THE NATURE OF INQUIRY AND RESEARCH

PREPARED BY:
MR. NOMER LAURESTO DUMLAO, LPT, MAED

What is Research? (Definition)

1. the word research can be split into two words: re, a prefix which means “again”, and
search, which means to look for something.
2. research means to look for something again.
3. to look or to search for new ideas
4. improve certain processes
5. create something useful out
6. explaining a series of observation
7. systematic and organized process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing and
interpreting data to find the answer or queries.

Nature of Research
1. Research is an organized way of finding new ideas from existing knowledge with the
help of useful tools that will lead us to discover new and useful concepts in order to
improve the quality of life.

The Importance of Research

1. Through research, ideas have been developed, most of our major problems are resolved.
2. Our needs were satisfied
3. Our demands were met.
4. Research ideas can create technologies that help us live comfortably and easily.

Aims of Research
1. Main goal is to improve the quality of life
2. Verification of existing knowledge
-Research aims to verify or prove the truthfulness of existing theories or knowledge.
3. This may lead to the development of new ideas, strengthen current knowledge.
4. Acquisition of new knowledge
- Research can bring new ideas regarding the theory or even create a new theory.
5. Application of new knowledge
- Once a new knowledge has been proven, the researcher’s next move is to utilize that’s
new knowledge into something useful to humankind.
6. Advancement of the researcher’s expertise
- As researchers conduct more studies, their knowledge on a particular field widens. They
gain and learn a lot from every experience they encounter. They become experts of a
particular field from which their study focuses on.

Functions of Research
1. Exploration
- When the purpose of a research is to provide a foundation for future studies, it is called
exploratory research. it seeks to find more information about a topic and broader perspective or
additional knowledge to what is currently known. A research may explore a new topic of interest
or explore new angles of theory. Exploring new topics may lead to the discovery of unexpected
things, ideas, or phenomena.
A researcher may also explore on other perspectives or other processes aside from what is
currently known, like exploring a better process or finding new ways to deal a particular process.

2. Description
-The aim of descriptive research is to give additional information on newly discovered ideas
which were results of explorations.
Descriptive research files in the details and the gaps regarding a particular idea to expand
understanding.
Here, much more information is needed to be supplied in order to answer the and how questions
instead of formulating unsure explanations.

3. Explanation
- Once the newly discovered idea was described in detail, it is imperative that we understand
why it came into existence and connect these ideas to know the cause and effect.
Explanatory research looks on how things are connected together and how things interact.
This type of research aims to explain relationships existing between variables.

Characteristics of Research
1. Realistic
- The results of an investigation should be based on actual data which was gathered by the
researcher himself.
The data to be presented should be valid evidence of ones investigations.
2. Logical
- Research should follow valid procedures and principles. There are proper and logical approach
to find out the answers to a particular research questions.
If these procedures will not be followed correctly, the outcome of the research might be affected
and might produce unreliable and invalid result
3. Cyclical
- One of the characteristics of research is that it is cyclical. It starts with a problem and ends with
another problem.
As soon as the researcher answers his questions, there could be other questions that may arise as
a result of answering the previous research questions.
Thus, research is not expected to end when the research questions has already been answered.
Therefore, research is a cycles
4. Analytical
- Before stating the conclusions, the researcher must make sure that all acceptable procedure in
data gathering have been employed correctly. Proper analysis of the data should be done before
making final conclusions.
5. Objective
- Objectivity is defined as the lack of bias or prejudice. Conclusion should be drawn based on the
accuracy of the empirical data that supports the study.
One should not make any alterations to the data to favor his own hypothesis or any other biases
out of respect for any personality, or organization.
6. Critical
- A researcher should exhibit careful and precise judgment. He/she gathered.
In using statistics, he/she has to establish a certain confidence level to be precise in his/her
interpretations whether the results are significant or not. Established theories about particular
behavior can also be used as bases to explain and analyze observations in qualitative research.

7. Replicable
- This means that a research should b written in such a way that other researchers can perform
the same study having the same results as the original researcher. Tis is to verify the validity and
consistency of the results of the research if performed in the same conditions as the original
research.

