LECTURE 4: JUSTIFYING THE SIGNIFICANCE

OF THE RESEARCH

LECTURE 4a: DEVELOPING THE CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK
1. Justifying the
significance of the research
 Convincing others that the problem is
important

 Explaining what is not known about the

problem hence the need for the proposed
research

 Providing documentation that this is actually

a problem
❑ related literature
❑ available reports, statistics, documents
2. Justifying the significance of the research:
questions to be answered
 What is the contribution of my research to
existing knowledge in this area?

 How will my research results improve:

❑ current practices?
❑ existing policies?

 Is the problem to be studied current or

timely? Does it exist now?

 How widespread is the problem in terms

number of areas or people affected?
2. Justifying the significance of the
research: questions to be answered

❑ Does the problem affect important populations of

special interest (ex., mother and children, elderly,
youth, etc.?

❑ Does the problem relate to on-going programs,

projects activities, or initiatives?

❑ Does the problem relate to broader social,

economic or health issues (ex., poverty; climate
change; status of women and children, etc.)?

❑ Who else are concerned about the problem (ex.,

government; civil society; church, etc)?
1.1 Justifying the significance of the
research: How to write-up this section
a. Review your answers to the questions listed
earlier.

b. Sort your answers into 2 categories –

whether they address broad or specific
issues related to your research problem

c. Arrange your answers in 1 or 2 paragraphs

which justify the importance of the research
problem. The suggested flow of the
discussion is one which follows an inverted
triangle, starting with broad issues, then
focusing on specific issues related to
particular groups or settings to be studied in
the proposed research
1.2 Justifying the significance of the
research: FLOW OF DISCUSSION

BROAD ISSUES

SPECIFIC
ISSUES
Example: Biodiversity Assessment in the LSBP

Peatlands have unique structural and functional integrity

comprising different ecological characteristics as habitats.
Peatland ecosystems form specific environmental
conditions that determine the uniqueness of their
biodiversity (Minayeva and Sirin, 2012). These ecosystems
are critical for biodiversity conservation because it support
diverse plants and animals including many threatened
species of birds, fishes and mammals, endemic species
including migratory birds and as natural gene bank
preserving potentially useful varieties of plant species (Parish
et al., 2008; Jusoff et al., 2007; UNDP, 2006).
In the Philippines, only two sites are currently known with
substantial peatland, viz. Agusan Marsh in Mindanao and
the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland (LSBP) in Leyte. LSBP is
considered as the largest water catchment area in Leyte.
It is composed of a series or system of swamps and
marshes exhibiting varied and unique landscape features.
It represents the depressionnal portions of the broad
alluvial plain of the province of Leyte (ADB Final Report,
2000).
However, the LSBP had been drained for the purpose of
converting it into agriculture which has resulted to decline
peat forest cover. Currently, more than half of the
peatland has been converted to agriculture specifically
into rice production. Some areas were already
abandoned since it was found to be unproductive. The
conversion and draining of the peatland may have
resulted in its degradation characterized in terms of loss of
important species of flora and fauna and other impacts
on ecological services.
Initial results of the rapid ecological assessment conducted by
Visayas State University-Alangalang and Department of Environment
and Natural Resources revealed significant abundance of unique
flora and fauna that could be possibly endemic in the peatland.
Based on the vegetation assessment, a total of 33 documented
plant species with 23 species of trees, 4 species of sedges, 3 species
of grasses, 2 species of ferns, one species of club moss and one
species of perennial herb where the most dominant is Terminalia
copelandii. It was also recorded that Macaranga bicolor (tree) is
listed as “vulnerable” under IUCN Red List. Preliminary survey on the
avifauna encountered a total of 20 species belonging to 17 families.
Among the 20 listed species, Anas luzonica is classified as
“vulnerable” by the IUCN Red List.

It was also revealed during the Focus Group Discussion that residents
observed different wildlife animals such as poisonous snake, civet
cat, tortoise, wild pig, wild chicken, python, tarsier, deer, monkey
etc. and fish species like eel, mudfish and carp.
This is the part where you highlight the
knowledge gap of your study

Despite the rich flora and fauna identified in the peatland,

basic parameters such as species composition, species
distribution, species relative abundance and other biological
metrics are often poorly documented even commonly
occurring in all types of habitats (Kantrud and Stewart, 1984;
Brown and Dinsmore, 1986; Muhammad and Mohamed,
2008). The biodiversity is a valuable component of wetland
ecosystems, as they form important links in the food web,
nutrient cycles, and quickly response to stressors in the
environment. The information will also provide a significant
tool as legal ground to be proclaimed as a protected area.
 This is the part where you highlight the
knowledge gap of your study

Biodiversity assessment provides baseline data on species

community structure, species diversity, species relative
abundance, species distribution, population dynamics and
trophic structures. It also provides valuable information about
habitat at key sites and permits the identification of species that
are in long term declined. Presence of flora and fauna in peat
swamps reflect a broad range of tolerance to diverse and
variable land-use or habitat types. The flora and fauna
community composition, distribution, relative abundance and
trophic guilds depend upon habitat characteristics (e.g. wetland
size, water depth, physical and chemical properties of water),
availability and distribution, density of food, and occurrence of
suitable breeding or resting sites (Wiens, 1989).
 This is the part where you highlight the
knowledge gap of your study

