Determining the Role of Fear of Failure to the Psychological Well-being and Quality of

Life of Grade 12 Students Amidst a Pandemic

Karl Raphael C. Abalos1234, Haeven Bautista1234, Roldan Beltran1234, Mark Kaizer Franco1234,
Princess Madilyn Lapuz1234, Elise Justin Lising1234, Vince Maro Maza1234, Michael Angelo Salcedo1234

1
Humanities and Social Sciences
2
Senior High School Department
3
Research Development and Innovation Center
4
Our Lady of Fatima University

5
Research Adviser

April 2021
DETERMINING THE ROLE OF FEAR… ii

Endorsement

This research study entitled Determining the Role of Fear of Failure to the
Psychological Well-being and Quality of Life of Grade 12 Students Amidst a Pandemic
prepared by Abalos et al. of HUMSS 12-1A, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
strand Humanities and Social Sciences has been examined and now recommended for Oral
Examination.

This is to certify that Abalos et al. are ready for the Oral Examination.

Phil Darren E. Agustin

Ed Louie Garcia
Advisers

This is to certify that the research study: Determining the Role of Fear of Failure to the
Psychological Well-being and Quality of Life of Grade 12 Students Amidst a Pandemic
prepared and submitted by Abalos et al. of Humanities and 12-1A, is recommended for Oral
Examination.

Dr. Corazon A. Esluzar

Chair/SHS Principal
Campus Research Coordinator

___________________ __________________
Member Member

Roel D. Trinidad, MEng.

Administrative Dean
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… iii

Certificate of Originality
We hereby declare that this research study is our own work and that, to the best of our
knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person
nor material to which to a substantial extent has been accepted for award of any other degree or
diploma of a university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement
is made in the study.

We also declare that the intellectual content of this research study is the product of our
hard work, even though we ask for assistance and guidance from other style, presentation and
language expression.

Karl Raphael C. Abalos

Principal Investigator

Members
Mark Kaizer Franco
Princess Madilyn Lapuz
Vince Maro Maza
Roldan Beltran
Elise Justin Lising

Mr. Phil Darren Agustin

Ed Louie Garcia
Advisers

Date Signed
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… iv

Table of Contents

Endorsement ii
Certificate of Originality iii
Table of Contents iv
List of Figures v
1.0 Introduction 1
2.0 Background 2
2.1 Theoretical Framework 2
2.2 Literature Review 3
2.2.1 Foreign Literature 3
2.2.2 Foreign Study 4
2.2.3 Local Literature 6
2.2.4 Local Study 8
2.3 Research Simulacrum 9
2.3.1 Research Questions 9
2.4 Hypothesis 10
3.0 Research Method 10
3.1 Research Design 10
3.2 Research Locale 11
3.3 Population and Sampling 11
3.4 Research Ethics 12
3.5 Research Instruments 12
3.6 Data Collection 13
3.7 Data Analysis 14
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… v

List of Figures

Figure 1 Research Simulacrum 9

Figure 2 Designated Weights 15
DETERMINING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 1

1.0 Introduction
Fear is part of human nature because it’s a natural, powerful, and primitive human
emotion as well as a high individual emotional response. One of the examples of this is fear of
failure, this type of fear is emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reaction to the negative
consequences you anticipate for failing to achieve a goal.  It is the intense worry, the negative
thinking, and the reluctance to take action you experience, when you imagine all the horrible
things that could happen if you failed to achieve a goal. It alerts us to the presence of danger or
the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological. Fear comes in many different
forms.
There are a variety of things that we are afraid of. Some are very specific, like dogs or
spiders, and some are more general, like being afraid to try new things or speaking your mind in
front of others. Many studies show that fear of failure affects students’ interest and inclination
towards education. When such fears take hold of kids at very young age, their motivation to learn
suffers. Also, their overall attitude towards education breaks down. As the fear turns intensive,
the person starts resisting taking risks in school and personal life. The state when fear of failure
becomes persistent and abnormal, the mental health experts call it Atychiphobia. This type of
phobia leads to a devastating lifestyle as sufferer loses his self-confidence, willpower, and interest
to try and experience new things in life (Nurtureland, 2017). Fear of failure vastly affects us in
different ways as it is part of our self to experience it subconsciously especially today, we are
currently facing COVID-19 that has been spreading until now. Since it was declared as a global
pandemic crisis on the 11th of March, it has been affecting both our lives, the way of living, and
our mental health, especially the students who are struggling to cope with online classes amidst
the pandemic that increases the level of their mental illnesses.
As stated on the study of “The impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education: A study of
interaction among students' mental health, attitudes toward online learning, study skills, and
changes in students' life” it stated that during the COVID-19 period, they have found that students
worldwide have been dramatically affected by the spread of COVID-19, with changes that
affected the well-being, lifestyle, and functioning of students engaged in higher education. While
several studies have pointed out that stress and anxiety are major factors that affect university
students' lives and mental health (Duraku & Hoxha, 2020). Students who want to succeed and
grow as perfectionists are often, understandably, afraid of failure especially those who have high
expectations from their parents but fear of failure could cause even bigger problems that affect a
person’s physical and mental health if this isn’t overcome early.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 2

