing the Justification for the study, a postgraduate student is given an opportunity to show convincingly what is "right" or "wrong" or both in their research area to warrant the study.
It means a postgraduate student is being asked to answer "why" the study should be conducted.
In other words, the university wants the student to present convincing reasons "why" the study is needed in relation to the existing literature.
For that reason, the Justification for the study must be gleaned from the existing literature on the research topic.
As a postgraduate student, you will need to conduct a thorough literature review and identify gaps, inconsistencies and weaknesses in the current literature.
The best way to write the Justification for the study is to briefly introduce the current literature presented in the background section and then highlight the gaps in the literature that have not been addressed or are yet to be understood.
In doing so, you are setting up the reasons, also known as Rationale, to conduct the current study, thus justifying the need for your research.
In short, the Justification for the study should address the "why" question. The study should be conducted as informed by gaps in the literature.
As Research Methodologists, we argue here that gaps in the existing body of knowledge "birth" the Justification or Rationale for the study.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Let us talk about the literature review.
A literature review is one of the critical stages in a research process.
Unless otherwise, an excellent postgraduate research project should review the research problem or topic literature.
But the question is, what is a literature review?
A literature review is a comprehensive, systematic and critical review of scholarly publications.
By scholarly publications, we are referring to published and unpublished materials.
To move forward together, let me, in general, highlight the difference between published and unpublished scholarly materials.
Published material is scholarly work that has gone through a standard review system of an organisation or publisher used to assess the quality of the material before it is published or distributed.
In many instances, independent experts in the relevant research area are asked to assess submitted materials, be it a journal article or book chapter or research report for originality, validity and significance, to help editors determine whether the material should be published under their organisation.
An excellent example of published scholarly material is an article or paper in the Medical Journal of Zambia, a peer-reviewed quarterly journal intended to publish articles from all specialities of medicine.
While unpublished scholarly materials are the opposite of published material, they have not gone through a recognised assessment process of a particular organisation or publisher but are available to readers. A good example is a Masters Dissertation or PhD Thesis in the repository, also known as a digital archive that the University Library manages. The repository ensures that Dissertations and Theses are appropriately archived and are easy to find online. Though available online, these Dissertations and Theses remain unpublished scholarly materials because they have not been subjected to the publication criteria of a particular organisation or publisher.
However, Dissertations and Theses that have successfully gone through the University examination process and are re-written or re-formulated for publication purposes using specific standards of a particular organisation or publisher can become published scholarly materials.
On the whole, scholars seem to agree that there are three (3) critical purposes of conducting a literature review, discussed below:
(1) HIGHLIGHTING RESEARCH PROBLEMS
For this purpose, the literature review is conducted to help determine what is known and unknown about the research problem under study. In this spectrum, literature is conducted to determine gaps in the existing body of knowledge. The literature review here aims to show or highlight the research problem that needs to be studied as necessitated by gaps in the literature.
(2) HIGHLIGHTING RESEARCH PLANS
The second purpose of conducting a literature review is to ascertain research plans; designs, methods, theories, and research instruments available to scholars to choose the most suitable to underpin the study.
In this perspective, the literature review is conducted to discover the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that have been used to explain and examine related research problems, generate useful research questions to dissect the research problem, help to inform research processes, discover new ways of conducting research, and help to define concepts and terms related to the research topic for better understanding of research problem or what is to be studied.
(3) LITERATURE TO AID ANALYSIS
In this view, literature review is conducted to use it in the discussion and analysis of results or findings of the study to; confirm or disconfirm findings support implications and recommendations of the study.
In short, several scholars, when conducting a literature review, are guided by the triadic model showing the three purposes or use of literature review to (1) highlight the research problem; (2) identify suitable research methodology for the study; and (3) analyse/discuss research findings or results.
In the next post, we will discuss approaches to conducting a literature review on published and unpublished scholarly materials.