11 SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Practical Research 1
Quarter 1 – Module 3:
Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the
Problem
Subject Name – Practical Research 1 for Grade 11
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 3: Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the Problem
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education

Secretary: Leonor Magtolis Briones
Undersecretary: Diosdado M. San Antonio

Development Team of the Module

Writers: Mary Ann C. Torres, MAED-A&S
Jean G. Fabugais, MAED-ELT, TMC-1
Editors: Esteria J. Macajelos
Reviewers: Esteria J. Macajelos
Illustrator: None
Layout Artist: Richie C. Naingue/Josephine V. Austero
Management Team: Senen Priscillo P. Paulin, CESO V Rosela R. Abiera
Fay C. Luarez TM, EdD., PhD. Maricel S. Rasid
Adolf P. Aguilar . Elmar L. Cabrera
Nilita L. Ragay, EdD
Anna Lee A. Amores EdD

Printed in the Philippines by ________________________

Department of Education –Region VII Schools Division of Negros Oriental

Office Address: Kagawasan, Ave., Daro, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

Tele #: (035) 225 2376 / 541 1117
E-mail Address: [email protected]
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Practical Research
1

Quarter 1 – Module 3:
Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the
Problem
Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to Practical Research 1 Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module 1

on Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the Problem!

This module was collaboratively designed, developed and reviewed by

educators both from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher
or facilitator in helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12
Curriculum while overcoming their personal, social, and economic
constraints in schooling.

This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and
independent learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this
also aims to help learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking
into consideration their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the
body of the module:

Research is creating new

knowledge.

Neil Armstrong

As a facilitator, you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this
module. You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing
them to manage their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to
encourage and assist the learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

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For the learner:

Welcome to Practical Research 1 the Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM)

Module 1 on Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the Problem!

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful
opportunities for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time.
You will be enabled to process the contents of the learning resource while
being an active learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

This will give you an idea of the skills or

What I Need to Know competencies you are expected to learn in the
module.

This part includes an activity that aims to

check what you already know about the
What I Know
lesson to take. If you get all the answers
correct (100%), you may decide to skip this
module.
This is a brief drill or review to help you link
What’s In the current lesson with the previous one.

In this portion, the new lesson will be

What’s New introduced to you in various ways; a story, a
song, a poem, a problem opener, an activity
or a situation.
This section provides a brief discussion of the
What is It lesson. This aims to help you discover and
understand new concepts and skills.

This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
What’s More
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer
Key at the end of the module.
This includes questions or blank
What I Have Learned sentence/paragraph to be filled in to process
what you learned from the lesson.
This section provides an activity which will
What I Can Do help you transfer your new knowledge or skill
into real life situations or concerns.

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 This is a task which aims to evaluate your
Assessment level of mastery in achieving the learning
competency.
In this portion, another activity will be given
Additional Activities to you to enrich your knowledge or skill of the
lesson learned.

Answer Key This contains answers to all activities in the

module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

References This is a list of all sources used in

developing this module.

The following are some reminders in using this module:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part
of the module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
2. Don’t forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other
activities included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your
answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through
with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do
not hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that
you are not alone.

We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful

learning and gain deep understanding of the relevant competencies. You
can do it!

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENT PAGES

TITLE PAGE ------------------------------------------------ i

INTRODUCTORY MESSAGE --------------------------------- ii

For the Facilitator --------------------------------- ii
For the Learner ----------------------------------------- iii

WHAT I NEED TO KNOW --------------------------------- 1

Learning Competency --------------------------------- 1

WHAT I KNOW ------------------------------------------------ 1

Activity 1 ------------------------------------------------ 1

WHAT’S IN ------------------------------------------------ 2
Activity 2 ------------------------------------------------ 2

WHAT’S NEW ------------------------------------------------ 3

Activity 3 ------------------------------------------------ 3

WHAT IS IT ------------------------------------------------ 3

WHAT’S MORE ------------------------------------------------ 8

Activity 4 ------------------------------------------------ 8

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED --------------------------------- 8

Activity 5 --------------------------------- 8

WHAT I CAN DO ---------------------------------------- 8

Activity 6 --------------------------------------- 8

ASSESSMENT ------------------------------------------------ 9
Activity 7 ------------------------------------------------ 9

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES --------------------------------- 10

Activity 8 ---------------------------------------- 10

ANSWER KEYS ------------------------------------------------ 11

GLOSSARY ------------------------------------------------ 12

REFERENCE LIST -------------------------------------------- 13

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 What I Need to Know

This module focuses on identifying the inquiry and stating the problem.
Specifically, it will guide you to discover range of research topics in the area
of inquiry, the value of research in the area of interest, the specificity and
feasibility of the problem posed.

