ATENEO de DAVAO UNIVERSITY

Senior High School

E. Jacinto Street, Davao City, Philippines

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 & 2

Concept Paper Guidelines

What is a Concept Paper?

A concept paper is an initial step in proposing a research. Sometimes it is called a capsule

proposal because the researcher will encapsulate his/her desired study in a manner
where the grantor (or funding agency) will have a short glimpse of your study. In this way,
the funding agency will assess if the proposed study is worthy of further consideration
and most likely to be funded. Lastly, the format of concept papers or capsule proposals
differ from each institution or funding agency; it does not follow any standard format, so
long as it specifically caters the standards of the grantor.

What is inside a Concept Paper?

The concept paper will consist the following sections: Research Title, Brief Introduction
of the Study, Research Questions and Significance of the Study.

A. Research Title: This is the tentative title of the proposed study. It should be stand
alone and use words that can fully describe the whole content or main idea of the
manuscript. Avoid words that may mislead or do not, in any way, relate to your
topic. Also, the title should integrate the variables used in the study and show their
relationship with one another (Statistics Solutions, 2017).
B. Brief Introduction: A brief introduction or a brief background of your study is
highly encouraged in order for the funding agency to get a glimpsed of your
problematic scenario. In this section, the researcher will have to describe the
situation of his/her preferred topic
C. Research Questions/Statement of the Problem: In qualitative research,
inquirers state research questions, not objectives or hypotheses (Creswell 2014).
Questions starts with words such as “how” or “what”. There are two (2) forms of
research questions: a) central question and b) sub-questions.
a. Central questions – According to Creswell, it is a broad question that asks
for an exploration of the central phenomenon or concept in a study. You are
to ask: What is the broadest question that I can ask in the study? “The intent
is to explore the general, complex set of factors surrounding the central
phenomenon and present the broad, varied perspectives or meanings that
participants hold (Creswell 2014).

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 b. Sub-questions: These are questions that divide the central questions into
more specific questions and are only limited in number (Cristobal 2017).
Base in Creswell’s guidelines, you are to only ask no more than five to seven
sub-questions.
D. Scope and Delimitation: This section briefly explains the scope of the study and
explain its limitation. This includes the sample size, time, geographic area (or
research environment) and the research method used in the study.

Example:

RESEARCH CAPSULE PROPOSAL

A. Research Title: The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Competencies of School

Managers: Basis for the Formulation of the Human Relation Intervention
B. Researcher/s Name/s: Mr. Amadeo Cristobal
C. Brief Introduction:

Intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies are two important factors a

leader should exemplify as part of their soft skills and how they manage people.
As a manager, this skill will help them understand emotions and knowledge that
derives from those emotions. This would also promote emotional and intellectual
growth, both with the manager and his subordinates which then creates a
harmonious relationship in their working environment. But this is not the case with
the school managers in the division of Bataan. There are reports from faculty
members that their school manager (or dean) do not demonstrate these
competencies when dealing with them. The school manager has a hard time
managing his emotions wherein he would flare up when questioned and in
additional, he does not communicate well with his faculty members where he would
only decide for himself which in fact should get the consensus of everyone.

Since this is just one case of behavior exhibited by a school manager, the
researcher would then assess and evaluate selected school managers in the
division to find out the if these competencies are also demonstrated by the others.
It is then from the result of this study that the researcher would propose a
formulation of the Human Relation Intervention Program.

D. Research Questions:
a. What is the meaning of intrapersonal competencies? (central question)

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 i. How would school managers describe intrapersonal competencies?
(sub-question)
b. What is the meaning of interpersonal competencies? (central question)
i. How would school managers describe interpersonal competencies?
E. Scope and Delimitation:

The study would assess the intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies

of the school managers in the Division of Bataan, school year 2001-2002. The
school managers that would be included in the study will be secondary school
principals and head teachers of big national high schools in the division. Moreover,
teacher respondents included only the teachers who are teaching Teknolohiya,
Edukasyong Pangkabuhayan, at Panatahanan subject.

Robbins (1996) enumerated the intrapersonal competency was measured

by the variables as enumerated. According to him, the most powerful predictors of
behavior in an organization are the following specific personality traits: locus of
control; Machiavellianism; self-esteem; self-monitoring; risk-taking; and
personality A.

Appodaca (1997) discussed the five aspects of the supervisor’s role in order
to maintain good relationship with others. These aspects are management,
learning and training aspect, motivation, developing positive employee attitudes,
and problem-solving techniques.

Finally, the school effectiveness variable was measured by the school

manager’s profile, teacher’s performance, and school performance. Some
indicators of school performance like the dropout, completion, survival, and
achievement rates were based from the average rating of three consecutive school
years, SY 1999-2000 to SY 2001-2002.

A validated questionnaire-checklist served as the main instrument of the

study, a follow-up interview will be used to clarify vague answers and documentary
analysis will also be employed to answer specific questions raised in the proposal.

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 Additional reminders

Submit your papers with the following format:

• Times New Roman, size 12 font

• A4-sized paper
• 1.5 paragraph spacing
• 1-inch margin on all sides
• APA format in citation

At the top of the first page, put the list of members alphabetically by their
last name and initials, date of submission, grade and section – strand, and, name
of teacher (Ms. Clarice Angeline G. Reyes – for formality’s sake). See below for
example.
Example:

Abrugena, J.G., Albarece, R.G., Aquino, E.R. Garcia, A.A., Justiniani, M.G., Pintor, P.P., Que, K.E. July 11, 2017

12- De La Costa – ABM Ms. Clarice Angeline G. Reyes

Deadline of submission:

July 10, 2017 for De Brebeuf, De Hoyos, and Colombiere

July 11, 2017 for Borgia, and Corby

The paper will be submitted during class hours. Late submissions will be
penalized accordingly.

Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Please cite your references properly.

References:

• Creswell, J.W (2014) Research Design International Student Edition. California,

L.A. Sage Publications Inc.
• Cristobal et.al (2017) Practical Research 1 for Senior High School
• “Research Concept Paper” Retrieved from
http://www.statisticssolutions.com/research-concept-paper/.

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