A significance statement refers to a non-technical paragraph which clearly states why our proposed research matters. This describes the importance, the “so what?” of the study. It makes clear why the research is important and to whom it is important ().
Its main purpose is to make the readers aware of and to gain support for our research. When writing the significance of the study, we need to write it in a jargon-free language that readers from various fields can understand. If the significance of the research is well-written, it might increase the chances for citation and impact from our work. Moreover, it might also increase our chance to get a grant for our research.
The general goal of the significance of the study is to justify the need, value, relevance, importance, or rationale of the study and in order to do this convincingly, we need to clearly identify the benefits and the stakeholders in the particular field of the subject. Moreover, the benefits can be for the society at large, as well as to the discussions in the existing literature or body of knowledge (The Call, 2017).
Meanwhile, the specific goals of the significance of the study are as follows:
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To state the general contribution of the study
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To identify the specific contributions of the study
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To rationalize the benefits of the study
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To offer possible solutions to existing challenges in the field or subject for improving the unsatisfactory conditions
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To categorically enumerate the possible implications of the study for policymaking and practice
There are two main steps in planning and developing the significance statement. The first step is to identify the gaps and how our study will contribute to filling it. It is started from doing the literature review when we develop our research aims and objectives. It is where we can find the gaps or the unanswered questions in the preceding research. These gaps then become our opportunity to propose a study that will contribute to adding new knowledge, new perspectives, or new methodology. Thus, take a look back to understand the gaps and start composing the significance statement by answering questions such as, “how will my research findings advanced knowledge or provide notable new insights?”; “how will my research helped to prove (or disprove) a hypothesis or answer a research question?”; and “why will the results be important?”. Then, move to the second step which is defining the implications and potential impact of our study. We can do this by considering the potential impact of our study at two levels: how it will contribute to the field of study, and who will benefit from it.