PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 MID-TERM EXAMINATION CONCEPTS TO REVIEW

RESEARCH - It is a systematic inquiry that is designed to collect, analyze, and interpret data to understand, describe, or predict
phenomenon (Mertens, 2015). It is a process of executing various mental acts for discovering and examining facts and information to
prove the accuracy of truthfulness of your claims or conclusions about the topic of your research.

IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

 Research creates new knowledge and understanding which aims to improve the quality of life.
 Research builds the foundation of sound program development and innovation.
 Research offers solutions to problems.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

1. Accuracy – The research must give correct and 4.
accurate data. The notes, footnotes, bibliographical
entries should honestly and appropriately be
documented or acknowledged. 5.
2. Objectiveness – The research must deal with facts
instead of mere opinions arising from assumptions,
generalization, predictions or conclusions. 6.
3. Timeliness – The research must work on a topic that is
fresh, new and interesting in the present society.
Relevance – Its topic must be instrumental in
improving society or in solving problems affecting the
lives of people in a community.
Clarity – Research must succeed in expressing its
central point of discoveries by using simple, direct,
concise and correct language.
Systematic - It must take place in an organized or
orderly manner.

QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
The researcher relies on the views of participants; asks It Is a type if educational research which the researcher
broad questions, general questions; collects data decides what to study, asks specific, narrow
consisting largely of words (text) from participants; questions, collects quantifiable data from participants;
describes and analyzes these words for themes; and analyzes these numbers using statistics; and conducts
conducts the inquiry in a subjective, biased manner the inquiry in an unbiased, objective manner
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH WEAKNESSES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. Problems are thoroughly examined 1. Quality is dependent to the researcher’s skills and is influenced
2. Provides full and holistic understanding of human experiences by his personal biases and idiosyncrasies
in specific contexts 2. Consistency and precision are difficult to establish
3. Allows understanding of people’s individuality 3. Takes a considerable amount of time
4. Adapts a flexible structure 4. Not well understood and accepted by scientific community
5. Data is dynamic and powerful 5. Researcher’s presence can affect subject’s responses
6. The intricacies of a research subject or topic are discovered 6. Issues on anonymity and confidentiality may become a problem
7. Usually collected from a few cases or individuals 7. Formulating the findings can be challenging and time
consuming
8. Small sample size raises an issue on generalizability
9. Validity and reliability of data is difficult to establish

IMPORTANCE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ACROSS FIELDS

 BUSINESS – Research explores industry problems in unstructured manner as it reveals trends in thoughts, opinions and dig deeper into the
problem.
 HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES – Research explores the complexities of social interactions, systems and processes.
 MEDICAL AND ALLIED HEALTH – It creates better understanding of patient’s experiences, challenges and struggles.
 NATURAL SCIENCES – It provides non-numerical data which are first gathered in scientific investigation through observation.
 ARTS AND DESIGN - The feelings and emotions of artists and artisans provide a better understanding of the impact if arts in culture and society.
 TECHNOLOGY AND LIVELIHOOD FIELD – Qualitative Research discovers best practices in the workplace, work ethics, and strategies which
increase production.

STEPS IN RESEARCH DESIGN

STEP 1: Choose a topic
Family Issues Political Issues Environmental Education
Research Topics Topics Research Papers
1. Child Abuse 1. Election 1. Recycling 1. Distance
2. Teenage Marriage 2. International 2. Population Learning
3. Early Pregnancy Relations control Education
3. Wildlife 2. K-12 Curriculum
conservation 3. Learning Styles
4. Deforestation
STEP 2: Include the goals/objectives of the study – The objective should be very clear and
it should lead to the clarity of the
design and proper response from the respondents.
STEP 3: Describe a specific setting/location – Briefly describe the place where the study is going to be conducted.
STEP 4: Consider the data sources – Clearly state the various sources of data or information. Primary data sources include
information collected and processed directly by the researcher such as interviews, surveys, and observations. Secondary data
sources include information retrieved through preexisting sources such as research articles and internet or library searches.
 STEP 5: Use techniques of data collection – It is necessary to use some special techniques in the collection of information
such as interviews, questionnaires and surveys, observations, documents and records, etc.