The researchers are looking forward to identify what is the role of fear of failure to the
psychological well-being and quality of life amidst a pandemic of the selected students and they
also aim to open the mind of other people with these kinds of issues.

2.0 Background

2.1 Theoretical Framework

This research was inclined to the Why Fear of Failure Can Keep You Stuck by,Theo
Tsaousides, (2017) and Mental health and Psychosocial Well-being During the COVID-19
Pandemic: The Invisible Elephant in the Room by Otu et al., (2020).
According to Tsaousides Ph.D. (2017), fear of failure is one of the most powerful forces
in life. It will have a lot of psychological effects to an individual. It classified this kind of fear
into two parts, short-run and long-run fear. In the short-run, fear of failure can influence the goals
that a person will pursue, the level of standards that will set as indicators of success, and the kinds
of strategies that will use in order to achieve them. It stated in the article that people with high
doses of fear of failure will only focus their efforts on preventing failure rather than to achieve
gains and new knowledge in life. People who are experiencing this problem also tend to avoid
situations where they expect that they will be judged and evaluated.
Based on the article, the long run aspect can cause a lot of problems to a person’s
physical and mental health. People experiencing this can be emotionally drained. They can often
experience fatigue and low energy, dissatisfied with their lives, chronic worry and hopelessness,
and their performance in their everyday lives can also be affected.
In addition, Otu et al., (2020) states that the Corona Virus Disease or COVID-19 will
bring an enormous strain to the majority of our healthcare systems because this is not only a
medical crisis but also a challenge to our mental health.
With these information and knowledges, it is understood that the fear of failure combined
with the global pandemic can cause harmful effects to the people’s mental health. It is determined
that having fear of failure amidst pandemic can trigger someone’s physical and mental health to
feel the negative effect of it.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 3

2.2 Literature Review

2.2.1 Foreign Literature

Tsaousides (2020), states that the consequences of failing that keep people worried and
anxious are preventing them from pursuing challenging goals. People tend to avoid pursuing the
goals that they wanted to not experience failure. Fear of failure is not allowing an individual to
experience and try new things, to take new challenges, or to expose someone to new situations.
According to him, fear of failure is keeping us safe, but small. It is one of the hindrances why
people are not growing, why people are settling for less, and why they don’t want to do other
things.
Moreover, Benninger (2019), an author and podcaster of Elizabeth Day explore this
attitude toward success in her book How to Fail: Everything I’ve Ever Learned from Things
Going Wrong. By examining the role that failure has played in her own life. She explains how
people are avoiding new opportunities to not experience failure. In Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The
New Technology of Success, the author describes how failure has an effect on people who don’t
believe they can learn from their mistakes. It explains how this kind of fixed mindset could lead
to a single failure appearing worse. This is because such individuals see themselves as finished
products rather than works in progress. Yet, at the other end of the spectrum, people with growth
mindsets perceive such setbacks as opportunities to advance.
Likewise, Martin (2012), states that failure fearers are the ones who are more anxious,
high in self-doubt, and are uncertain about their ability to avoid failure, or achieve success. While
these students may work hard and achieve, they tend to be adversely affected by setback as it
tends to confirm their doubts about their ability and their uncertain control. It also states that
those people who are experiencing this problem may actively sabotage their chances of success.
Martin also states that theory and data suggest that fear of failure can be separated into two
camps: over striving and self-protection. Although each has yields in terms of achievement or in
terms of self-protection, they render the academic process an uncertain one for students marked
by anxiety, low resilience, and vulnerability to learned helplessness. A cascading model of failure
avoidance is developed that differentiates various aspects of fear of failure on the basis of a
number of correlates and outcomes and provides direction for intervention. An alternative
orientation—success orientation—is explored in detail as are four factors identified as the key
means to promote success orientation. In his study Fear of Failure: Friend or Foe (2012), it states
that Fear of Failure is more a foe, meaning to say it is an enemy and it is an opponent that most of
the people are facing.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 4

