Background of the Study

What is the Background of the Study in Research?

The background of the study is the first section of a research paper and gives context
surrounding the research topic. The background explains to the reader where your research
journey started, why you got interested in the topic, and how you developed the research
question that you will later specify. That means that you first establish the context of the
research you did with a general overview of the field or topic and then present the key issues
that drove your decision to study the specific problem you chose.

Once the reader understands where you are coming from and why there was indeed a need for
the research you are going to present in the following because there was a gap in the current
research, or because there is an obvious problem with a currently used process or technology
you can proceed with the formulation of your research question and summarize how you are
going to address it in the rest of your manuscript.

Why is the Background of the Study Important?

No matter how surprising and important the findings of your study are, if you do not provide
the reader with the necessary background information and context, they will not be able to
understand your reasons for studying the specific problem you chose and why you think your
study is relevant. And more importantly, an editor who does not share your enthusiasm for
your work (because you did not fill them in on all the important details) will very probably
not even consider your manuscript worthy of their and the reviewers’ time and will
immediately send it back to you.

To avoid such desk rejections, you need to make sure you pique the reader’s interest and help
them understand the contribution of your work to the specific field you study, the more
general research community, or the public. Introducing the study background is crucial to
setting the scene for your readers.

Background of the Study Structure

Before writing your study background, it is essential to understand what to include. The
following elements should all be included in the background and are presented in greater
detail in the next section:
 1. A general overview of the topic and why it is important (overlaps with establishing
the “importance of the topic” in the Introduction)
2. The current state of the research on the topic or on related topics in the field
3. Controversies about current knowledge or specific past studies that undergird your
research methodology
4. Any claims or assumptions that have been made by researchers, institutions, or
politicians that might need to be clarified
5. Methods and techniques used in the study or from which your study deviated in some
way

Presenting the Study Background

As you begin introducing your background, you first need to provide a general overview and
include the main issues concerning the topic. Depending on whether you do “basic” (with the
aim of providing further knowledge) or “applied” research (to establish new techniques,
processes, or products), this is either a literature review that summarizes all relevant earlier
studies in the field or a description of the process (e.g., vote counting) or practice (e.g.,
diagnosis of a specific disease) that you think is problematic or lacking and needs a solution.

Examples of a general overview

If you study the function of a Drosophila gene, for example, you can explain to the reader
why and for whom the study of fly genetics is relevant, what is already known and
established, and where you see gaps in the existing literature. If you investigated how the way
universities have transitioned into online teaching since the beginning of the Covid-19
pandemic has affected students’ learning progress, then you need to present a summary of
what changes have happened around the world, what the effects of those changes have been
so far, and where you see problems that need to be addressed. Note that you need to provide
sources for every statement and every claim you make here, to establish a solid foundation of
knowledge for your own study.

Describing the current state of knowledge

When the reader understands the main issue(s), you need to fill them in more specifically on
the current state of the field (in basic research) or the process/practice/product use you
describe (in practical/applied research). Cite all relevant studies that have already reported on
the Drosophila gene you are interested in, have failed to reveal certain functions of it, or have
suggested that it might be involved in more processes than we know so far. Or list the reports
from the education ministries of the countries you are interested in and highlight the data that
shows the need for research into the effects of the Corona-19 pandemic on teaching and
learning.

Discussing controversies, claims, and assumptions

Are there controversies regarding your topic of interest that need to be mentioned and/or
addressed? For example, if your research topic involves an issue that is politically hot, you
can acknowledge this here. Have any earlier claims or assumptions been made, by other
researchers, institutions, or politicians, that you think need to be clarified?

Mentioning methodologies and approaches

While putting together these details, you also need to mention methodologies: What
methods/techniques have been used so far to study what you studied and why are you going
to either use the same or a different approach? Are any of the methods included in the
literature review flawed in such a way that your study takes specific measures to correct or
update? While you shouldn’t spend too much time here justifying your methods (this can be
summarized briefly in the rationale of the study at the end of the Introduction and later in the
Discussion section), you can engage with the crucial methods applied in previous studies here
first.

When you have established the background of the study of your research paper in such a
logical way, then the reader should have had no problem following you from the more
general information you introduced first to the specific details you added later. You can now
easily lead over to the relevance of your research, explain how your work fits into the bigger
picture, and specify the aims and objectives of your study. This latter part is usually
considered the “statement of the problem” of your study. Without a solid research paper
background, this statement will come out of nowhere for the reader and very probably raise
more questions than you were planning to answer.

How is the background different from the literature review

Many authors find it difficult to discern the difference between the literature review and the
study background. The literature review section should follow the background section, as the
second section of your manuscript/thesis. This section basically supports the background
section by providing evidence for the proposed hypothesis. This section should be more
comprehensive and thoroughly describe all the studies that you have mentioned in the
background section. It should also elaborate on all studies that form evidence for the present
study and discuss the current trends.

To write this section, you will need to do a thorough literature search on different studies that
relate to the broad topic of your research. This will introduce the readers to the area of your
research. Following this, you should present a more focused survey of the specific studies
that are associated with the precise objective of your study. It would be ideal to organize them
thematically and discuss them chronologically so that readers are aware of the evolution and
progress in the field. In other words, separate themes should be discussed chronologically to
highlight how research in those fields has progressed over time. This will highlight what has
been done and what are the future directions that need to be worked upon.

How to avoid common mistakes in writing the background

While writing an effective background, you ought to steer clear of some mistakes. The most
common mistakes in writing the background include the following:

1. Don’t write a background that is too long or too short. Focus on including all the
important details but write concisely.
2. Don’t be ambiguous. Writing in a way that does not convey the message to the readers
defeats the purpose of the background, so express yourself keeping in mind that the
reader does not know your research intimately.
3. Don’t discuss unrelated themes. Try and centre your discussion around the pivotal
aspects of your research topic i.e. highlight the gaps in the literature, state the novelty
of the study, and the need to conduct the study.
4. Don’t be disorganized. Not discussing the themes in a chronological manner can
confuse the reader about the progress in the field, so try and organize your writing
carefully.