However, to date no detail studies have been done to assess the

biodiversity of the LSBP. Thus, this study will be conducted to assess
the biodiversity of flora and fauna along different ecotypes in the
LSBP: ricefield, sedge/grassland and peat swamp forest with the
aim of first providing a comparative assessment of their community
composition. Specifically, we sought to answer the questions: do
ecotypes support various species of flora and fauna? Do
biodiversity of flora and fauna differ as a function of ecotypes and
environmental variables? Second, we would like to assess the
influence of anthropogenic disturbances alongside widely used
measures of community composition and biological metrics.
 1.3 identification of end-users
and target beneficiaries

 Who can use, apply or benefit from the results of my

research?

 These can be specific persons, groups, agencies or

institutions

 Each end-user/target beneficiary may have a

different use or can benefit from the research results
in a different way

 The proponent must describe in a concise way

specifically how each end-user/target beneficiary
can apply or benefit from the research results
1.3.1 identification of end-users and
target beneficiaries: example

Title of Research:

Capacities and Needs Assessment for Health

Emergency Management among conflict-affected
and disaster-prone LGUs in the Ligwasan Wetlands
Biodiversity Reserve (LWBR)
1.3.2 identification of end-users
and target beneficiaries: bad
example

The following are the end-users and target beneficiaries

of this research:
➢ LGUs of disaster-prone areas
➢ Legislators at the regional and local levels
➢ Academicians/researchers
➢ Residents in disaster-prone communities
 1.3.3 identification of end-users and target
beneficiaries: good example

This study has immense use not only for the health services providers' networks
and government health functionaries and personnel in the four LGUs, but also for
Local Government Units, in harnessing and mobilizing local resources toward an
integrated and harmonized health emergency planning for preparedness and
resilience.

On the policy side, legislators, both at the local and regional levels, use the
results of this study to push for more integrative approaches in capacitating local
health and health-related functionaries and other personnel down to the barangay
level.

The tools for gathering data can be integrated in various social science courses,
especially in the Sociology of Disaster, and in the graduate program in Public
Administration, especially in Public Policy (Health and Emergencies in LGUs).
These tools are not yet included in the catalogue of traditional methods of
gathering data in most institutions of higher learning in the region.

More importantly, communities that continue to suffer from inordinate and heavy
damage to life and property after armed conflicts and natural disasters can also
learn to appreciate their pro-active role in mitigating disasters and in lessening
their vulnerabilities to health and life risks resulting from disasters.
2. Development of the Conceptual Framework

 The conceptual framework is a written or a visual presentation which

explains either graphically or in narrative form, the main variables
being studied in the proposed research and how they are related to
each other

 Inputs needed in developing a conceptual framework include:

✓ Experiential knowledge of the researcher
❑ Technical knowledge
❑ Research background
❑ Personal experience

✓ Literature review:
❑ Prior ‘related’ theory – concepts and relationships that are
used to represent the world, what is happening and why

❑ Prior ‘related’ research – how people have tackled

‘similar’ problems and what they have learned

❑ Other theory and research - approaches, lines of

investigation and theory that are not obviously
relevant/previously used.
2. Development of the Conceptual Framework

 In the research process, the development of

the conceptual framework is done after the
review of related literature and before the
formulation of the research objectives

 There must be consistency between the

conceptual framework presented and the
research objectives to be investigated
 2.1 development of the conceptual framework:
conventions/usual practices

 In building the framework:

❑ Start with the dependent /outcome variable or
endpoint for intervention

❑ Identify potential independent variables deemed

to affect the dependent/outcome variable based
on empirical or theoretical evidence

❑ Identify intervening, confounding , antecedent or

mediating variables whose effects may alter the
relationship between the dependent and
independent variable
 2.1 development of the conceptual
framework: conventions/usual practices

 Variables are presented in boxes while

relationships are represented by arrows

 Logical presentation of concepts is from left-

to-right or top-to-bottom

 Concepts are labelled briefly and concisely

 2.2 development of the conceptual framework:
example 1: effect of program exposure on
practice

KNOWLEDGE

CONFOUNDING
VARIABLES PROGRAM
(Ex. Socio-
economic EXPOSURE
status, PRACTICE
education, sex,
age, etc) ATTITUDES
 Example 2: conceptual framework for a research on nutrition
education for mothers of preschoolers

INPUT ACTIVITIES OUTPUT OUTCOME IMPACT

• No. of IEC • Number of • Number of • Change in • Change in
Materials nutrition mothers’ the
education
mothers
printed on
trained on knowledge, prevalence
child feeding classes on attitudes and of
• No. of trained child proper practices on malnutrition
health feeding child child feeding among pre-
workers conducted feeding
for mothers
schoolers
assigned to
conduct
nutrition
education
classes for
mothers