GUIDELINES IN THE FORMULATION OF THE TITLE

1. The title must contain the following elements:
a. The subject matter or research problem
b. The setting or locale of the study
c. The respondents or persons involved in the study; and
d. The time or period when the study was conducted.
2. Titles are usually in the form of a phrase but can also be in the form of a question
3. Rarely use abbreviations or acronyms unless they are commonly known
4. Identify key variables, both dependent and independent
5. The title must be broad enough to include all aspects of the study but should be brief and concise as possible
6. The use of terms such as “Analysis of,” “A study of”, “An Investigation of” and the like should be avoided
7. If the title contains more than one line, it should be written in an inverted pyramid
8. When typed or encoded in the title page, all words in the title should be in capital letters
9. Use correct grammar and capitalization with all first words and last words capitalized, including the first words of a subtitle. All
nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that appear
10. If possible, the title should not be longer than fifteen (15) substantive words
11. Avoid a long and detailed title that gives too much information
12. To shorten the title, delete the terms assessment or evaluation if these have already been emphasized in the text

JUSTIFICATIONS OR REASONS FOR CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH

1. As a tool to build knowledge and to broaden learning (Ex: A research on how sleep affects the human brain)
2. As a means to solve problems (Ex: A research on the prejudice of same-sex relationship in the country)
3. As a tool to explore social issues (Ex: A research on how the SARS CoVid_19 pandemic affected the present-day social strata
4. To help us understand ourselves (Ex: A research on adolescent depression)
5. To promote opportunities (Ex: A research on the preferred occupation of senior high school students)

A problem statement or statement of the problem is an organized part of a research which enables the researchers to
systematically answer the research questions, address the topic, thus completing the study in a systematic manner.
Key Characteristics of a Statement of the Problem
A good research problem should have the following characteristics:
A. It should address a gap in the knowledge
B. It should be significant enough to contribute to the existing body of research
C. It should lead to further research
D. The problem should render itself to investigation through the collection of data
E. It should be of interest to the researcher and suit his/her skills, time and resources
F. The approach towards solving the problem should be ethical

Research question – It states the aim of your research and pinpoints exactly what you want to find out; a question related to your
chosen topic that needs to be answered where the research revolves. It is included at the end of the introduction section after setting the
background and giving a review of the existing literature. It serves as a guide on what resources to find (e.g. statistics, interviews, articles,
etc.) and what information to collect.

Guidelines in Formulating Research Questions (Babbie, 2014)

1. Establish a clear relation between the research questions and the problem or topic.
2. Base your research questions on your Review of Related Literature
3. Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise your findings
4. State your research questions in a way that they include all dependent and independent variables referred to by the theories,
principles and concepts, underlying your research work.
5. Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceded by one question expressing the main problem of the research.
6. Avoid asking research questions that are answerable by yes or no.
7. Be guided by the acronym SMART (Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound) in formulating the research
questions)

 SCOPE – It is a section of a research paper that explores what information or subject is being analyzed
 DELIMITATION OF A STUDY – It is the explanation of the scope of the study. This section allows the writer to explain why
certain aspects of a subject were chosen and why others were excluded. It is also common for a writer to explain the chosen
research method in this section and explain why certain theories were applied to the data. This explains how the study will be
narrowed in scope or how it is bounded. This is the place to explain the things that you are not doing and why you have chosen
not to do them – the literature you will not review (and why not), the population you are not studying (and why not), the
methodological procedures you will not use (and why you will not use them). Limit your delimitations to the things that a reader
might reasonably expect you to do but that you, for clearly explained reasons, have decided not to do (Siddiqui, 2010).
 The presentation of the beneficiaries contains the accounts or descriptions of how the beneficiaries benefit from
the study. In some formats, this section is called the, “Significance of the Study”.
TIPS IN WRITING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1. Refer to the statement of the problems.
2. Write from general to specific.

