Research

Questions
Nature of Quantitative Research Problem
A research problem is simple as
a problem you would like to
research. Quantitative Research
Problem dealt more with the
precision and specificity of the
problem. Furthermore, the
quantitative research problem
describes trends and patterns of
a phenomenon.
When you have identified your
quantitative research problem, you
can now state it and make sure to
establish its place in your study. In
your written paper, this can be found
as Statement of the Problem, where it
formally introduces the problem that
you want to investigate or address.
Then you will start specifying what
you want to answer in your study.
Research
Problem
• The research questions help to clarify and specify the
research problem. Research questions are also
considered as sub-problems of your research problem.
and These questions are informative in nature. It specifies the
method of collecting and analyzing data and the type
Research of data to be collected since you are exploring a
quantitative research problem.

Questions
What is a research
question?
• A research question is a clear,
focused, concise, complex and
arguable question around which
you center your research. You
should ask a question about an
issue that you are genuinely curious
about.
Why is a research question
essential to the research
process?

Research questions help writers

focus their research by providing a
path through the research and
writing process. The specificity of a
well-developed research question
helps writers avoid the “all-about”
paper and work toward supporting
a specific, arguable thesis.
Example:
Research Problem:
Interrogative statement: What percentage of Manila
private universities consider the use of grammar
textbooks as the most effective way to help college
students attain communicative competence?
Research Questions:
Interrogative statement:
1. What is an English grammar textbook?
2. What is communicative competence?
3. What components of the grammar textbook work
for communicative-competence development?
4. How many Manila private universities require the
use of grammar textbooks?
5. How many Manila private universities use
grammar textbooks as references only?
6. To what extent do Manila private universities find
grammar textbooks effective in helping college
students attain communicative competence?
Research Problem:
Declarative statement: The main objective of this
study is to find out the percentage of Manila private
universities considering the use of grammar textbooks
as the most effective way to help college students
attain communicative competence.
Research Questions:
Declarative statements:
1. To define a grammar textbook
2. To explain the meaning of communicative
competence
3. To identify the components of the grammar book
that work for communicative –competence
development
4. To determine the number of Manila private
universities requiring the use of grammar textbooks.
5. To determine the number of Manila private
universities using grammar textbooks as reference
only
6. To determine the extent of Manila universities
considering grammar textbooks as the means by
which they can help college students attain
communicative competence
Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Once you have already
enumerated your research
questions for your study, it is
important that you consider its
quality to answer and explain your
research problem. The following
are good characteristics of
research questions, as described
by Fraenkel and Wallen (2020).
Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Feasible. Consider the amount of time, energy, money,
respondents, and even your current situation as a
student-researcher. Is the research problem possible? Will
it not spend unreasonable amount? Consider these
examples: “How do parents feel about the blended Feasible
learning modality for elementary learners?” and “How
would giving each learner their own laptop to be used in
this blended learning modality affect their performance
tasks?” The first example is definitely a more feasible
research question. Considering the resources, it is more
possible to gather the data needed to answer the
question.
Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Clear. The clarity of how the questions
stated lead to agreement of meaning of
the readers of your study. Since your
research questions are also considered as Clear
the main focus in the gathering and
analyzing the data, it is therefore very
important that these are stated clearly.
Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Significant. Ask if your research questions are
relevant or important to ask. Will answering these
questions provide an additional contribution to
address the given research problem? In other
words, are the research questions really worth Significant
investigating?

At this point, you do not just consider the time and

money that you will spend, but more importantly,
the value of what you are trying to investigate. So
aside from the reason that your chosen research
problem is within your interest, you should also
provide a sound justification of your choice as a
researcher.
Characteristics of Good Research
Questions
Ethical. Always consider the welfare of
people, animals or who so ever involve in
your study. Look into ways of answering
the research questions without inflicting Ethical
physical and psychological harm to
persons involved justification of your
choice as a researcher.
 Guidelines in Formulating a Quantitative Research
Problem and Research Questions

Formulate a See to it that you Have your Construct a Let your Construct an State your
research problem state your research problem research problem quantitative introductory research questions
that is quantitative focus on a general that mirrors the research problem statement to or sub-problem,
researchable; research problem understanding of importance of state the variables present your not in the form of
meaning , open to clearly, concisely, your research carrying out the and their research problem, yes-or-on
empirical and possibly , if topic. research for finding relationships with which is the main questions, but in
investigation. under APA answer or solutions one another. problem of your informative
referencing style, to a problem. research. questions.
not beyond 12
words.
 Research questions can be generally classified
into two: general and specific. The general
question of the study is derived from the research
problem while the specific questions are
anchored on the general research problem.

Formulating For example:

Research This study aims to determine the

Questions relationship between the types learning delivery
mode and students’ learning styles. Furthermore, it
seeks to answer the following research questions: (1)
What are the different learning delivery modes of the
school? (2) What the various learning styles of the
students? (3) Is there a significant relationship
between the different learning delivery modes of the
school and the learning styles of its students?
 In stating quantitative research questions, you should also
consider the design of your quantitative research. Quantitative
research designs will be elaborated in Module 4. For the purpose
of writing your research question, here’s a quick guide of research
questions for descriptive research, correlational research, Ex Post
Facto research, Experimental, and Quasi-experimental research.
 Research Questions for Descriptive Research focuses on observing and reporting
factors or aspects of the research problem. Phrases such as how often/frequently, how
many/much, what is/are, to what extent/degree, and the likes are used in these questions. For
example, you study the use of social media among Senior High School Students, you can ask
the following questions:

What are the various social media platforms used by Senior High Students?