2.2.2 Foreign Study

As shown in the study that was conducted by Rogerson et al. (2010), they examine what
are the students experiences in computer programming that are affected by feeling of fear.
The paper was conducted to understand and describe how students personally experience
fear while learning, and they investigate whether the fear that a student’s feel affects other aspect
related to studies, self-confidence, time management and problem-solving skill, all of which are
needed in order to succeed (Scott, 2008; Simon et al., 2006)
Basically, the study concludes that the fear of failure can be a huge problem when it
comes to performing and doing their tasks. Being a failure fearer can cause negative effect to a
student to show the quality of their work. This study was related to the computer programming
and how fear of failure affects the students’ quality of work. In addition, the study Fear of
Failure: Friend or Foe of Martin (2012), states that Fear of Failure is more a foe, meaning to say it
is an enemy and it is an opponent that most of the people are facing.
The concepts used are fear, programming and phenomenology. “Fear” can be considered
as an emotional word but they have regarded as a descriptor for denoting a lack of interest in or
lack of appreciation of and programming as a discipline. Other is some students are having lack
of confidence regarding how they can code or program rather than fear. “Programming” refers to
the full systems development cycle under this is learning the basic theoretical concepts as well as
practical act of coding and a final product ready for implementation “phenomenology” is an
interpretive research approach used to study human experiences (Bruce et al., 2004) it doesn’t
aim to categorize the individuals but rather the detail of number in different ways people can
experience a single phenomenon but which in this research is a learning program
This study shows that this kind of fear will also help them to realize that they need to
prepare to think in spite of how they feel between the relationship of fear of failure and the
underlying negative perceptions and the teaching strategies of educator, psychological attitude
and motivation. This study highlighted the voice of the students themselves.
Moreover, The Programme for International Student (2018), conduct a study and asked
students to rate their satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates the least
satisfaction with life and 10 indicates the greatest satisfaction with life. In 69 out of 71 school
systems, students reported less satisfaction with life when they expressed a greater fear of failure.
The countries with the strongest negative associations were Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland,
Korea, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, all OECD countries, while the only
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 5

countries where the negative association was not significant were Lebanon and the Philippines.
Fear of failure is both positively associated with reading performance and negatively associated
with life satisfaction.
Fear of failure also affects someone’s physical characteristics and quality of life in
performances. According to Sagar et al., 2010, fear of failure affected the sporting career. A study
was conducted to 81 male adolescent players (age 16-18 years). After interviewing four players
who reported high percentage of this fear, they admitted that fear of failure is affecting their
performance and interpersonal behavior. This type of behavior is the way how we communicate
to other people, how we interact and how we collaborate with them. Based to their study, this is a
big problem especially for younger generations because it can kill a lot of opportunities and it can
also be the reason for a person to have a negative impact for him.
In addition, Goldberg (2011), states that the concept of the failure threatened personality
by distinguishing types of fear of failure, one is based on the devaluation of the self-estimate that
may follow a failure experience. It shows that being afraid of failing or failure makes your self-
estimate low or experience depression and anxiety because some people define themselves
primarily with their academic achievements, it’s possible that student will think of achievement
imaginary or fantasy for that they can set unrealistic levels of aspiration to be trill to study and try
to prove him/herself to others that is highly intelligent as well, they are using manifestations serve
to bolster their self-esteem because they fear to fail, the academic setting produces anxiety in the
fearful of failure and because of this anxiety this gives birth to a negative attitude, they claimed
that;
1. Some students claim that their feelings of self-worth are, impart, dependent on
how much they know as compared with other students.
2. Some students claim that they feel great when they get a good grade, but when
they get a poor grade, they feel very low about themselves.
3. Some students claim that when they don’t know the answer to question asked of
another student, they feel like they are failures.
4. Some students say that when they are reading something and don’t understand it
right away, they feel stupid.
5. The most important thing for some students is to be very intelligent and
knowledgeable.
Likewise, since COVID-19 spread, the psychological issues it brought has exacerbated
the problem experienced by the public. And it was found that the rate of getting their severe
symptoms of depression and anxiety increased. The widespread of COVID-19 is not good for the
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 6

