Practical Research 1 - Handouts

Nature of Inquiry and Research

Inquiry is defined as “a seeking for truth, information or knowledge”. The information is sought through questioning. The
process of inquiry begins with gathering information and data through applying the human senses. The explanatory nature of
inquiry allows individuals particularly students to grapple with different ways of looking at ideas and issues and to think
creatively about problems that do not possess simple answers.
Research is the systematic inquiry that explains or describes a phenomenon, predicts an outcome, and poses
questions for further studies. It is an act of studying something carefully and extensively in order to attain deep knowledge.
When done on a larger scale, research contributes to the welfare of humanity. It can be creative, exploring or just reassuring
in nature.

Characteristics of Research

1. Recursive – it involves performing steps in a cyclical and non-linear way.

2. Empirical – based on verifiable evidence, observation, or experiences.
3. Logical – based on sound principles and a systematic procedure.
4. Requires Higher-order Thinking Skills – it involves interpreting data & drawing conclusions from gathered data.
5. Replicable – can be repeated by other researchers.
6. Solution-oriented – aims to address a particular problem.
7. Objective- requires accurate recording of data through observation, interviews, experiments, and other means.
8. Requires sufficient sources of data.
Importance of Research

1. It gathers necessary information related to your field of study or work.

2. Improvement in standard of living through new inventions and discoveries.
3. Research in the field of health, technology, nutrition and medicine could improve life expectancy and helped in curing a lot of
diseases.
4. It investigates and exposes what wrong beliefs people hold. Unravelling the truth.
5. Exploring history makes you understand the past and prepare for a better future.
6. As a student, you will reap personal and academic benefits from doing research. First, it will increase your understanding of
phenomena that you find interesting and relevant.
7. It will improve your communicative, organizational, and other practical skills.
Research Process

Select and Conduct Formulate thesis Develop a

narrow down the preliminary and research preliminary
topic research questions. outline.

Write the Plan the develop / adopt /

Gather additional
introduction and research modify / research
references.
literature review. methodology. instruments.

Revisit and Write the

Gather and revise the Write the results summary,
analyze data. introduction and and discussion. conclusions, and
literature review. recommendations

Consolidate the Disseminate

full paper and Edit the full research findings
add a reference paper. (presentation or
list. publishing)

The first step of the research process is the selection of the research topic. When selecting a topic, it should be relevant (addresses a
need or problem), interesting, and manageable in terms of your ability, required time of completion, and the availability of resources.
After selecting potential topics, these should be narrowed down to your actual topic through freewriting, clustering, or listing.
 Freewriting – involves randomly writing your research ideas on a sheet of paper.
 Clustering – involves generating ideas through visuals.
 Listing – involves enumerating concepts that are related to your topic.
When conducting preliminary research, consult updated and reliable references such as scholarly books and journals. The information
that you will gather during this stage will be useful in formulating your thesis statement and research questions.
 Thesis Statement – central idea of your research paper.
 Research Questions – specific inquiries that you would like to investigate on.
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Practical Research 1 - Handouts
Draft a preliminary outline for your paper and use it as a guide in gathering additional references. You should be able to get model
papers.
 Model Paper – research paper that is similar to yours in terms of topic and methodology. Use this as a guide in
writing introduction and literature review.
Plan your methodology. Specify your research design, participants, the context of your study, the instruments you will use, and the
procedure for gathering and analysing the data.
 Instruments – tools for gathering data.
 Self-made instrument – prepared by the researchers themselves
 Modified instruments – existing instruments slightly modified to cater to the study
 Adopted instruments – existing instruments that are used without any modification
Research Ethics
Research ethics – moral principles and code of conduct that define what good and acceptable research practice is. When conducting
research, you have to conform to ethical standards to uphold integrity and maintain the good reputation of your name and your school.

General Research Practice:

1. Be objective in your research. Do not let your personal biases cloud your judgment.
2. Disclose any potential conflict of interest.

Data Management and Plagiarism:

1. Avoid fabricating or making up data or results.

2. Avoid falsifying data, or changing or deleting data just to prove your point.
3. Always cite your sources. Avoid taking another person’s ideas as your own.
4. Avoid self-plagiarism or reusing your own research.
5. Avoid ghostwriting or asking someone to write a research paper for you.
6. Ensure confidentiality of collected data.
Authorship:
Authorship is neither a commodity nor a gift. Avoid including someone as an author if he or she did not have any significant
contribution to the paper. A person significantly contributes to a research work If he or she is greatly involved in conceptualizing the
study, conducting the methodology, analysing and interpreting the data, and writing the paper.
Use of Human and Animals:
1. Inform and ask permission from the people who will be the subject of your research.
2. Refrain from inflicting harm on human participants.
3. Animals can only be harmed if there legitimate scientific benefits from doing so.
4. When it comes to personal information, collect those that are relevant to the study.
5. Refrain from forcing anyone to participate in your research.
6. Avoid choosing participants based on convenience alone.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Qualitative research is primarily an explanatory research. It is used to give an understanding of underlying reasons,
opinions and motivations. The investigation provides insights, into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypothesis for potential
qualitative research. It is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions and dig deeper into the problem. The sample size is
typically small. Qualitative research is more flexible allowing more naturalness and acclimatization for the interaction and collaboration
between the researcher and participant.
Quantitative Research is more associated with hard data. This research is used to quantify (that is to put numerical
equivalents to findings) the problem by way of generating mathematical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. It
quantifies attitudes, opinions, behaviors and other defined variables and generalizes results from a large sample of populations. It
discusses the quantitative relation between the participant/s and the researcher.
Similarities of Quantitative and Qualitative Research:

a) Empirical research is aimed at creating new knowledge.

b) Research creates knowledge by observing phenomena.
c) All the entities like attitudes, motives and learning can be inferred from observing what people do or say in a given setting.
d) All researchers are concerned about the universality of ideas or expressing an idea in a general statement; that is, they desire
to find meaning for the research results beyond a particular study.