Learning Competencies

At the end of this module, you are expected to

1. Design a research project related to daily life

2. Write a research title
3. Provide the justifications/reasons for conducting the research
4. State research question
5. Indicate scope and delimitation of research
6. Cite benefits and beneficiaries of research
7. Present written statement of the problem

What I Know

Activity 1. Let’s check your prior knowledge…

Directions: Read each item carefully. Write TRUE if the statement is true
and write FALSE if the statement if false. Write your answers in your Activity
Notebook.

1. In choosing the research topic, rich of background information is

necessary.
2. Interest of the researcher will trigger more to investigate the research
topic.
3. Book and magazines are only sources of information in doing research.
4. Visiting the library is the usual activity in doing research.
5. The availability of updated reading material is necessary in completing
the related literature of your research.
6. The topic of the research should be relevant to the elite people who are
controversial.
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 7. Limitation of the topic is needed. Hence, the researcher has no freedom
to choose the topic based on your interest but has to decide on one
topic to finish the course.
8. Assessing mental capacity, needed facilities and time allotment should
be considered as personal resources.
9. Too broad subjects should not be avoided in doing research.
10. One of the research topics should be avoided is highly technical
subjects.

What’s In

Activity 2: Let’s narrow down a topic…

Directions. Choose a topic that is relevant to your chosen tract/strand. You
may use the topic you had in your previous activity. Using a concept map,
narrow down your topic by choosing one in order to have a specific topic as a
focus for research. Follow the sample below.

Sample topic for HUMSS: NEW NORMAL

quarantine
Social distancing Modular
Learning

NEW
NORMAL

New normal skills

Online learning

Online Selling

Narrowed Topic: Parents’ Attitude towards Modular Learning Approach

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 What’s New

Activity 3. Let’s take a journey…

Directions. In your notebook, enumerate the things which you believe you
need to consider in writing a qualitative research. Write at least 5 but not
more than 7.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

EXPLORE
1. How did you find this activity?
2. Is it easy or difficult? Why?
3. What do you think is the most important consideration that
you have to make in writing qualitative research?
4. Do you think that doing qualitative research is very important
in life? Why?
5. How were personal knowledge and experiences helped you in
accomplishing the activity?

What is It

Research is categorized into qualitative approach, quantitative

approach and mixed method approach (Creswell, 2003). In selecting a
suitable approach to apply in research, there are some criterions to be taking
into consideration, for example, nature of research problem, purpose of
project, availability of resources such as time and financial, sensitivity of the
issue on hand, discipline of study, and researcher's personal experiences,
skills, interest and attitudes, to list a few (Grover, 2015)

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 Developing a good research topic may not be easy for you but it is an
important skill as a Senior High Students. You may choose your own
particular topic that arouses your interests to develop a qualitative research
study. In this module you are given the guidelines in choosing a topic and
when you begin your research work as compiled by Barbour (2014). These
pointers will guide you in selecting a good topic, avoiding other factors
affecting in choosing and writing your research, and focusing clearly on your
subject. Moreover, you will be guided where your sources of information
should come from (Barbour, R. 2014).

How to start a research study?

You can start your study by considering the following (Barbour, R.

2014):

1. The most important element that defines the research problem.

2. It is usually read first and the most read part of the research.
3. It contains the least words enough to describe the contents and the
purpose of your research paper.
4. It can be revised any and many times as the research develops and
reach its final phase. It becomes final on its final defense before the
panel of judges.
Note: The research title does not need to be entertaining but informative.