mental health of the public. To better understand the individual, Shukla (2020), conducted
another study on COVID-19 which causes changes in lifestyle and our daily activities and the
impact on mental health. Before having COVID-19, university students have a high rate of
psychological distress and negative academic consequences. There are social distances to prevent
the spread of COVID-19. Which led to higher education institutions deciding to have an online
learning format or better-known online class, as the stress of many students worsened, the quality
of life that they used to had changed. According to the study, there are impact of academic
disruption on students, it may cause for them to lose their desires to learn, high chances of self-
study, and increased the rate of drop out. They study the effect of COVID-19 to the quality of
life, education, and as well as the mental health.
They reported that an estimated 25% of their sample are experiencing the symptoms of
anxiety that may affect the academic performance of students, effect to economy and daily life
due to the pandemic. One survey by YoungMinds found that 83 percent of young respondents
agreed that the pandemic had exacerbated their pre-existing mental health problems, primarily
due to school closures, lack of routine, and minimal social interactions, among the many student
surveys administered worldwide. These results illustrate the different factors leading to the
anxiety of students during this pandemic; however, there are much remains to be learned about
the psychological impacts that students are facing and what can be done to minimize their
negative effects. Dela Rosa (2020), a Bulacan State University scholar, pointed out that lockdown
brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically altered the everyday routine: job
arrangements, socialization, and even educational settings. These changes can cause those who
are directly affected to become anxious. Therefore, it is shown that the COVID-19 Pandemic
brought a lot of changes to the lives of the students.
As stated by Pychyl Ph.D. (2010), failure is often discussed as a reason to procrastination
and people might expect fear when we undermine the sense of agency. They measured the fear of
failure including a number of subscales that captured uncertainty about the future, upsetting
important others, and devaluing one's sense of self. He hypothesized that higher fear of failure are
those who procrastinate more and those who has higher scores on the measure of the personal
vitality would less procrastinate like many other he uses online survey and collected data form a
large sample of undergraduate students in their campus
Even we felt fear about what ahead of us this is just a normal thing for human being and
this fear does not predict procrastination we get on with our goal pursuit

2.2.3 Local Literature

DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 7

According to Simbulan (2020), The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the Philippines.
Due to the nature of the virus, particularly how it is transmitted, it has altered human behaviors,
relations, and lifestyles especially the youth, and had profound impacts on the economic,
political, and cultural landscapes of societies across the world. Since the COVID-19 spread in a
different country, it already spread not just viruses but also changed in people's lives as fear also
started to spread on them. These changes and fear can lead to bad effects on their mental health
especially on adolescents that have a higher percent to increase their mental illness now that the
school year continues.  
In line with this, As the school year continues amidst the pandemic the higher education
institutions (HEIs), both public and private, have also had to adjust to the new situation where
face-to-face interaction and mass gatherings are prohibited and from the confines of their homes,
teachers and administrators were put to the task of revising and adapting course syllabi and
requirements as they shifted to alternative or remote teaching modalities, both synchronous and
asynchronous. Where students and teachers had access to electronic devices and reliable Internet
connections, learning management systems such as Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, and
applications like Google Hangouts, Zoom, and Skype, were used. But where students had limited
access to computers or unreliable access to the Internet, teachers and students used smartphones
to exchange messages, notes, and materials, through text messaging, e-mail, Facebook,
Messenger, and Twitter. This statement simply shows the causes of the sudden increase in
student’s mental health and how this different way of teaching changes their lifestyle and
relations with others. This new system of education also causes the fear of students to fail as they
try to adjust themselves to this new normal because they are used to old ways.
Moreover, she also stated that these arrangements became unsustainable and some
universities had to suspend remote or online classes because the uneven socioeconomic status of
students affected their access to these modalities of learning. Also, concerns regarding the mental
health of both students and teachers affected by the uncertainty became another reason to suspend
online classes. Even if the students try to adjust themselves and cope with this new normal it only
makes us suffer both physically and mentally. This sudden change has a great effect on us
especially that this is new to us, our mental health wasn't stable before the COVID-19 are now
worse and our fear of falling increases as we don't know if this pandemic may change our path.
This way of education has never been a good idea for students because this only gives stress,
anxiety, depression, and increases their fear of failing.     
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 8