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Differences of Quantitative and Qualitative Research

CRITERIA QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Purpose To understand and interpret social interactions To test hypotheses, look at cause and effect, and
make predictions
Group Studied Smaller and not randomly selected Larger and randomly selected
Variables Study of the whole, not variables Specific variables studied
Type of Data Words, images, or objects Numbers and statistics
Collected
Form of Data Qualitative data such as open-ended responses, Quantitative data based on precise measurements
Collected interviews, participant observations, field notes and using structured and validated data-collection
reflections. experiments
Type of Data Identify patterns, features, themes Identify statistical relationships
Analysis
Objectivity and Subjectivity is expected Objectivity is critical
Subjectivity
Role of Researcher Researcher and their biases may be known to Researcher and their biases are not known to
participants in the study, and participant characteristics participants in the study, and participant
may be known to the researcher characteristics are deliberately hidden from the
researcher (double blind studies)
Results Particular or specialized findings that is less Generalizable findings that can be applied to other
generalizable populations
Scientific method Exploratory or bottom-up: the researcher generates a Confirmatory or top-down: the researcher tests the
new hypothesis and theory from the data collected hypothesis and theory with the data
View of human Dynamic, situational, social and personal Regular and predictable
behavior
Most common Explore, discover and construct Describe, explain and predict
research objectives
Focus Wide-angle lens; examines the breadth and depth of Narrow-angle lens; tests specific hypotheses
phenomena
Nature of Study behavior in a natural environment Study behavior under controlled conditions; isolate
Observation casual effects
Nature of Reality Multiple realities; subjective Single reality; objective
Final Report Narrative report with contextual description and direct Statistical report with correlations, comparisons of
quotations from research participants means, and statistical significance of findings

Examples of Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Various Area of Interest

Area of Interest Qualitative Quantitative

Arts Managing depression through creative activities The effects of creative activities on depression
Humanities Common anxieties experienced by public school The effects of anxiety on the speaking
students during public speaking performance of the students
Sports Factors influencing the engagement of introverts The level of participation of introverts in team
in team sports sports
Science Health benefits about the use of mobile phones: a The effects of mobile phone radiation on brain
qualitative study cells
Business Exploring the behaviour associated with business The relationship between sales and the
success and business failure emotional quotient of sales representative
Agriculture and Fisheries Farmer’s and consumer’s beliefs about The effects of natural fertilizer on the productivity
community-supported agriculture in the of fruit-bearing trees
Philippines
Information and How the internet influences the buying behaviour The effects of Facebook Marketing on the buying
Communication Technology of teenagers behaviour of teenagers
Social inquiry Challenges in implementing the 4Ps The effects of 4Ps on the dropout rate of Public
schools in Metro Manila

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Practical Research 1 - Handouts
Name: ________________________________________________________ Grade and Section: __________________________

Date: ___________________________________ Score: _________________________

A. List 6 benefits (3 personal and 3 academic benefits) that you can get from doing research.
Personal Benefits Academic Benefits

B. Reflect on how research has helped you become more informed and excel academically.
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C. Sequence the following statements based on how research should be done. Write 1 for the first step and 14 for the last step.

I developed a questionnaire as the tool for my data collection and asked experts for help in validating.
I drafted my thesis statement and research questions.
I drafted the summary, conclusions, and recommendations of my study.
I polished my whole paper for submission.
I prepared a tentative outline for my paper.
I published my study in the school journal.
I reread my literature review so I can substantiate my discussion.
I identified the students whom I will interview and the tool I will use in gathering the data.
I started gathering data using the questionnaire I developed.
I transcribed and analyzed the data that I collected.
I visited Google Scholar and downloaded papers similar to my own.
I visited other websites to get additional studies and articles about absenteeism.
I wrote the introduction and literature review of my paper.
Since some students in our school have problems in their attendance, I decided to conduct a study on the
reasons behind the absenteeism of students.

D. Write how you should respond to the following situations.

Situation 1: You found out that your classmate wrote a research paper for your best friend.
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Situation 2: Your partner did not contribute much to your research paper. His only contribution was providing the money
needed for the research expenses, such as supplies, printing, transportation, and meals.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
E. Write down 10 problems that you want to address at home, school, classroom or community.
1. __________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________
6. __________________________________________________________________
7. __________________________________________________________________
8. __________________________________________________________________
9. __________________________________________________________________
10. __________________________________________________________________

F. What is the importance of research based on your own understanding?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

OUTPUT 

Show the importance of research by creating a collage using indigenous materials presenting the world without research and
a world that values research. Make your work as creative and informative as possible.
Rubric

Criteria 4 3 2 1 0
Content (50%)
Pictures and the collage itself reflect the importance of research
Design and Presentation (50%)
The pictures varied
The collage is creatively presented
The collage is tidy
The collage is well laid out and designed
Total

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Practical Research 1 - Handouts