Table of Contents
What is the background of a project?
The antecedents of a project, also known as antecedents of the investigation or antecedents of a problem, are all the works previously carried out on the subject to be investigated and that provide relevant information for our work.
The antecedents serve to know the points of view of different authors, their methodologies and results. They help us to know what aspects have been addressed, which ones remain to be explored, and to define the direction of the project.
Structurally, they present the references of the reviewed works and a summary of the content, which presents the information in a synthesized way to facilitate the reader’s work.
Types of background of a project
- The theoretical background is all the written material published on the subject, publications and bibliographic sources in various formats such as monographs, essays, graduate work, thesis, scientific journals and books. Also digital resources present in catalogs, repositories and university libraries.
- The field antecedents are the studies based on experimental tests, such as questionnaires or exams, carried out to gather real data about the individuals or about the environment under investigation.
How to do the background of a project?
1. Documentation
In this first phase, the available information related to the problem that we are going to treat is collected. We must resort to publications from archives such as university libraries or research centers to have reliable sources.
2. Review of the bibliography
We must review the bibliography that has been compiled and select the publications that are relevant to our thesis. We must link the results of the antecedents with our project and highlight the positions of greatest interest.
3. Organization of information
The order of the works must be chronological, from the oldest to the most recent, to know the progression of the study and the situation in which it is currently. We must follow a common thread that provides coherence and facilitates the organization of information.
4. Drafting
It begins by writing an introduction to present the works and explain the reasons why they have been selected. Each review should first identify the author, indicate the year and job title, analyze the procedures used, and instruments if applicable. Finally, the results are presented as a conclusion.
Examples of a project background
Topic: The fulfillment of the obligations at a distance at home.
In this research we are going to review the effects that the performance of remote obligations caused at home during the pandemic. We will analyze the period from March to December 2020, in which the confinement and the health crisis took place, in two specific countries: Spain and Mexico.
Research background
The confinement experienced in Spain and Mexico during 2020 has led to the implementation of new work and study methods that require solutions at the domestic level.
Saldívar-Garduño, A., Ramírez-Gómez, KE (2020) in his work Mental health, gender and remote teaching during confinement by COVID-19 in Mexico, examines the adaptation of the Mexican population to remote work and online teaching . It shows the lack of means to develop professional activities at home and the deterioration in mental health in individuals due to stress and uncertainty in this situation.
On the other hand, Valera, A., Fraguela-Vale, R., López-Gómez, S. (2021) in their study Game and school tasks: school and family in Covid-19, makes a questionnaire to parents and Spanish mothers with school-age children. A survey on the educational burden of parents after the closure of schools to measure the time spent playing and the time spent on homework. An increase of 62.86% in the consumption of screen games and the time spent on school work is observed by 51.93% compared to before the pandemic.
In conclusion, the increase in the use of technology requires electronic devices that allow the development of daily obligations. Negative emotional responses have been observed in disadvantaged households due to the stress generated by the lack of knowledge and financial resources.