2.2.4 Local Study

It is stated by Olivo Ph.D. (2014) that fear can fuel stress. Our stress and the related
issues, came from feelings that are being disregarded, denied, misjudged, smothered, or just
inadequately dealt with. Troubling feelings, when they aren't dealt with beneficially, are at the
base of the majority of your most basic issues, including indulging, incessant relationship
struggle, academic performances, and even, much of the time, poor physical well-being. In any
case, when you can understand your feelings, you can understand your issues and stress itself. At
that point you can impact a start to finish change in each part of your life through the decisions
you make each day.
In relation to this, when the Philippines implemented the enhanced community quarantine
in the entire Luzon back in March 16, 2020, checkpoints and travel restrictions even school and
business were all immediately shut down so people can be safe and stay at home. Because of this
disease outbreak people become afraid of the possible chance that they will be affected with the
disease and there were reports that people are facing distress, anxiety, depression and insomnia in
general populations and as this goes many had a review and meta-analysis done among the
general populations in Asia and Europe shows that the prevalence of stress was 29.6%, anxiety
was 31.9% and depression was 33.7%. the inflection or death of a family member or even a
friend could worsen the overall mental health well-being of an individual.
A patient with confirmed or just a suspected COVID-19 may feel fear for their lives and
others that they have physical contact while those who are in quarantine might experience
boredom, fear, loneliness and anger. Overwhelming deep emotional traumas and socio-economic
stressors brought about by the pandemic and the lockdowns have even led the more vulnerable
people to commit suicide. It is crucial to determine someone’s mental health during this pandemic
and there are no studies to examine the psychological impact of the pandemic to us Filipinos
therefore this study aims to establish the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and identify risk
and protective factors contributing to psychological stress among social media users in the
Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study concludes that the pandemic brought a lot
of mental illnesses to Filipinos including depression, anxiety and other related issues.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 9

2.3 Research Simulacrum

Psychological Well-being

Fear of Failure

Quality of life

Figure 1. Research Simulacrum

In Figure 1, it shows that the fear of failure and the psychological aspect have direct
impact to each other because being a failure fearer can cause a lot of mental-illnesses such as
depression, anxiety, stress, etc. While the psychological aspect can also trigger someone to
experience fear of failure by thinking things that may cause someone to feel pressured, judged, or
evaluated by others. Fear of failure also has a direct impact to the quality of life of a human. It
can trigger or destroys someone’s ability to perform well in a certain situation that may cause a
negative impact to that person.

2.3.1 Research Questions

1. What are the profiles of the respondents in terms of?

a. Name
b. Strand
c. Age
d. Gender
2. Is there a significant correlation between having fear of failure and psychological
behavior of a respondent?
3. Does fear of failure affect the quality performances of the respondents when it
comes to doing their tasks?
4. What are the psychological effects of being in the middle of the pandemic?
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 10

5. What are the significant differences to the quality of lives of the students who have
fear of failure during the pandemic and to those who don’t have this type of fear?
2.4 Hypothesis

1. Higher fear of failure increases negative impact on both the psychological well-
being and the quality of life of the students in terms of having anxiety,
depression, stress, and in their life performances.
2. Mental health and their status in life influence the students to experience fear of
failure.
3. Corona Virus Disease-2019 triggers the students to have anxieties, depressions
and other mental-related issues.
4. Being a failure fearer during the pandemic boost negative impact on a student’s
life.

