Rhetorical functions in academic writing: Discussing limitations

The nature of our sample makes it difficult to generalize results to sales forces in other industries. The predominance of men in these sales positions, though quite representative of the automobile industry, might obscure any gender-related issues in feedback research (Schul et al,1990). Also, the causal directions of our model, though well-grounded theoretically, cannot be supported by cross-sectional data alone. Experimental designs or longitudinal studies would be necessary to check the directions of influence.

Srivastava, R. & Rangarajan, D. (2008). Understanding the salespeople’s “Feedback-Satisfaction” linkage. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23(3), 151–160

Limitations and future directions.

Many limitations exist in the current study beginning with the sample being drawn from a population of students at a single, large, public, Midwestern university. Thus, the results may not be generalizable to students at other institutions or with other demographics. Second, the information produced from this study is descriptive and correlational, and causation cannot be inferred. Finally, the accuracy of respondents is questionable in reporting information on large survey studies such as this. For example, respondents were asked to recount how many hours per week he or she typically spends using the Internet, and the degree to which students may be able to accurately report such information is unclear. Future work should actually record logging data so as to determine the veracity of the self-report (though this could involve privacy issues).

Kirschner, P. A. & Karpinski, A. C. (2010).  Facebook and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 6, 1237–1245.

The most obvious limitation in this research was that of a small sample size, a limitation that prevented a clear generalized statement about the role played by WTC in the L2 classroom. The number of participants was too small to adequately address the research questions or to possibly generalize beyond the context of this study. With a larger sample, including a greater number of culturally different participants, any real differences would almost certainly have emerged. Still, the small population did not negate recognition of the importance of WTC in L2 instruction.

This study was further limited by the duration of the research, which was relatively short; so that participants were observed over a relatively short period of time.

Finally, the research findings of this study were limited by the inherent limitations of the instruments, and the statistical treatment of data collected. 7. In particular, while it was beneficial to employ stimulated recall as an introspective method in the interviews, because of the delay in the use of stimulus, accuracy in the recall of the participants' task performance was harmed.

(Bitchener, 2010, p. 207).

The primary limitation to the generalization of these results is the nature of the course used – a large lecture oriented introductory level class where laptop use was not controlled. Obviously, these results are not applicable to every classroom experience. Faculty who tailor their classes to laptops may have an entirely different experience. In many classes and labs, computers are necessary and learning may depend on immediate and constant access to computers during class time.

Fried, C. B. (2006). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers & Education, 50, 906–914.

One of the limitations of this study had to do with the small number of participants and the fact that only one department within the college of Education was surveyed. However, it was encouraging to find the results were similar to larger and more inclusive studies.

Bain, S., Fedynich, L. & Knight, M. Fried, C. B. (2009). The successful graduate student: a review of the factors for success. Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, 3, 1-9.

The main limitations of the current study were, first, that we did not measure the self-regulatory mechanisms, personality dimensions, or contextual factors that could underlie participants’ emotional experiences and mediate or moderate the obtained associations between affective patterns and success
(e.g., goal regulation processes, Heckhausen et al., 2010; reappraisal vs. suppression strategies, Gross & John, 2003; traitconsistent affect, Tamir, Robinson, & Clore, 2002).

Barker, E. T., Howard, A. L., Galambos, N. L. & Wrosch, C. (2016). Tracking affect and academic success across university: Happy students benefit from bouts of negative mood. Developmental Psychology, 52, 2022–2030.