University of La Salette Inc.

GRADUATE SCHOOL
Santiago City, Philippines

RESEARCH CONCEPT PAPER

Specific Area/Discipline: Instructional Supervision

Title of the Study: SCHOOL CULTURE AND ABSENTEEISM: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY AMONG
PUBLIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OF DIFFUN, QUIRINO

Name of Researcher:
Program of Study (e.g. MAED-EM):
Email:
Contact Number(s):

Part I: Introduction
Step 1. Briefly introduce the reviewers about the scope of the study.
Research Problem
This study focuses on absenteeism and school culture. Specifically, it will
investigate the relationship between the two constructs.

Step 2. Discuss the current state of research about the topic.

The study on school culture has received significant attention among scholars.
School culture has been examined in relation to school effectiveness
(Hargreaves, 1995; Leen and Louis, 2019), student achievement (MacNeil, A.
J., Prater D. L., & Busch, S. 2009), school performance ( Maslowski, 2003;
Heck & Marcoulides, 1996), teacher burnout (Friedman, 1995), school
inclusion (Zollers & Ramanathan, 1999; Corbett, 1999), school change ( Hinde,
2004), leadership practices ( Turan & Bektas , 2013; Sahin 2011).

School culture has also been studied in relation to gender and power relations
(Mirembe & Davies, 2001; Liu, 2006), teachers empathy ( Barr, J. J. 2011),
well-being (Wilkinson, & Pearson 2009; Aelterman, Engels, Van Petegem, &
Pierre Verhaegne, 2007), smoking (Aveyard, Marham, Lancashire, Bullock,
Macarthur, Cheng, & Daniels, 2004), and youth substance use (Bisset,
Markham & Aveyard, P. 2007).

Step 3. Indicate the research problem (research gap)

So far, very few studies have explored the relationship between school culture
and absenteeism (Yang, 2018; Favore & Pastell, 2017). This study aims to
address this gap hoping that it would provide additional valuable theoretical
knowledge on the subject.

In addition, one of the major disciplinary problems among junior high schools
students in Diffun, Quirino province is absenteeism. Based on school records,
only 40% of the students regularly attend their classes. This study will also
provide important insights about the connection between school culture and
absenteeism in the research context. Hence, the need to conduct this study.
 Purpose Statement The purpose of this correlational study (research design) is to examine the
relationship between school culture (construct 1) and absenteeism (construct 2)
among junior high school students (study participants) in Diffun, Quirino
province (research setting).

Research Questions The following questions guided this study:

Main question How is school culture related to absenteeism in small, medium and
large secondary schools? – relationship RQ
Sub-questions What is the school culture of the public secondary schools in the
Diffun, Quirino province? -descriptive RQ

What proportion of student population has incurred more than 10

absences since June 2019? – descriptive RQ

What is the difference in school culture of small, medium and

large secondary schools? – comparative RQ

Research Hypothesis H0: School culture is not related to junior high school students’ absenteeism.

Ha: School culture is related to junior high school students’ absenteeism. (non-
directional hypothesis)

Ha: School culture is negatively related to junior high school students’

absenteeism. (directional hypothesis)

Ha: School culture is positively related to junior high school students’

absenteeism. (directional hypothesis)

Theoretical and/or Discuss the theory that applies to your study (e.g., theories on school culture,
Conceptual Framework theories on behavior related to absenteeism)

Provide conceptual and operation definitions of terms.

Indicate the conceptual framework in a figure.

School culture Students’ absenteeism

Significance of the Indicate the theoretical contributions of your study to your discipline (e.g.,
study study would fill in the research gap)

Indicate the practical contributions of your study to your discipline (e.g.,

policy making, decision making, interventions, practices)
Part II. METHOD
The study will utilize a cross-sectional correlational design because it involves
Research Design the examination of the relationship between two variables. Correlational
research is a type of non-experimental research method in which a researcher
measures two variables, understand and assess the statistical relationship
between them with no influence from any extraneous variables (Adi 2019).
Naturalistic observation is a way of data collection in which people’s behavior is
observe in their natural environment in which they typically exist. Correlational
research can be used to determine prevalence and relationship among variables,
forecast events from current data and knowledge (Curtis et.al. 2019)

Describe the Study Site The study will be conducted at the selected school of Diffun1 District. The
and Participants participants of the study are the 50 Junior High school Students, 2 school heads,
class advisers and 10 parents.

Describe the The study will be conducted at the selected school of Diffun 1 District. The
population size, sample participants of the study are the 50 Junior High school students, 2 school heads,
size and the method class advisers and 10 parents. The researcher will use purposive sampling
used in determining method in selecting respondents because the school heads are the one to monitor
the sample attendance progress, the class advisers are the one to observe the class
attendance in their respected schools and the parents are the guardians of the
learners

Describe the Data The primary instrument to be used in the study to gather the needed data is
Collection through a survey questionnaire while the status of the learners in their absences
Instruments/Materials and school culture is through documentary analysis from school form 2 and E-
class Record (Attendance sheet).
Data Collection
Procedure
Describe the Data The data will be analyzed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences
Analysis Procedure (SPSS). Frequency and percentage distribution will be used in establishing the
profile of the respondents. Mean and standard deviation will be used in assessing
the effectiveness of non-zero drop out rate as well as the class attitude of the
learners. Mean will be used to assess the status of students in terms of their class
performance while Pearson R will be utilized to determine the significant
relationship between absenteeism and school culture.

Describe the The researcher will protect the participant’s right to self-determination,
anticipated ethical anonymity and confidentiality. For this reason, the participants will be given full
issues in the study information on the nature of the study through a written informed consent which
will be distributed with the questionnaire. The data will be kept confidentiality
and the participants will be assured of their right to withdraw at any time. The
names of the participants will not be recorded and so all with the data will be
rendered.
 Describe the pilot test The researcher questionnaire will be subjected to content validation by the
you will perform before research adviser and practitioners in the field. The questionnaire will be run
conducting this study through a few individuals who are not participants of the study to ensure its
to your intended validity and reliability.
participants