3.0 Research Method

3.1 Research Design

This study entitled “Determining the Role of Fear of Failure to the Psychological Well-
being and quality of Life Among Senior High School Students Amidst a Pandemic” was
conducted following a quantitative approach. Quantitative methods emphasize objective
measurements and statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls,
questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational
techniques which are very appropriate in conducting this study. Quantitative research focuses on
gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular
phenomenon.
The researchers chose to use this approach in order to quantify and explain the different
responses of a large number of respondents in numerical data and to observe the phenomenon
happening in the current society. In determining the role of fear of failure to the student’s
behavior, it is very important to use this type of approach because this is the most appropriate and
reliable in showing the best results of determining what are the roles of fear of failure and its
effects to the psychological well-being and quality of life of students. Quantitative approach also
helps the researchers to better understand the study.
This research study is a descriptive designed to examine the relationship between the role
of fear of failure and its effect to the psychological aspect and quality of life of SHS students.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 11

As stated by McCombes (2019), descriptive research design can use a wide variety of
research methods to investigate one or more variables. Unlike in experimental design, the
researcher does not control or manipulate any of the variables, but only observes and measures
them. This type of research method is not simply tabulating facts but includes interpretation,
proper analyses, identification of trends, comparisons, and relationships.
Descriptive design was chosen in order to interpret and analyze the gathered data, and as
well as to describe the population, situation or phenomenon of the study. This study was about
the behavior of the students in terms of the psychological aspect and the quality of life of the
respondents, and this design was the most flexible way to measure the current situation and the
behavior of the respondents. Also, descriptive design helps the researchers to observe the
different behaviors of the respondents. It also helps the researchers to understand different
responses and compare their relationships with each other.
The information that is obtained may be concerned with the prevalence, the distribution,
and/or the interrelationships between variables within these groups. Researchers will identify the
results quantitatively.

3.2 Research Locale

This study will be conducted at a selected school in Cabanatuan City, the largest city in
Nueva Ecija and 5th in Central Luzon.
The school where the study will be conducted is known for their quality education and
high standard students. This place was selected to ensure the efficiency of the study on the role of
fear of failure in the psychological well-being and quality life of the Grade 12 Students. This
school was established in 2015 and as of now, it continues to serve its stakeholders.
The researchers chose not to state the specific name of the school to ensure the
anonymity and privacy of the respondents.

3.3 Population and Sampling

The researchers chose the Grade 12 students as their respondents because of the fact that
these students were the ones who transitioned from the life before the pandemic or the traditional
way of learning to the new normal set-up during the pandemic in their Senior High School years.
Plus, grade 12 students were more knowledgeable and aware when it comes to their experiences
of having fear of failure before taking college.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 12

The researchers decided not to include the grade 11 students following that they only
came from their junior high school years and the contents of this study were sensitive and
confidential at their age.
The researchers used Probability Sampling to ensure that all the respondents will have the
chance to answer the surveys equally. One of the types of probability sampling was the Stratified
Random Sampling technique the researches use this technique in determining the population of
their possible respondents. In this way, researchers chose 000 respondents in using the formula of
percentage in the population of online class students.
As cited by Hayes (2020), Stratified random sampling is a method of sampling that
involves the division of a population into smaller sub-groups known as strata. In stratified random
sampling, or stratification, the strata are formed based on members' shared attributes or
characteristics such as income or educational attainment.
In addition, Explorable (2020) states that when the researcher wants to highlight a
specific subgroup within the population, stratified technique is the flexible way to use. This
technique is useful in such researches because it ensures the presence of the key subgroup within
the sample. The researchers put time and effort in completing this study.

