Description of the Justification Forms in Research Articles in Spanish in Six Scientific Areas

The justification of research objectives is an inherent part of scientific production. However, there are not any detailed descriptions as to how this practice is carried out in different scientific areas. In this article, we analyze textual extracts of justification from a representative corpus of 162 research articles, corresponding to six scientific disciplines. Using the guidelines of the Grounded Theory, the results of the analysis show that the justification is not always expressed as a determined rhetorical move in these texts. Furthermore, it can be established that the field of justification can correspond to problems and arguments of distinctive levels, and that the most common way to justify a research project is based on the contributions, implications or applicability of the results. Finally, we propose that the rhetoric forms that the justification takes are sensible to variations determined by the nature of epistemology, the objects of study and the methodological procedures used in each of the scientific areas.