REVIEWING LITERATURE – This is the examination of documents developed by modern scholars

In most cases, some researchers have already documented and observed the same phenomenon you are investigating but in a
different setting.
The basic components of a literature review include:
 a description of the publication;
 a summary of the publication’s main points;
 a discussion of gaps in research;
 an evaluation of the publication’s contribution to the topic.
LITERATURE – This refers to any written document which is related to the topic being investigated. This may be in the form of books,
magazine articles, pamphlets, public records, or even online articles.
STUDIES – These are specific examples of literature that are produced scholarly comprises of published researches found in journals,
unpublished research found in university libraries, case studies, position papers, and other articles that are products of scholarly
research.

Importance of Literature Review

 To indicate the research that has been conducted on the topic, to ensure that the researcher is not ‘reinventing the wheel’;
 To demonstrate that you are aware of important and recent studies on the topic you have chosen. This prevents you from being
discouraged when you suddenly find that there is a similar study already being conducted on the topic;
 To ensure that you have not missed literature detailing and efficient was for you to conduct your study, or pointing you to a
data collection tool that is most appropriate for your study;
 To explain the theoretical background of your proposed project; and
 To demonstrate your ability to critically analyze the literature in your study.
CITING LITERATURE USING STANDARD STYLES
REFERENCING STYLES
 APA (American Psychological Association) – It is an author/date-based style which emphasizes on the author and the date to
uniquely identify a piece.
 MLA (Modern Language Association) – It is often applied in the arts, humanities, particularly in the USA.
 Harvard – It is similar to the APA referencing style. It is the most well-used referencing style in the UK and Australia.
 Chicago and Turabian – These two separate styles which are very similar and are widely used for economics and history

Ways of Citing Related Literature

By author or writer
Example: According to Felipe (2015)…
By topic
Example: It has been found out that… (Felipe, 2015)
By chronology – It may be written according to the year, the literatures were written, usually from the earliest to the latest.

TEN RULES IN WRITING A LITERATURE REVIEW

(Pautasso, 2013)
1. Define a topic and audience. – It must be well-defined and interesting to you and your audience.
2. Search and research literature. – Read other literature reviews to gain information from.
3. Take notes while reading. – Read articles first to make sense of what the literature says.
4. Choose the type of review you wish to write. – This will help structure your sentences and ideas coherently.
5. Keep the review focused, but make it of broad interest. – You can also discuss similar or related issues through your
research.
6. Be critical and consistent. – Do not simply summarize the literature, understand it.
7. Find a logical structure. – It must follow a chronological and logical progression.
8. Make use of feedback. – Have a fellow student read your literature review to point out if it makes sense and where it has
become confusing and thus needs improvement.
9. Include your own relevant research, but be careful. – You may cite your own work previously made.
10. Be up-to-date but don’t forget older studies. – This will help see how the understanding of the time changed over time.

PLAGIARISM – It is an act of copying someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. It is dishonest as it steals from the original
author of the material. It is disappointing and can become a crime if it constitutes copyright infringement. It severely impacts the
credibility of the researcher and the findings of the study. If the work is copyrighted, the author may sue for legal damages.
Forms of Plagiarism (Streefkerk, 2018)
1. Global plagiarism – It is the copying the entire body of work written by someone else and presenting it as your own.
2. Paraphrasing plagiarism – It is done when rephrasing someone else’s work without including proper citation for the author.
3. Verbatim plagiarism – It is the copying somebody else’s work word-for-word without including proper citation.
4. Mosaic plagiarism (or patchwork plagiarism) – It is the combining various texts into a single work without proper citation of
their respective authors.
5. Self-plagiarism – It is the republishing your previously published work like new and original ideas
6. Incorrect citation – It is done when incorrect information about your source of information (such as the infamous ‘CTTO’ or
failing to cite the creator of a picture, table or graph) is provided.