Research Problem: The need to have a safer, comfortable, and healthful walk
or transfer of students from place to place in the School Campus (Name of
your school)
Research Topic: The construction of a covered Pathway in the School Campus
(Name of your school)
General Question: What kind of covered path should the School Campus
construct? (Name of your school)

Specific Questions:

1. What materials are needed for the construction of the covered pathway
in the School Campus? (Name of your school)
2. What roofing material is appropriate for the covered path?
3. In what way can the covered pathway link all buildings in the campus?
4. What is the width and height of the covered path?
5. How can the covered path realize green architecture?
A part of a research title has the following information:

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 1. The subject matter or topic to be investigated. (“What?”)
2. The place or locale where the research is to be conducted. (“Where?”)
3. The population like the respondents’ interviewees. (“Who”?)
4. The time period of the study during which the data are to be collected.
(“When”?)
Rules in Choosing a Research Topic

1. Interest in the subject matter. An interest in a subject drives you to

research, investigate, or inquire about it with full motivation, enthusiasm,
and energy.
2. Availability of information. Information will serve as evidence to support
your claims about your subject matter from varied forms of literature like
books, journals, and newspapers, among others, is a part and parcel of
any research work.
What to include in the investigation of the available materials?

a. Update and authority of the materials.

b. Copyright dates of the materials? Are they new or old?
c. Expert or qualification of the writers of reading materials about
your topic
3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic
a. How relevant is the chosen topic? The topic should be related
to the present. (Except for pure or historical research)
4. Limitations on the subject. Connect your choice with course requirements.
You need to decide on one topic to finish your course.
5. Personal resources. Do an assessment on your research abilities in terms
of your financial standing, health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities,
and time schedule to enable you to complete your research. You have to raise
an amount of money needed to spend on questionnaire printing and interview
trips.

Research Topics to be avoided in developing your study

1. Any controversial topics because it depends more on the writer’s
opinion leading to biases. Facts cannot support this topic.
2. Highly technical subjects are not advisable for beginners as these
topics require an advanced study, technical knowledge, and skills.
3. Hard-to-investigate subjects that happens if there are no available
reading materials about it and if such materials are not up-to-date.
4. Too broad subjects that prevent you from to focus on the subject
matter of the paper. Narrow down or limit the subject to eliminate the
problem.
5. Too narrow subjects that are so limited where an extensive searching
is necessary.

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 6. Vague subjects. The subject/focus of the study should be specific

Sources of Research Topics

1. Mass media communication – press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio, films,
etc.
2. Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications
3. Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching Forum,
English Forum, the Economist, Academia, Business Circle, Law Review,
etc.
4. General periodicals such as Readers’ Digest, Women’s Magazine,
Panorama Magazine, Time Magazine, World Mission Magazine, etc.
5. Previous reading assignments in your other subjects, work experience
– clues to a researchable topic from full-time or part-time jobs,
experience, fieldwork, etc.
Scope and Delimitation of the Study

Cristobal, & Cristobal, (2016) have mounted together the following few
pointers in writing Scope and Delimitation of the Study.

What is the scope of a study?

It is the coverage of the research to be explored which includes the facts

and theories about the subject.

Example:

A study on the influence of social networking on the attitude of senior high

school learners.

It is not possible to cover all aspects of the selected subject. The scope
will have to be restricted to a specific section of the target population over a
specified duration.

What is the Delimitation of a Study?

Delimitation limits the scope and outlines the boundaries of the study.
These limitations include the following:

1. Sample size.
a. The research design and method will determine whether if it is
small or large sample size.
b. The sample size will determine the quality of data and the
relationships that will be identified among the variables.
2. Lack of available and/or reliable data. This will limit the scope of
analysis and the ability of the researcher to determine meaningful
trends and relationships among the data.
3. Lack of prior studies. This will limit the effectiveness of the literature
review and initial understanding of the research.
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 4. Chosen data collection method. The quality of data collected must be
clear to avoid erroneous answers from the respondents.
5. Nature of the information collected. Researcher should not rely on pre-
existing data.
6. Access. The amount and quality of available data will depend on the
ability of the researcher to access people, organizations, libraries, and
documents.
7. Time period. It is advisable to select a research problem and design
8. Bias. The researcher must focus only to the problem, should be neutral
and avoid his or her personal biases.
9. Language. This may have an effect on data collection, especially if the
researcher is involved with respondents that speak a variety of
languages.
Presenting Written Statement of the Problem

The following sections compose the presentation of the written

statement of the problem (Barbour, R. 2014):

1. Introduction. States briefly the background of the study and identifies

the rationale of the research problem. It begins with a general statement
of the problem, outlines the specific problem or issue within the existing
literature.
2. Statement of the problem. It states clearly the purposes or interest of the
study, poses specific questions about research problem
3. Scope and Delimitation. Sets the boundaries and parameters of the
study, narrows the scope of the inquiry.
4. Significance of the Study. It shows the benefits of the study to address
issues and problems, in improving economic and health conditions or
even finding solutions to problems encountered in daily life.

