IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING
THE PROBLEM
CHAPTER ONE
RESEARCH TOPIC
- an intellectual stimulus calling for an
answer in the form of scientific inquiry
- It may come from your personal interest,
training, expertise or your strand.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
RESEARCH TITLE
1. A title should give readers information about
the contents of the research and is preferable
to one that is vague or general.
2. Choose a title that is a phrase rather than a
complete sentence
3. Select a straightforward title over other
kinds.
4. Use no punctuation marks at the end of a
title.
5. Do not underline the title of research or
enclose it in a quotation mark, instead, use a
word processing program or printer that
permits italic.
EXAMPLES:
1. Assessment of School-Based Disaster
Preparedness of Educators in Lipa City
2. Preparedness of Barangay Health
Workers During Typhoon in Mabini,
Batangas
RESEARCH PROBLEM
- typically a topic, phenomenon, or a
challenge that is the focus for engaging
in research
- It is the basic issue or area of concern,
the situation which exists and then how
it ought to be.
- It should be defined precisely and the
summary questions shall be answered
by the proposed research.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
- It tells what is done to make the
situation existing more like what it
should be.
- The researchers should give the
background which led to this
circumstances to exist.
Main Elements:
1. The objective
2. Research questions
Objective/Purpose of the Study
- This is a statement of long-term
objective expected to be achieved by
the study.
- It is prefixed by introductory phrases
such as “The study aims to…”
Research Questions
- These are specific questions which are
to be answered by the study.
- The answers to the questions should
lead to the solution of the research
problem.
SOP answers the following questions:
1. What are the reasons for these
circumstances?
2. Is it possible or answerable to be solved
or changed?
3. What are the specific problems that the
study aims to answer?
Scope
- describes the coverage of the study. It
specifies what is covered in terms of concept,
number of objects or population included in the
study, as well as timeline when the study was
conducted
Delimitation
- Cites factors or variables that are not to
be included and the boundary in terms
of the time frame, number of subjects,
participants or respondents who are
excluded.
Scope and Delimitation
• What – the topic of investigation and
variables included
• Where – the venue or the setting of the
research
• When – the time frame by which the
study was conducted
• Why – the general objectives of the
research
• Who – the subject of the study, the
population and sampling
• How – the methodology of the research
Significance of the Study
- The researchers define who will benefit
out of the findings of the study.
- They describes how the problem will be
solved and specifically pinpoints who
will benefit from such findings or results.
- They may state the specific sectors who
will benefit from the study
Tips in Writing the Significance
1. Refer to the SOP – it can guide you in
identifying the specific contribution of
your study
2. Write from general to specific – consider
the general contribution of your study,
such as importance to society then to
individuals
Background of the Study
- Includes information which would focus
attention on the importance and validity
of the problem
- It is the general orientation to the
problem area
The Background includes:
1. Discussion of the problem in general
and the specific situations as observed
and experienced by the researcher
2. Concept and the ideas related to the
problem including clarification of
important terminologies
3. Discussion of the existing or present
conditions and what is aimed to be the
future or the gap to be filled-in by the
research
4. What facets of the problem are known
and what need further investigation?
5. What approaches have been used
previously in research of the problem?
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE (RRL)
Review of Related Literature
- Examining and studying again concepts
or ideas related to the topic of your
research. Doing research review do not
necessarily agree with one another; they
may even contradict each other
literatures to be reviewed should have
been written in the last 10 years and
should be of course relevant to the
current study
Purposes of RRL
1. To provide an overview of what is
known about the topic
2. To assess the strength of the evidence
on the topic
3. To find connections of your research to
the current conditions
4. To discover the relation of your research
with previous studies
5. To obtain information on the accuracy or
relevance of your research
6. To familiarize yourself with technical
terms related to your research
7. To distinguish the areas in need of
further research
Sources of RRL may be through articles
published in scholarly journals, laws, and
constitution book and other general references
materials. It may also include grey literature,
such as working paper, conference
proceedings and reports from seminars,
manuscripts, monographs and memoir official
report from the government as well as the
records of schools. To locate related literature,
common sources and libraries, government
office, electric journals, schools, private
institutions and corporations and international
institutions
Citing Related Literature using standard
styles
Citation
- Researchers refer to another author’s
work in his paper. He must cite his
source by providing the last name of the
author and the year of publication. It is
necessary to use when the researchers
(1) paraphrases statement of another
researchers; (2) summarizes the ideas
of another researcher; (3) quoting what
was written by another researcher; and
(4) makes reference to the ideas or
theories of another researcher
Different Styles in Citing Literature
1. APA (American Psychological
Association)
2. MLA (Modern Language Association)
3. Harvard Style
4. Vancouver Style
5. Chicago and Turabian Style

The most commonly used citation styles are

the APA and MLA styles. Below is a
comparison of the two citation style.

Example of MLA Referencing Style

(Andal 287)
(Andal, Along, Abilla 90-150)
(Barbon et.al. 134-150)
(Garcia: 7: 66-70)

Examples of APA Referencing Style

(De Castro, 2013)
(Bidgi & Lucifora, 2008)
(Uy et.al., 2015)

Ethical Standards in Literature Review

Ethics – norms of conduct that delineates the

boundary between acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour

Republic Act. No. 8293 – Intellect Property

Code of the Philippines

Plagiarism – copying another’s work or

borrowing someone else’s original ideas
- Turning some else’s work as yours own
- Copying words or ideas from someone
else’s work without giving credits
- Failing to put a quotation in quotation
marks
- Giving incorrect information about the
sources of quotation
- Changing words but copying the
sentence structure of a source without
giving credits

To plagiarize – to steal and pass of ideas or

words as one’s own
- To use another’s production without
crediting the source
- To commit the literary theft
- To present a new and original idea or
product derived from an existing source