PRACTICAL RESEARCH - QUARTER 2

Materials and Methods

- This section describes how the results were achieved.
- The purpose of this is to provide specific materials, general procedures,
and methods to critique the scientific value of the paper.
- This serves as a set of instructions for anyone desiring to replicate the study
in the future.
❖ Common Pitfalls When Writing Materials and Methods (Mack, 2018,
p.8)
a. Including results in the Method section.
b. Including extraneous details.
c. Treating the method as a chronological history of what
happened.
❖ Subcomponents of Materials and Methods
1. Research Design
- The framework of research methods and techniques chosen by a
researcher.
- This allows the researchers to appropriately choose their research
methods that are suitable for the topic that they are investigating
and set up their studies for success.
❖ Two (2) Types of Research Design
1. Experimental Research Design
a. True Experimental Design
b. Quasi-Experimental Design
2. Non-Experimental Research Design
a. Descriptive
b. Correlational
c. Causal-Comparative

2. Conceptual Framework
- A graphic representation or non-prose text that provides the scope,
range, or limit of the research.
- It presents the understanding of the researchers about how the
variables in their study become connected to each other.
- it acts as a map that guides the researchers, as well as the reader,
about the direction of investigation.
❖ Sample Conceptual Frameworks
a. IPO Model/Input-Process-Output Model
- This describes the information processes by listing the
independent variable, the analysis of data, and the
dependent variable.
b. IV-DV Model/Independent Variable/Dependent
Variable Model
- This is especially useful for experimental research, and it
presents a “higher order” of variable relationships.
c. PC Model/Predictor-Criterion Model
- This presents the influence or association between
variables.
- This is useful in presenting impacts between variables
under study
❖ Purposes of Conceptual Framework (Baceros, 2018, pp.
66-67)
1. It enables the readers to obtain a general
understanding of the research.
2. It gives people a notion of the research activities you
want to perform, the manner in which you want to
carry these activities out, and the knowledge you have
to prove your familiarity with your research topic.
3. It also serves the purpose of clarifying concepts and
their relationships with one another in a research study.

3. Operational Definition of Terms

- Researchers use some terms that are too technical to define, and
these could be either jargon or cannot be expressed in simple
terms.
 a. Conceptually
- The definitions are browsed in a dictionary.
b. Operational Definition
- These terms can be defined based on how they are used in
the research.

4. Research Instruments
- This acts as a tool for collecting, obtaining, measuring, and
analyzing data that is connected to the topic of interest of the
researchers.
❖ Most Commonly Used Research Instruments/Data Collection
Procedures
I. Interview
- This is a research instrument where the researchers and
participants interact.
- The interview takes place when verbal questions are
asked by an interviewer to elicit verbal responses from
an interviewee.
II. Observation
- This is a research tool where the researchers make
observations and record an individual’s behavior.
III. Survey Questionnaire
- This is a research instrument consisting of a series of
questions for the purpose of gathering information from
participants.
- It is a set of standardized questions for gathering
information from a group of individuals.
a. Open Question
- These are questions that require the participant
to answer in their own words.
b. Closed Question
- The respondents will choose their answers to the
given choices/alternatives.
 ● Reliability Index
- It needs to be determined in order to say that the
survey questionnaire you will create or adopt will
possess an adequate reliability rate.

IV. Experiment
- A scientific method of data gathering.
- This follows a strict protocol or procedure to eliminate
possible errors.

5. Participants
- The researchers should explain who their participants are.
- This should explain the criteria for selecting them, which may
include their age, place, gender, and how you recruited them.
- This part should also narrate the sampling technique and sample
size you employed in selecting your participants
a. Population
- The entire group that you want to draw conclusions about.
b. Sample
- The specific group that you will collect data from.
❖ Purpose of Sample in Research (Leyman, 1983; Lohr, 1999)
- Utilizing samples in research is essential because it will not be
practical if the researchers use the whole population as
participants because of:
a. Its large/complicated characteristics.
b. Time Factor
c. inaccessibility of some populations, which is also
associated with time, cost, and accessibility.
d. Accuracy

6. Data Gathering Process

- A detailed presentation of the various phases of the data
gathering, from start to finish.
 - It provides a description of what exactly transpired in each phrase.
- It entails how are you going to collect needed data for your study
using the research method you will employ.

7. Data Analysis
- This section states clearly the statistical tools used to address the
problems that require quantitative techniques.
- It is also important to define the statistical tool(s) that you will use in
your study.
- It is essential that you also discuss how you will use the specific
statistical tool/treatment in your study.

8. Ethical Considerations
- You should discuss here that consent is given before the conduct of
an interview or of facilitating the survey questionnaires or
experiments.
- You should state the measures you conducted to maintain the
confidentiality of the participants.

