Practical Research 1
Lesson 1:
Nature of Inquiry and Research
Terminology for Today
 Valid
well-grounded or justifiable
based on sound reasoning or information.
 Reliable
giving the same result on successive trials
worthy of one’s trust.
Nature of Inquiry and Research
 The development of the society from
its simple to complex state will reveal
the varied problems faced by human
kind.
 To acquire knowledge and to
continuously evaluate its accuracy
and usefulness requires a well-
planned and systematic procedure on
which research has been devised to
meet this need.
Nature of Inquiry
 Seek for truth, information or
knowledge
 Problem solving technique
 Active learning process
When process of inquiry begin?
 With gathering information and data
through applying the various human
senses.
 In analyzing, varied thinking
strategies are used. (lower-order to
higher-order thinking skills)
 These are top-level thinking strategies
that are ought to perform in
discovering and understanding the
object of inquiry.
Benefits of Inquiry
1. Widens learners’ vocabulary.
2. Increases social awareness and cultural
knowledge.
3. Encourages higher-order thinking
strategies.
4. Facilitates problem-solving acts.
Nature of Research
 Process of gathering data or
information to solve a specific
problem
 A purposive, systematic and scientific
process.
Lesson 1
Importance of Research
1. A tool for building knowledge and
efficient learning.
2. Means to understand various issues.
3. An aid to business success.
4. A way to prove lies and support truths.
5. A seed to sharing valuable information
6. Nourish and exercise for mind
Importance of Research to Man
1. Research has improved the quality of
life.
2. It improves education.
3. Has satisfied man’s needs and quest for
knowledge.
4. It reduced the burden of work.
Salient Characteristics of Research
1. Empirical
 It is something based on first-hand
information, on experience, facts, and
unquestionable evidence.
 It is never based on opinions and it
becomes a source of knowledge that
people can refer to.
2. Logical
 It follows a process, there are specific
stages that a researcher must follow
so that the research will become valid
producing reliable results.
3. Cyclical
 It starts with a problem and ends with
another problem
4. Analytical/Mathematical
 A researcher has to analyze data to
come up with the meaning of the
collected information. With numerical
data as primary information and
statistical analysis it makes it highly
mathematical.
5. Reliable/Dependable
 Being based on own experience and
incontestable information, produce
valid and reliable results.
Ethics of Research
How can a research project be ethical?
Practical Research 1 Lesson 1

Function of Ethics Introduction and Introduction

Procedures Method and
 Norms promote the aims of research Findings and Procedures Results
such as knowledge, truth and Discussions and Discussions.
evidence.
 Ethical standards promote the values
that are essential to collaborative
work such as trust, accountability, Example
mutual respect and fairness.
Situation:
Ethical Principles  There is a French Café located in a
very high and busy city.
1. Informed Consent  The Café is specialized in high
2. Assent (Minor as Respondents) quality cakes.
3. Protection from Mental and Physical
Harm Example
4. Confidentiality, Anonymity, and the
Concept of Privacy Problem: Decreasing Sales
5. Referencing
The owner would like to find out what is
consumers want.
Other Ethical Principles
Question:
 Honesty
 Objectivity How could the café find out what the
 Integrity costumers want?
 Carefulness
 Respect for Intellectual Property Qualitative Quantitative
 Confidentiality Research Research
 Non- Discrimination Focus Group Questionnaire
 Legality Interviews Set of answer
 Social Responsibility option to choose
between
1 on 1 In-depth Experiment
Qualitative and Quantitative Research Interview How many new
cakes sold?
Qualitative Quantitative
Research Research Observe Costumer Observation
Main data: Main data: Behavior How many
Descriptions Numbers enter/walk past in
the store
Research tools: Research tools: The answers in questions will help the
observation, test, checklist owner to find out the costumers want.
interview, group questionnaire,
discussions, survey
documentary
analysis
Population: Based Population: Uses
on the design, no sampling
required number technique, the
more respondents
the better
Uses the actual Uses the
responses of the quantitative
subjects in the representation of
interpretation, the subjects in the
taken individually interpretation, take Characteristics Qualitative and
as one Quantitative Research
Treatment of Treatment of
data: thematic data: statistical Qualitative Quantitative
Uses IMFAD Uses IMRAD Research Research
format format  Open-ended  Close-ended
Practical Research 1 Lesson 1

Questions Questions
 Cannot be  Can be
quantified(cou quantified(cou
nted) nted)
 Uncovers  Predefined
motivations, answer
feelings and options
preferences  Can be
representative
and objective
 Uncovers in-  Relatively
depth costly
information
 Relatively
low-cost
 Not  Can’t uncover
representative in-depth/detail
interpretation, ed response.
subjective