The Scientific

Method and
Its Application
•Scientific Method- refers to a
standardized set of techniques for
building scientific knowledge, such as
how to make valid observations, how to
interpret results and to generalized
results.
•In the field of social science, research is
an indispensable tool in addressing
social issues and problems
 Steps in the Scientific
Methods
1. Defining the Problem
2. Reviewing the Literature
3. Forming Hypothesis
4. Collecting and Analyzing
Data
5. Drawing conclusion
Guide in Pursuing Research
Stages of the Key Question
Research Process
1. Define the What are the variables or the
Research Problem units of analysis being studied?
What is the time frame or period
of the study?
2. Review the What has already been written
Related Literature about the topic ?
What are the research gaps?
3. Formulate What are the specific parameters
Hypothesis of the research problem?
4. Prepare the Is the research going to be descriptive ,
Research Design exploratory, or experimental?
How should the sample be selected from the
population?
5. Collect Data Will the interviews be done personally or over
the phone?
Who are the target participants of the survey?
6. Analyze Data What do the data reveal about the
relationships of the variables being studied?
How do the data answer the research
problem?
Interpret the results What are the social implications and
and write the significance of the findings?
report Are the sources, both primary and secondary,
properly cited in the study?
 Types of Research Design-sets the
direction of the whole study
Type Characteristics
1. It provides answers to the basic questions
Descriptive associated with the research problem.
Research Ex. A descriptive study of the factors that lead to
domestic violence
2. Historical This design, collect, verifies and synthesizes
research evidence from the past in order to validate or
reject a hypothesis.
Ex. Martial law in the Philippines: the golden or
the cursed years in the country’s history?
Experimental This type of research answers the question, what
Research causes something to occur?
Ex. A study on the effect of sleep deprivation on
health and productivity.
4. Exploratory This designs tackles research problem that have
Research little or no previous studies done on it.
Ex. A comparative study on the effectiveness of
same sex parenting vis-à-vis conventional
parenting.
5. Cross- This design measures similarities or differences
Sectional across groups and subjects.
Research Ex. A study on the evidence of breast cancer across
different age groups of women.
6. Longitudinal It studies the same sample across time or across
Research regular time intervals.
Ex. Study on the effect of TV programming to violent
behavior among children
7. Sequential This is a type of research design carried out in a
Research series over a time interval.
Ex. A study on the effects of diet, exercise and
common medication on heart disease conducted
across different age groups
8. Case This type of design is applied to
Study study a very particular research
problem
Ex. Improving school condition by
changing public policy in South Los
Angeles: the Community Coalition
Partnership
9. Meta- This is a type of design that
analysis evaluates and summarizes the
results of other individual studies.
Ex. Fertility and women’s
employment: A meta-analysis
 Methodological Approach

• Social Science research also

uses either a quantitative or
qualitative methodological
approach in gathering and
analyzing data.
 QUALITATIVE METHOD
• The method analyzes qualitative data
such as interviews, narratives and literary
texts. The emphasis in qualitative
analysis is “sense- making” or
understanding a phenomenon, rather
than predicting or explaining.
• This method of analysis relies heavily on
the knowledge of the researcher of the
social context of the gathered data.
 Quantitative method
• This method, analyzes quantifiable or numeric
data and subjects them to statistical analyses.
While statistics or numerical data does not
provide an absolute measurement of human
ideals like happiness or quality education, it
does provide measurement of its indicators
like the size of the population of the country,
the presence or absence of corruption, or the
levels of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Qualitative Mixed Quantitative