SAMPLING PROCEDURE
Sampling
- It is a process of getting information from a proper subset of the
population.
- This also means selecting respondents or subjects from a large population
to answer your research questions. (Babbi, 2012)
❖ Essence of Using Sampling
a. Get information about a large population.
b. Less cost
c. Less field time
d. More accuracy
e. When it’s impossible to study the whole population
❖ When to use the Entire Population
a. When your population is very small.
 b. When you have extensive resources.
c. When you don’t expect a very high response.

❖ Significant Terminologies
1. Population
- An aggregate or a set of all units/cases (people, things, events,
etc.) being studied have at least one common characteristic.
- It is a large group of people from whom you choose the sample.
2. Sample
- A smaller (but hopefully representative) collection of units from a
population that is used to determine truths about that population
(Field, 2005)
- It is a chosen set of people to represent the entire population.
- It may be a randomly selected subgroup of people or objects from
the overall membership pool of a defined target population.
3. Sample Unit
- A term referring to every individual in the population.
4. Sample Size
- The number of respondents/subjects that you are going to use in
the study.
- It could be gotten with Slovin’s Formula.

❖ Factors Affecting the Sample Selection

1. Sample Size
- How big should the sample be?
- It is based on other’s previous studies on how they got their sample.
- Ensure the representativeness or accuracy of the sample size.
2. Sampling Technique
- Bias is one of the causes of sampling errors
● Two (2) Types of Sampling Technique
a. Probability
b. Non-Probability
 3. Heterogeneity of Population
- A heterogeneous population is composed of individuals with varied
abilities.
4. Statistical Techniques
- The accuracy of the sample depends on how precise or accurate
your methods are in calculating the numbers used in measuring the
chosen samples or giving a certain value to each of them.
5. Time and Cost
- Consider the amount of money you will need for the materials you
will use to get your sample.
- Time and effort should be considered in choosing your sample.

Sampling Method for Quantitative Research

● Probability Sampling
- Each member of the defined population has an equal chance of being
selected.
- It also enables investigators to specify the size of the sample that they will
need if they want to obtain a degree of certainty that the sample size will
represent the whole population.
❖ Types of Probability Sampling
1. Simple Random Sampling (SRS)
- It is the most basic and commonly used sampling technique.
- It can be done through the lottery or fishbowl method and with the
use of a table of random numbers.
● Procedure
a. Compute the sample size.
b. Determine where you will get your sample.
c. Determine the technique for selecting your respondents.
d. Make a listing or assign numbers to each of the total
population.
e. Put them in a container or box, then draw the sample.
 f. After drawing the sample, refer to your listing and determine
the actual names of the respondents.

2. Systematic Random Sampling

- It consists of the selection of each “nth” term from a list.
- You need to obtain the sample size using Slovin’s Formula.
- The sample size is the basis for the computation of the starting
number.

3. Stratified Random Sampling

- This is done by making subdivisions of the total population into
smaller groups to represent the sample of the study.
- It is sometimes called “proportional” random sampling.
- This type of sampling assures adequate cases for sub-group analysis.
● Stratum
- A subset of the population that shares at least one common
characteristic, such as males and females.

4. Cluster Sampling
- It is selecting respondents in clusters rather than as separate
individuals, such as by choosing 5 classes of 40 each from a whole
population of 5,000 students.
- This refers to a population divided into clusters of homogeneous
units, usually based on geographical contiguity.
● Cluster
- A group of sampling units that are close to each other.

DATA COLLECTION
❖ Data Collection Process
1. Observation
- The use of sense organs in data collection.
2. Survey
- A data gathering technique that makes use of instruments like interviews
and questionnaires.
a. Questionnaire
- A series of written questions answered by several respondents.
- Choices are often available for each question.
b. Interview
- The researchers ask a set of questions.

❖ Types of Survey Questions

a. Multiple Choice
- It is often used to gather demographic information or find out
about various issues.
b. Ordinal Scale
- This question type asks respondents to rank a range of items
or choose from an ordered set.
c. Interval Scale
- This is the most used question type.
- It is important that the space between each option, whether
it’s a number range or a feeling range, is equal.
d. Ratio Scale
- This question type asks respondents to answer in a
measurable way.
- It is often questions about income, age, or hours spent.

3. Experiment
- They follow a strict protocol or procedure to eliminate possible errors.

4. Content Analysis
- It is used for analyzing printed material, nonbook material like video files,
paintings, photographs, and more
Validity and Reliability of Data Collection Instrument
● Validity
- It describes how accurate or fit the data is in the actual research.
- The research instrument should “measure what it should measure.”
● Reliability
- It explains how an instrument constantly shows similar results (Taherdoost,
2018).