Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III
SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE - CITY OF MALOLOS
City of Malolos, Bulacan
E-mail Address: malolos.city@deped.gov.ph website; www.depedmalolos.com
Telefax: (044) 812 – 2006 / 2007

WRITING a RESEARCH PROPOSAL

This form aims to help you develop the structure of your research proposal and to ensure alignment of your overall approach to
your research problem.
DIRECTIONS: answer the questions in bullet form. Once you have a clear outline of your research proposal convert each row
into paragraph/s to serve as one subheading in your research proposal. Not that the parts of the research proposal indicated in
the Research Management Guidelines (RMG) should not be taken as chapters like in thesis or dissertation, but rather as just
subsections of the research proposal.
GUIDE QUESTION RESPONSE
TITLE
What is the title of your research?
 Answer this later
 Be creative with your title. Make it catchy and interesting

What is the issue / problem / relationship you want to solve / establish / explore?

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE

What is the general situation / circumstance that makes you develop your
research proposal?

Why is this situation/ circumstance important?

What do you intend to do?

 This is the aim of your study. This should also be embedded in your
main arguments above.

Significance of your research

 Why is your study important?
 Who or what industry will benefit? How?

What would be the potential contribution or insight of my research?

 Will it solve a particular problem?
 Will it offer a new direction towards enhancement of practice?
 Will it prove / disprove something?
 Will it solve / contribute to a certain debate?
 Will it add evidence to a developing body of knowledge?
 Will it develop a new theory, prototype, model, process, tool, etc.?
LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the current / relevant topics and literature related topics and literature
related to this situation / circumstance?

What are the gaps in the existing literature?

What makes your study different from previous studies?

 These arguments will demonstrate that you made an extensive
literature review, and you have made a critical analysis of the literature
in relation to your proposed research topic.

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  The more gaps you have identified, the stronger your paper is.
 What questions would you answer?
SCOPE AND LIMITATION
This section sets the restrictions of your study due to time, budgetary
requirements and your capability.
 What are the parameters of your study (data collection method,
analysis, discussion, etc.)?
METHODS
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
What is the design of your study?
 Descriptive
 Evaluative
 Theoretical/ Philosophical? Etc.

SAMPLING
 Who or what will be the sample for your study?
 Why did you choose this / these sample/s?
 How many?
 How will you select your sample?

DATA GATHERING METHOD

What tool will you use in gathering your data?
 Document analysis
 Interviews / focus group discussions
 Assessments
 Surveys
 Case studies
 Observations
 Statistical datasets etc.
Briefly describe your methods supported by references to research applying the
methods in similar situations.

ETHICAL ISSUES
Think of the circumstances in which your respondents’/samples’ participation
will compromise their rights to privacy and confidentiality. Also, consider the data
gathering method. Avoid intrusion and do not put them at risk.

Consider your respondents:

 Do you need to obtain informed consent from the parents, DSWD, and
other agencies?
 Do you need to get the name of your respondents?
 Do you need to label your subjects (schools, barangays, region etc.)?

DATA ANALYSIS
How would you analyze your data?

Briefly describe your data analysis technique supported by references to

research applying the analysis in similar situations.

Source: Policy Research and Development Division – Planning Service (PRD-PS) Consultant: Dr. Dennis Alonzo

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 CLASSROOM – BASED ACTION RESEARCH
PURPOSE: To improve student learning.
HOW : by identifying issues, concerns, and problems that negatively affect student learning.
by developing and implementing a strategy / intervention to solve the problems
STEPS STEMS
STEP 1 – Identify the Problem One of the most prevalent issues in my classroom that affects the
learning of my students is
 Reflect on your experiences and identify the _____________________________________________
most critical problem that affects your students _____________________________________________
learning.

