Scope of study?

Scope of study specifies the research coverage area, it provides details of its delimitation and possibly other areas that the study may not be able to cover due to some factors that should also be mentioned. It shows your supervisor and readers the areas or population that your research would include in the course of the study and collection of data (information), which will also indicate who your respondents are and the exact catchment area and categories they fall into, e.g., region, state, Local Government Area etc.

Every researcher delimits their study to a defined area or scope, this is to prevent barriers that might hamper the research.

Distance barriers are one of the major challenges a study could have, so it is advisable to choose areas that could be easily covered within the stipulated duration of the study.

Aside from location, the scope also shows the direction of a study, it tells the limit and objects that will be covered. In summary, scope is the jurisdiction of a study.

***you are also expected to give reasons for your choice of scope.

Let’s look at an example:

Scope of study:

This study focuses on the various challenges of residential real estate investment in Ikeja Local Government Area. To do an in-depth study, the following residential neighbourhoods were selected; Alausa Royal Estate, Minimah Estate, and Oduduwa Crescent, GRA to be studied.

The study was limited to tenement buildings, self-contained apartments, blocks of flats, bungalows, and duplexes within selected residential areas in Enugu Urban.

The above neighbourhood was selected due to the dominance of heavy residential activities and fast-developing residential properties in the area.