Types of Research
1. Basic or pyre research
- If the researcher aims is to come up with a new knowledge or contribute to the existing body of
knowledge.
- In this type of research, an explanation about existing idea or theory is being done or a new idea
or theory is introduced.

2. Applied research
- If the aim of the researcher is to find applications for the theories or create a product employing
the existing idea.

Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research

1. Qualitative research
- The qualitative research deals with the characteristics observed from the subjects and uses
minimal to no statistical.
2. Quantitative research
- focuses on the analysis and interpretation of the raw numerical data gathered.

Comparison between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

1. The research process
1.1. Identifying research problem
- Research problems may be in the form of questions which the researcher aims to answer
at the end of the research activity.
- A research problem is the heart of a good qualitative research. It serves as the
researchers guide throughout the research process and the focus of all research activities.
- In the process of identifying research problems, literature review is very important
because we need to gather as many background information as we can. These readings
can help identify topics from where our questions will come from so that they will be
relevant and worth researching.

1.2. Formulating hypotheses and designing your study

- The key to success in research is to construct a good design on how to collect data.
The following questions may guide you to construct an appropriate design for your study.
1. From whom will your data come from?
2. Where are you going to collect your data?
3. When or until when do your plan to gather your data?
4. How are you going to facilitate the whole research activity?
 - Before designing and deciding on the steps on how to gather data, tentative answer to
research problems should be formulated first. These are called hypotheses.

Hypotheses
1. Guide the researcher toward answering the research problems.
2. The aim of the researcher is to find out if the hypotheses he/she has formulated is correct
or not. This is where careful planning and designing of the research comes in. researchers
should bear in mind that the data gathering procedures they plan. To employ are
appropriate to test whether the hypotheses are true or not.
Data collection
1. After designing and carefully planning the methods to be done in the study, the
researcher may now proceed to data collection.
2. Is the process of gathering information by means of a defined method, in order to support
your hypotheses, data could be anything that is used to represent facts and values or
anything that may represent a characteristics of something that is being measured.
Analysis of data and testing hypotheses
1. data gathered should be organized for easy data analysis
2. data analysis is the process of examining data for its conformity to the presented
hypotheses. If the data that has been gathered suggests truthfulness of the hypotheses,
then hypotheses will be accepted. Otherwise, the hypotheses will be rejected.
Interpreting data
1. Based on the results and analysis of data, conclusions may now be drawn out. This may
lead to evaluation of a particular theory or testing the hypothesis based on the accounts of
your subjects.
2. The purposeful identification of the subjects of a study allows you to paint the picture
from the perspective of the locality of which your study is conducted.
3. In qualitative research, there is a need for the researcher to return to the subjects for
validation purposes or what is technically termed as member – checking.
Reporting results
1. Reporting or communicating the results of the study is essential for the public to know. With
this, the results of research became beneficial to those stakeholders who might be using the
findings of the study in the near future.
2. Since research is cyclical, there might be another question or problem that may arise after the
first set of questions has been answered. Stating new research questions will then bring us to
undergo the whole research process again and start another research activity.

Characteristics of a Successful Researcher

1. Research oriented
- A researcher is research oriented if he is curious and wants to find out the intricacies of things.
Once he has a question, he always want to investigate in order to find answer to his queries.
He is fond of reading research journals to find out the different trends in research.
He finds joy in discovering and learning new things.
2. Efficient
- being efficient is when you use properly your time, effort, and cost for an intend purpose.
Researchers make sure that they budget their time, effort and resources wisely to accomplish
their task in proper time.
In short statement, efficiency is doing things right.
3. Scientific
- A researcher does not readily accept conclusions
He follows the scientific method in finding out answers to their queries.

4. Effective
- being effective means doing the right things.
Errors cannot be avoided but can be foreseen.
A proper protocol has to be developed for these errors to be minimized.
5. Active
- a researcher always responds to the challenges of the modern world.
He makes it sure that he is involved in all research endeavor he and his team is up to.
He consistently participates in all research activities relevant to his expertise.
5. Resourceful
One of the good researcher qualities is being resourceful. Even if the resources are limited, he
can still make use of the available materials to compensate for the things he needs.
He is not stopped by lack of materials but do his own improvising to make sure that he is not
hampered to do his