STEP 2 – Search the literature or interview your The strategies / interventions used before to solve this issues are
colleagues for previous strategies / intervention used to the following: (include the name of the author and the year of
solve this problem publication and briefly discuss their findings)
_____________________________________________
Refer to previous studies (use the internet if you do not _____________________________________________
have access to journals) and see if there have been _____________________________________________
efforts done to solve the problem or similar problems.

STEP 3 – Develop a strategy / intervention I will solve the problem by (your strategy/intervention-what will you
do)
Based on previous studies, along with your _____________________________________________
experiences, develop a strategy / intervention to solve _____________________________________________
the problem. Then, implement the strategy / intervention The data that I will record include (the kind of data that you need to
in your classroom. gather and record will provide evidence to the effectiveness of your
strategy/intervention)
____________________________________________
____________________________________________

STEP 4 - Identify Findings The data show that

_____________________________________________
Analyze your data – looking for findings with practical _____________________________________________
significance. If you are dealing with quantitative data, _____________________________________________
simple statistical tools are enough. If dealing with The findings show that I have solved/have not solved the problem
qualitative data (interview, observation, discussion) because
then look for recurring themes or patterns. _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

STEP 5 – Make a Decision I will continue / discontinue using the strategy / approach because
more than half of my students have shown very high scores in
Use your findings to make decisions related to the reading comprehension test after 3 weeks.
learning of your students. _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
The approach / intervention I used worked / did not work well
because
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
In case where the strategy / intervention failed to solve the problem
I will try another strategy / intervention like (then go back to Step 3).
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________

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 AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA) FORMAT

APA Style® originated in 1929, when a group of psychologists, anthropologists, and business managers
convened and sought to establish a simple set of procedures, or style rules, that would codify the many
components of scientific writing to increase the ease of reading comprehension.

Title Page

 The title page is numbered page 1.

 Your title page should contain a running head (capitalize), title, author name, and school affiliation.
The purpose of your title page is to let the reader quickly know what your paper is about and who
it was written.
 The title should be provided in title case at the center of the page vertically and horizontally.
 Per APA style, you should not use abbreviations/contractions in your title, and it should not be
more than 12 words in length.
 The title should be very concise and should clearly describe what the paper is about.
 Beneath the title, type the author's or authors' full name(s). Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees
(Ph.D.).
 If there are two authors, separate the authors' names with and. If there are three or more authors,
separate the authors' names with commas and use and before the last author's name.
 Below the author name(s), add the institutional affiliation. Spell out the name of the institution fully.

Source: American Psychological Association (pp. 225-243)

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Abstract

 An abstract is a brief summary of your paper that immediately follows your title page. According
to APA format, your abstract should be no more than 150 to 250 words.
 Use present tense when referring to results and conclusions and past tense when referring to methods
and measurements taken. Do not use future tense.
 Attention to the purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations mentioned in
your paper.

Running Head

 The running head is a shortened title (no more than 50 characters, including spaces) that appears on
every page.
 Use the automatic functions of your word-processing program to create a header that contains the
running head and the page numbers for your paper.
 The header is located within, not below, the paper’s margin. There is no need to set the header at a
specific distance from the top of the page.
 The words Running head: precede the running head on the title page only.

Margins
 Set uniform margins of at least 1 in. (2.54 cm) on the top, bottom, left, and right of every page.
 Use your word-processing software to add a header that will appear at the top of every page that
includes the running head and the page number.
 The header appears within the top margin, not below it.

Heading Levels
There are five levels of headings in APA Style. Proceed through the levels numerically, starting with Level
1, without skipping levels.
 The number of headings needed for a paper will vary depending on the paper’s complexity and
subject matter. Sections of similar importance have the same level of heading.
 Don’t use “Introduction” as your first heading—it’s assumed that the beginning of the paper is the
introduction.
 Use boldface and/or italics only for headings within the body of your paper (as described for each
level of heading in the Publication Manual).
 Use regular font formatting (no boldface or italics) for all section titles, such as Abstract, Author
Note, Title of Your Paper (on the title page and on the page where the text begins), References,
Appendix/Appendices, and Footnotes. These are not headings but labels for these sections.
Lists
 Lists, such as numbered lists and bulleted lists, may be used in APA Style.
 Each item on the list is punctuated at the end by a comma, semicolon, or period, depending on the
grammatical structure of the list. Numbers are followed by periods and are not in parentheses.
 In running text, a series of items is designated by letters in parentheses: (a) first item, (b) second
item, and (c) third item.