What’s More

Activity 4: Let’s do it…

Directions. Decide on a topic that you want to investigate on. Make a

research title out of your chosen topic.

Title: _____________________________________________________________

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 What I Have Learned

Activity 5: Let’s reflect…

Directions. Write a short reflection in your Activity Notebook.

I thought _________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

I learned that ____________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

What I Can Do

Activity 6. Let’s prove it…

Directions. From your selected topic of interest in Activity 4, provide the

information by following the format below.

(Title of Research)
This study generally seeks to…_________________________
__________________________.
Specifically, it tries to answer the following questions:
1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________

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 Assessment

Activity 7. Let’s check it out…

Directions. Read carefully the statements or questions below and write your
answers on your activity notebook.

I. Multiple Choices
I. Multiple Choices: Write a letter that corresponds to your answer.
1. What is the remedy for getting over any problem?
a. reading c. researching
b. listening d. gathering
2. What academic activity done when we gather information?
a. Attribute c. event
b. research d. life style
3. “what does the data imply”? is an example of__________
a. question-gathering c. data recording
information d. question and answer
b. data application
4. The statement of the problem and objectives in the research study
should be ___.
a. generic c. broad
b. specific d. narrowed
5. The following are examples of media communication that are useful
in conducting a research, except:
a. newspapers c. TV
b. ads d. TV shows

II. Identification: Write the correct answer on your answer sheet/

activity notebook.
6. When you decide to do research, you begin with a __________that will
lead you to a specific topic to focus

7. What generate to set a research questions?

8. The specific questions are called___________.
9. What is the foundation of research?
10. Timeliness and _________of the topic.
III. Discuss the following:
1. Research Problem
2. Research Questions
3. Background knowledge about the topic
4. Formulating research question

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 Additional Activities

Activity 8. Let’s go beyond…

Directions. Finalize your written output based on your chosen topic. Use short
bond paper, font size 12, font style Times New Roman, doubled space, 1 ½
inch left and 1 inch right, top and bottom indention.

Expected Output:

1. Title
2. Statement of the Problem
3. Scope and Delimitation of the Study
4. Significance of the Study

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Glossary

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Delimitations. Delimitations are the characteristics that limit the
scope and describe the boundaries of the study, such
as the sample size, geographical location or setting in
which the study takes place, population traits, etc.
Limitation. A limitation on something is a rule or decision which
prevents that thing from growing or extending beyond
certain limit.
Qualitative research. Relies on unstructured and non-numerical data. The
data include field notes written by the researcher
during the course of his or her observation,
interviews and questionnaires, focus groups,
participant-observation, audio or video recordings
carried out by the researcher in natural settings,
documents of various kinds (publicly available or
personal, paper-based or electronic records that are
already available or elicited by the researcher), and
even material artifacts.
Scope. The scope of a study explains the extent to which the
research area will be explored in the work and
specifies the parameters within which the study will
be operating.
Timeliness. This refers to the time expectation for accessibility
and availability of information. Timeliness can be
measured as the time between when information is
expected and when it is readily available for use.

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References

Barbour, R. (2014). Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student Guide. Los

Angeles: Sage Pub. USA.

Creswell, John W., author. Educational research: planning, conducting, and

evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. ISBN 1-299-95719-6.
OCLC 859836343

Cristobal, A.P., Jr, & Cristobal, M.D. (2016). Practical Research 1 for Senior
High School. Ist ed.C & E Publishing Inc. Quezon City.

Drisko, James (2005). Writing Up Qualitative Research. Families in Society:

The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. 86. 589-593.
10.1606/1044-3894.3465.

Gopaldas, Ahir (2016). A Front-to-Back Guide to Writing a Qualitative

Research Article. Qualitative Market Research: An International
Journal. 19. 115-121. 10.1108/QMR-08-2015-0074.

Hossain, Dewan (2011). Qualitative Research Process. Postmodern Openings.

7.

Moore, Fahmeena Odetta (2017). Qualitative Research Questions.

10.13140/RG.2.2.10302.48963.

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For inquiries or feedback, please write or call:

Department of Education – Schools Division of Negros Oriental

Kagawasan, Avenue, Daro, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

Tel #: (035) 225 2376 / 541 1117

Email Address: [email protected]
Website: lrmds.depednodis.net