SCIENTIFIC

INQUIRY and
FORMULATING
RESEARCH PROBLEM
by
Dr. RONALD M. HENSON
Research Consultant
What is an inquiry?

• an interactive process focused on

questioning, exploring, and
posing explanations, to gain a
better understanding of the
world through active
engagement in real-life
experiences
 Inquiry and scientific
method
Scientific Method Inquiry Process
Question/Problem Inquiry Phase
Hypothesis Data Gathering
Experiment/Survey (Hypothesis)
Record Data Gathering
Data Analysis (Data Collection)
Conclusion Implementation
Phases of inquiry model
Inquiry process skills
• Observe
• Experiment
• Collaborate
• Measure
• Sort/Classify
• Compare
• Record
• Analyze & Share
Different types of inquiry
Type of Inquiry Description Example

Structured Know problem to

investigate as well as
Research on media
literacy with
procedures and samples/survey tools
materials, in provided to determine
determining the outcome
outcome.

Guided Problem or question

and materials are
Research agenda to
guide research
given and you have to problem; directions
determine the process and thrusts given
and outcome.
Determine the Thesis writing with
Open problem, full expression of
investigation, what problem to work
procedure, and on, e.g. academic
outcome research
 Inquiry as a human
system
• Brain – the seat of
thinking/problem formulation
and reasoning
• Body – the substance of search
for material evidence
• Hands – the working hands that
implement and deploy
• Heart – integrity and sincerity of
human inquiry including ethics
 What is scientific
method?
• body of techniques for investigating
phenomena, acquiring new
knowledge, or correcting and
integrating previous knowledge
• gathering observable, empirical and
measureable evidence subject to
specific principles of reasoning
• method that has characterized natural
science since the 17th century,
consisting in systematic observation,
measurement, and experiment, and
the formulation, testing, and
modification of hypotheses
 Hypothetico-deductive
model
• 1. Use your experience: Consider the
problem and try to make sense of it. Look
for previous explanations. If this is a new
problem to you, then move to step 2.
• 2. Form a conjecture: When nothing else is
yet known, try to state an explanation.
• 3. Deduce a prediction from that explanation
: If you assume 2 is true, what
consequences follow?
• 4. Test: Look for the opposite of each
consequence in order to disprove 2. It is a
logical error to seek 3 directly as proof of 2.
This error is called affirming the
consequence.
 Elements of scientific
method
• scientific community and
philosophers of science generally
agree on the classification of
method components which are
procedures characteristic of
natural sciences more than
social sciences in a cycle of
formulating hypotheses, testing
and analyzing the results
 Scientific method
application
• Characterizations (observations,
definitions, and measurements of the
subject of inquiry)
• Hypotheses (theoretical, hypothetical
explanations of observations and
measurements of the subject)
• Predictions (reasoning including logical
deduction from the hypothesis or theory)
• Experiments (tests of all of the above)
 Procedure in scientific
methods
• 1 - Define the question
• 2 - Gather information and resources
(observe)
• 3 - Form hypothesis
• 4 - Perform experiment and collect data
• 5 - Analyze data
• 6 - Interpret data and draw conclusions
that serve as a starting point for new
hypothesis
• 7 - Publish results
• 8 - Retest (frequently done by other
scientists)
 Iterative cycle

• goes from point 3 to 6 back

to 3 again
 Requirements of
scientific method
• Operation - some action done to the system
being investigated
• Observation – results of the operation done
to the system
• Model – fact, hypothesis, theory or the
phenomenon itself at a certain moment
• Utility Function - measure of the usefulness
of the model to explain, predict, and control,
and of the cost of use of it. One of the
elements of any scientific utility function is
the refutability of the model and its
simplicity based on the principle of
parsimony also known as Occam’s Razor
 Models of scientific
method of inquiry
• Classical model - derived from Aristotle who
distinguished the forms of approximate and
exact reasoning, set out the threefold scheme
of abductive, deductive, and inductive
inference, and also treated the compound forms
such as reasoning by analogy.
• Pragmatic model - Charles Sanders Peirce
(1877) characterized inquiry in general not as
the pursuit of truth per se but as the struggle to
move from irritating, inhibitory doubts born of
surprises, disagreements, and the like, and to
reach a secure belief, belief being that on which
one is prepared to act, framed scientific inquiry
as part of a broader spectrum and as spurred,
like inquiry generally, by actual doubt.
Three kinds of inference
• Abduction – also called
retroduction which is guessing
for explanatory hypotheses that
is best worth trying
• Induction – from specific to
general
• Deduction – from general to
specific
 Four methods of settling
opinion (Peirce)
* The method of tenacity - policy of sticking to initial belief
which brings comforts and decisiveness but leads to trying to
ignore contrary information and others' views, transitory.

* The method of authority — which overcomes disagreements

but sometimes brutally, successes can be majestic and long
lived, but cannot operate thoroughly enough to suppress doubts
indefinitely, especially when people learn of other societies
present and past.

* The method of congruity - the a priori or the dilettante or

"what is agreeable to reason" — which promotes conformity
less brutally but depends on taste and fashion in paradigms
and sustains capricious and accidental beliefs

* The scientific method — the method wherein inquiry regards

itself as fallible and purposely tests itself and criticizes, corrects,
and improves itself.
 Research problem
• heart of research in formulating
the intellectual stimulus calling
for an answer in the form of
scientific inquiry
• stated in question form
 The beginning of
research
• “you are into big problem
without a problem”
• “problem is the alpha of
research, solution is the sigma”
• “problem is the axis in which the
research revolves
From molecule to atom
• Problem – demarcation of the main
field of investigation
• Sub-problems – smaller manageable
subdivisions of the research
Analogy
Molecule – the main-problem
Atom – the sub-problem
Nucleus – the hypothesis
 Sources of research
problems
• Theories
• Observations, intuitions
• Organizational problems
• Fields of interest/specializations
• Existing practices and needs
• Extension of investigations already
done
• Funding agencies/authorities
• Professional literature
 Criteria in choosing
research problems
• Original/unique
• New and different from
what was done
• Significant to the
field/value
• Arouse intellectual curiosity
• Clear
 Characteristics of
research problem
• It must be specific – not too
broad and ambiguous
• It must be testable – can be
proven through some
hypothesis testing
• It must be measurable – takes
the limits of research thru
indicators
 Sample research
problems
• What are the coping mechanisms and
strategies of student-nurses experiencing
burn-out assigned at the emergency
ward?
• What are the perceptions of employees
on the succession planning program and
its impact on job performance?
• What are the motivational factors leading
to the retention of employees in company
X?
• How do managers express the
phenomenology of “pagpapahalaga”
(valuing) from their lived experience in
an urgency-complacency continuum?