Tables
 Tables can help you present a large amount of material efficiently. Table layout needs to be logical
and easy for readers to understand. Here are some guidelines on formatting your table.
 Place each table on a separate page at the end of your manuscript, after the reference list.
 If font size and style are not specified by the organization for which you are writing (e.g., publisher,
university), the suggested font is 12-point Times New Roman.
 Margins depend on the size of the table but must be at least 1 in. (2.54 cm).
 Tables may use single-spacing or one-and-a-half spacing (p. 229).

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  Information necessary for understanding the table and definitions of abbreviations used within the
table appear in a table note.

Figures
 Place each figure on a separate page at the end of your manuscript, after any tables (or after the
reference list, if there are no tables).
 Place a caption below each figure describing its contents and defining any abbreviations used in the
figure.

Table of Contents
 Because the Publication Manual provides guidelines for writers submitting manuscripts to
scholarly journals, it is silent on the topic of tables of contents.
 Usually questions about tables of contents come from students or teachers who want the information
to complete a class assignment.
Style preferences for undergraduate writing can vary by discipline, university, and instructor.

Quotations
 Material quoted directly from another source (i.e., reproduced word for word from works by other
authors, your own previously published work, material replicated from a test item, and/or verbatim
instructions to participants) must always provide the author, year, and specific page(s) in the text
citation
 If the quotation includes fewer than 40 words, incorporate it in text and enclose it with double
quotation marks.
 If the quotation includes more than 40 words, it should be treated as a block quotation, meaning that
it is displayed in a freestanding block of text without quotation marks.
 If material is paraphrased (i.e., restated in your own words), always provide the author and date in
the in-text citation.
 It is not necessary to include the page number(s) in the citation, but it may be helpful, especially if
the source is very long (e.g., a short passage from a whole book).
Reference list entries:

Jackson, D. (2018). Aesthetics and the psychotherapist's office. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74, 233–
238. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22576

Jackson, M. C., Counter, P., & Tree, J. J. (2017). Face working memory deficits in developmental prosopagnosia:
Tests of encoding limits and updating processes. Neuropsychologia, 106, 60–
70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.003

Nelson, B. D., Jackson, F., Amir, N., & Hajcak, G. (2017). Attention bias modification reduces neural correlates of
response monitoring. Biological Psychology, 129, 103–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.08.059

In-text citations:

(D. Jackson, 2018)

(M. C. Jackson, Counter, & Tree, 2017)

(Nelson, Jackson, Amir, & Hajcak, 2017)

Source: APA Manual 6th edition 2010

References

 The reference section of your paper will include a list of all of the sources that you used in your
paper.
 Your references should begin on a new page. Title the new page "References" and center the title
text at the top of the page.
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  All entries should be in alphabetical order.
 The first line of a reference should be flush with the left margin. Each additional line should be
indented (usually accomplished by using the TAB key.)
 While earlier versions of APA format required only one space after each sentence, the new sixth
edition of the style manual now recommends two spaces.
 The reference section should be double-spaced.
 All sources cited should appear both in-text and on the reference page. Any reference that appears
in the text of your report or article must be cited on the reference page, and any item appearing on
your reference page must be also included somewhere in the body of your text.
 Titles of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers should appear in italics.
 The exact format of each individual reference may vary somewhat depending on whether you are
referencing an author or authors, a book or journal article, or an electronic source. It pays to spend
some time looking at the specific requirements for each type of reference before formatting your
source list.

Preparedby:leonyhipolitoantonio 8-7-18