How many hours students spend on social media per week?

1. How much upright mobilization, particularly uptime, is performed in

the first four days following upper abdominal surgery?
2. In what part of the day is the greatest uptime achieved?
3. Is length of stay related to uptime?
4. Is there any difference in uptime in terms of postoperative factors?
 Research Questions for Correlational Research aim to determine the relationships
among two or more variables in your research problem. Correlational research questions
usually begin with the phrases “Is there a significant relationship” or “What is the relationship
between/among”. In the study of use of social media and level of digital literacy of students
following questions can be asked:

What is the relationship between the length of hours spent on social media and level of
digital literacy of students?

Is there a significant relationship between the type of social media used and the level digital
literacy of students?
 Research Questions for Ex Post Facto Research attempt to identify the causes of
the phenomenon in the context of your research problem. It is also assumed that no
control or manipulation of variable has been done in order to cause the effect. It is
understood that the cause of the problem already exists before you conducted your
study. For example, ex post facto study on family background and digital literacy of
students, the following questions can be asked:

Is there a difference in the literacy level of students between their cultural and
educational family background?
 Research Questions for Experimental and Quasi-experimental Research
suggests that answers to these questions are brought about by manipulation or control
of a certain variable during the conduct of the study. These questions provide
explanation to the causal relationship of variables. The following research questions can
be asked on studies on elementary student’s remedial sessions and academic
performance of students:

Is there a significant difference in the post test scores of the control group and
experimental group?

1. What is the relationship between vibration of the chest wall and the resulting chest
wall forces, chest wall circumference, intrapleural pressure, and expiratory flow rate?
2. Is the intrapleural pressure during vibration the sum of the intrapleural pressure due to
recoil of the lung, chest wall compression, and chest wall oscillation?
Scope and
Delimitation
 This sections explains the
nature, coverage, and the
time frame of the study.
Scope
It presents briefly the subject
and area of investigation, the
Delimitati place, the time period.
on
It indicates the extent of
capability of results arising
from the sampling population.
In doing research study, we make sure that we have
certainty and reasons for drawing the inclusion and
exclusion of research variables. We do not write for
the sake of writing the parts of the research paper;
such as setting the scope and delimitation of your
study. It is important because it draws the
boundary of your study. Without doing so, research
procedures and results will not be coherent to the
goal of your study.
Scope:
The scope specifies the coverage of
your study such as variables,
population or participant, and
timeline.
Delimitation cites factors of your
study that are not included or
excluded or those you will not deal in
your study.

In this section of your research paper, you may also state the reasons why
you did not include the variables. A clearly written scope and delimitation of
the study will make it definitely easier to answer questions which are
related or not related to your study.
 Topic of the Study. What are the variables to
Components be included and excluded?

of Scope Objectives or Problems to be Addressed.

Why are you doing this study?
and Time Frame. When are you going to conduct
Delimitation this study?

Locale of the Study. Where are you going to

In writing the scope and
delimitation of your study, you
gather your data?
are also asking the basic profile
questions of your research. The Characteristics of the Respondents. Who will
following are the components of be your respondents?
the scope and delimitation of the
study but not limited to: Method and Research Instruments. How are
going to collect the data?
Example of Scope
and Delimitation
Proceeding of 3rd annual research awards (ARAW 2010) College of Engineering ,Polytechnic University of
the Philippines:

Research Title: Antimicrobial Frequency Hand Cleaner

Proceeding of 3rd annual research awards (ARAW 2010) College of Engineering ,Polytechnic University of the
Philippines:

Research Title: Sleep –Nodding Detection Alarm for Heavy-eyed Drivers for the Prevention of Vehicular Accidents
Proceeding of 3rd annual research awards (ARAW 2010) College of Engineering ,Polytechnic University of the
Philippines:

Research Title: Geomagnetic Pillow

Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: A study on The Potency of Automatic Arduino PH Stabilizer Drip Irrigation System
Proponents:
Agala, Angeles, Cocepcion
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: A study on The Potency of Automatic Arduino PH Stabilizer Drip Irrigation System
Proponents:
Agala, Angeles, Cocepcion
Statement of the
Problem
Download the separate pdf file of Statement of the Problem
Filename: StatementoftheproblemGuide
 Example of
Statement of the
Problem
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: The Effects of Adding Peanut Shells (Arachis Hypogaea L) And Cogon Grass (Imperata Cylindrica) to the Physical
and Mechanical Properties of a Particleboard
Proponents:
Franco , Guese, Javier, Lingat
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: A Quantitative Study on the Efficacy of Eggshells and Corn Husks as Additives for Asphalt
Proponents:
Fajardo, Acervo, Mallari
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: A Quantitative Study on the Efficacy of Eggshells and Corn Husks as Additives for Asphalt
Proponents:
Fajardo, Acervo, Mallari
Information and Communication Technology High School
Research Title: A Quantitative Study on the Efficacy of Eggshells and Corn Husks as Additives for Asphalt
Proponents:
Fajardo, Acervo, Mallari