Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter presents the research design, research environment,

research instruments and statistical methods used, and the data gathering

procedure of the study.

Research Design

This study is a descriptive-correlational research design, since the

researchers only intends to describe the relationships and the interaction

among the variables presented and will not state any causal relationships

between the variables. Furthermore, this study will only describe the

information gathered by the procedures that are outlined and are often

combined in various ways so that predictions will be possible.

Research Environment

This study will be conducted at Maranding, Lala, Lanao del Norte.

Maranding is one of the barangays in the municipality of Lala in the province

of Lanao del Norte. The humble area of Maranding is an A-class barangay

located along the Panguil Bay situated at approximately 7.9234, 123.7782, in

the island of Mindanao. Elevation at these coordinates is estimated at 18.7

meters or 61.4 feet above mean sea level.

PHILIPPINE MAP

MINDANAO MAP

Figure B. Locale of the Study

Subjects

The respondents of this study will be the establishment owners of

Maranding, Lala, Lanao del Norte. The researchers will choose 10 business

sectors such as restaurants/food chains/carenderias, private schools, private

hospitals, dormitories or boarding houses, and private business

establishments located in Maranding. The researchers will ask the local

business establishment owners or representatives about their awareness,

attitude, and practices regarding solid waste management, through survey

questionnaires intended to measure the respondents’ level of environmental

concern and participation on solid waste management program.

Research Instruments and their Validity

In this study, three questionnaires will be used to gather the needed

data. The questionnaires used in this study are research-made questionnaires.

The researchers used existing scales based on the variables of the study and

to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaires used in the study.

1. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire is made by the researchers to assess the solid waste

management in Maranding. This likert-scale questionnaire is consist of three

subvariables; proper waste management, garbage collection, and waste

recycling.

2. ATTITUDE TOWARDS RECYCLING SCALE

The Attitude Towards Recycling Scale is a 20-item Likert type scale. The

scales reliability and validity yielded a corrected (Spearman-Brown) split-half

correlation coefficient of .93. This indicated that the ATR Scale had a
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satisfactory internal homogeneity and moderate construct validity coefficients,

findings that support the use of this scale in environmental research aimed at

understanding attitudes toward recycling. The ATR Scale was significantly

correlated with scales measuring other environmental issues, supporting the

notion of a coherent basis for environmental attitudes.(Larsen, 2014)

3. NEW ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM (NEP)

New Ecological Paradigm sometimes referred to as the revised NEP, is

a 15-item survey-based metric devised by the US environmental sociologist

Riley Dunlap and colleagues. It is designed to measure the environmental

concern of groups of people using a survey instrument constructed of fifteen

statements. Agreement of the eight odd-numbered items, are meant to reflect

endorsement of the new paradigm or the respondents view of the world, while

agreement with the other seven even-numbered items represents

endorsement of the dominant social paradigm (DSP).

Data Gathering Procedures

Prior to the data gathering procedure, the researchers will send letters

to the private sectors or the establishment’s owner to ask permission and invite

them to participate in the study. The researchers will ensure the anonymity of

the owners and the local residents’ identity. The researcher will make sure that

the participation of the respondents in the study is voluntary.

2. Provide valid
1. Decide the questionnaires
START
study’s target that will aide in
subject. the conduction
of the study.

4. Study and
prepare the 3. Prepare
scoring plan letters for
for the approval.
questionnaires.

6. Administer
the translated
5. Validate the
questionnaires
questionnaires.
to the
respondents.

8. Analyze,
evaluate, and 7. Retrieve the
interpret the output.
results.

9. Present
study results to
Local
END
Government
Unit for
appropriate
action.

Figure C. Flowchart in the conduct of study and gathering of data

Statistical Treatment

To have accurate interpretation of the gathered data, the following

statistical tools are to be utilized:

1. Frequencies and/or Percentages

Frequencies and Percentage is used to determine the distribution of

responses of the respondents on the demographic profile of the respondents

according to the respondent’s type of business and number of years in

business, as well as answers from survey questionnaires.

2. Weighted Mean ( )

The sample from a group of observation is an estimate of the population

mean µ. Given a sample size of n, where we consider n, as independent

random variable X₁X₂….Xn, each corresponding to one randomly selected

observation. Each of these variables has the distribution of the population, with

mean µ and deviation σ. The sample is defined below.

This statistical method is used to get the average score or response in

the test for the following variables in the study and its domain. Given with the

questionnaire to be answered by the respondents, using the researchers’ Solid

Waste Management Questionnaire, ATR Scale and NEP, raw score shall be

obtained to get the average response of the respondents in the test.

3. Spearman’s Correlation

The Spearman’s correlation coefficient is defined as the Pearson

correlation coefficient between the ranked variables. For a sample size of n,

the n raw scores Xi,Yi, are converted to ranks xi,yi, and ρ is computed from the

formula below:
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Spearman’s correlation is used to see the significant relationship

between the variables awareness on waste management, attitude towards

recycling, existing practices and solid waste management.