3.4 Research Ethics

The researchers respect the confidentiality and privacy of the participants as the
information that was gathered and received from them are acknowledged and accurately
presented and will be dealt with confidentiality. The researchers also ensured that they interact
with the participants in a nice way while following the proper health protocols, they will not
invade their privacy without their consent nor do things that will hurt their feelings.
Some ethical considerations that the researchers also ensured for the participants were
their safety and dignity. The researchers guarantee that the information provided and gathered
will be unidentifiable by anybody other than the researchers of the study. Also, they ensured that
they were knowledgeable that any of the gathered information resulting from the research study
may be used in any presentations or report, and will be seen and checked by the researcher's
advisers and research defense panelists.
Likewise, all participants were treated with a great attitude and respect by the researcher
as they assure the safety of the participants. They ensure that the research study is not subjected
to any harm to the participants and will use the gathered information properly. Furthermore, the
researcher also assures that their contributions are completely voluntary that they may withdraw
from the research at any time and can dismiss any questions on the questionnaire.
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 13

3.5 Research Instruments

The researchers used survey questionnaires with close-ended questions to ensure the
reliability and validity of the study. According to McLeod (2018), questionnaires can provide
quick and efficient results in obtaining large amounts of information from a large sample of
people.
This study covers the different characteristics and trait of the respondents. Therefore,
questionnaire is the most flexible way in terms of measuring the behavior, attitudes, preferences,
opinions and intentions of respondents which are very suitable with this study. Standardized
Questionnaires were also used to ensure the reliability and validity of the study.
Close-ended questions are also reliable when conducting quantitative studies. These types
of questions can be nominal or ordinal. In this case, the researchers decided to choose the said
types of questions in order to gather the responses. Nominal scale was used in the demographic
profiles of the respondents such as gender, age, and strand. While ordinal scale was used to
measure the strength of attitudes or emotions.
The respondents’ responses to the questionnaires can easily converted into quantitative
data because the questions are standardized. Meaning to say, all respondents received exactly the
same questions in the same order to be easily replicated to check its reliability. The questionnaire
was distributed using Google Forms.
Google forms were the most effective and safest way to gather information without
risking the researchers’ health and safety and as well as the respondents. It is completed purely
online through filling out a form. The data is stored in a database.

3.6 Data Collection

In this study, the researchers chose a topic that is relevant in the current situation that we
are facing in this world. This pandemic affects the quality of life of an individual especially the
lives of students that has fear of failure in their academe. The students who suffer fear of failure
can affect their mental health that result to their emotional, cognitive and behavioral reactions to
the negative consequences for achieving a goal.
The researchers decided to perform a research that will determine the role of fear failure
to the psychological well-being and quality of life of SHS Grade 12 students in Cabanatuan City.
The researchers chose a specific school in conducting a research study among the students. They
reviewed the literatures and studies that will support this research study using different sites on
the internet instead of borrowing books from the libraries, for the safety of our researchers. The
DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 14

social media platforms such as Zoom, Google meet and Facebook Messenger were used for the
meetings of the researchers to work on together in this research study.
Since this investigation of this research is objective, the information is gathered through
the help of online survey. Also, this study ensured the safety of the respondents by just allowing
them to answer those online surveys due to the current situation. The researchers will prepare a
guideline to the investigation in which the social media sites of the survey will gather information
on modifications that they encounter to their condition after answering the survey questionnaire
given by the researchers. In addition, the researcher used past articles which described in the
ongoing study to help them interpret the data they have obtained from the participants.

3.7 Data Analysis

In this study, the researchers used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences with
descriptive statistics to analyze the data they have collected from the questionnaires answered by
respondents. To analyze the demographic profile of the participants such as their sex, age, and
strand. Additionally, the researchers performed the percentage frequency distribution table
The researchers also used a variant of Ordinal Scale and Likert Scale, to know the degree
of agreement of participants in questions from the study.
To measure the answer of the students in determining the role of fear of failure in the
psychological and quality of life of students amidst the pandemic. The researchers provide
degrees for the total results of the answers. In addition, the researchers designed a particular
weight in every rating scale. The assigned weight is shown in the Table A:

Table A
Designated Weights

Rating Scale Designated Weight Rank

4 3.20-4.00 Strongly Agree

3 2.40-3.19 Agree

2 1.60-2.39 Disagree

1 0.80-1.59 Strongly Disagree

DETERMING THE ROLE OF FEAR… 15

Figure 2. Designated Weights

In figure 2, it is shown the rating scale that the respondents may answer to the
questionnaires. Each rating scale has designated weight that can represent the numerical data to
be shown in the results. The ranks represent each scale to determine the proper behavior and
choice of the respondents.