Jessa Mae A.

Albaracin
EDUC 500 (Advanced Educational Research)

Article Commentary “Doing Research for Development”

By Prof. Flor Lacanilao

There are many things that comes into our mind when we hear the word “research” or
“research and development”. You may want to know the relevance of having research in our
field, and to what are the things that needs to be considered in research. For progress to be
meaningful, research is essential. Without investigation, developmental initiatives would be
pointless. The first part of the article highlights the essential of having a research and
development in our country, Philippines, and claims that it will greatly aid in changing its
research environment. The introductory section of the article gave us an overview of how
research should be carried out, as there are cases of erroneous research practices here in the
Philippines. We can say that the Philippines has lagged behind neighboring nations in national
progress due to their inferior research performance and advancement.

The first thing we must think about when conducting research is how to do it correctly.
Many resources are available to aid in correctly developing research. Even better, read sample
research articles or conduct an internet search for it. If you give it some thought, conducting
effective research necessitates taking these fundamental stages into account. In research, you
need to identify and develop your topic, do a preliminary search for information, evaluate and
cite sources properly, and proofread. In proofreading, this is where the peer review appears. Prof.
Flor Lacanilao stated here in the article that reviewing, specifically peer review, process back
and guard the integrity of the published paper. The output that undergoes proofread is called a
scientific paper or valid publication. The other one that does not undergo adequate peer review is
what we called gray literature.

Prof. Flor Lacanilao stated here a quotation from a noted physicist, “Just printing results
does not validate them.” This quotation indicates that by only making and giving your research
alone is not that sufficient since it is stated that proofreading is one of the things to consider in
doing research. According to the article, a project report or graduate thesis is a common way for
studies to end in the Philippines and is frequently regarded as proof that graduate training or
research has been completed. In most circumstances, if these papers are published, they will be
considered "gray literature."

There are symptoms and major causes of wrong research practice that is seen and
observed in the research made here in the Philippines. The majority of Philippine research
publications are blatant examples of incorrect research publications and research practices, and
they are not taken into account in worldwide rankings of research performance; nor do they help
in nation’s progress. Examples of books in the Philippines were given here in the article to
exemplify how these books is overdue for revision. For instance, only 7 percent of the 1,032
references in "Biography of Philippine Marine Invertebrates" from 1994 are from legitimate
publications. Only 8% of the 780 references cited in "Bibliography of Philippine Seaweed" from
1990 are legitimate publications. Only 19% of the 298 pieces of cited material in "Biology of
Milkfish" from 1991 are legitimate publications. We can really say that these books should be
revised in this situation.

ISI-indexed was frequently noted in this section of the article. ISI or International
Scientific Indexing is used in ranking research from nations and universities all over the world. If
your research is included in the ISI, you may assert that it has a high citation index and that the
vast majority of its references are legitimate publications. It has been taught that a publication's
credibility or integrity depends on the caliber of the bibliography that is included with it.

Since writers receive praise and promotion for producing research that is not subjected to
peer review, incorrect research practices are often observed in the Philippines. The fact that these
authors write science columns for newspapers and occasionally receive speaking invitations for
formal events like commencement ceremonies is a major drawback. If we make changes, such as
requiring authentic publications, we can be sure that graduate students will receive the training
they need to run future academic and scientific institutions.

We must be impartial while evaluating someone else's effort, such as their research. It
implies that facts should be the foundation of everything we do. It is stated here that using
subjective judgment during study is not advised. This explains why higher education in the
Philippines is in such poor shape. Keep in mind that when conducting research, peer review and
objective judgment should always be taken into account.

Development of Philippine research on year 1980-2006 has been stated in the article. A
graph illustrating how Thailand and Malaysia outperformed the Philippines in research in the
year 1980 was given by Katherine Bagarinao, one of those who analyzed the publication
performance of five ASEAN countries. Fortunately, Philippines was still in front of Indonesia
and Malaysia at that point. However, Vietnam and Indonesia surpassed it in terms of publications
in the middle of the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. This implies that Philippine research has a
slowest growth rate when it comes to research.

This, in my opinion, is the main justification for why most prominent universities in our
nation allow students to pursue studies overseas while still receiving privileges like university
scholarships. Students can learn more in this situation, which they will then impart at their
university when they return to the Philippines. However, we can still see that the Philippines
continues to have the lowest levels of scientific production and growth in the field of creating
research.

We can state that it is discouraging to learn that the Philippines is still at its lowest point
in terms of research and scientific articles. Despite the efforts of numerous colleges in our
country, it appears that other countries are consistently surpassing the Philippines. We might
then be able to gradually catch up to the advancement of research around the world if only our
nation's specialists and professionals in that field took into account the genuine quality of
research, which includes having valid publications and peer review. Let us keep in mind that
there are two straightforward strategies to improve research. First, by delegating the task of
performance assessment to scientists. Second, by utilizing well-known and impartial measures
like journal citations and publication counts.