SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT STRAND

UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS
Cebu City, Philippines

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

BUSINESS RESEARCH MANUAL

A STUDENT’S GUIDE

2021 edition
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means now known or to be invented, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system without the written
permission from the author and publisher, except for brief inclusions of a quotation in a review.

Senior High School

ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT STRAND
UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS
Cebu City, Philippines
 IMRAD - FORMAT
Introduction, Methodologies, Results and Discussion

Cover page

Abstract
Chapter 1 Introduction
Rationale of the Study
Theoretical Framework of the Study
Statement of the Problem
Significance of the Study
Scope and Limitations
Definition of Terminologies
Methodology
Data-gathering Procedure
Sources of Data
Chapter 2 Results and Discussions (Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of
Data)
Phase One
Phase Two SOP (based on Treatment of data)
Phase Three

Chapter 3 Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Findings
Conclusions
Recommendations
Works Cited
Appendices
About the Researcher
 Abstract - the abstract of the research is the summary that contains Chapters 1

to 3 in a concise form.

Chapter 1 Introduction

Rationale of the Study

The rationale of the study is the first section of Chapter 1. This is an important part
as this provides the overview of the chosen research topic. When we say providing the
overview, we mean that you will provide the overall context of the study. The best way to
do this is to start from the global context, to national, then local. What do we mean by
“context”? This refers to the particular situation from which the problem has occurred. If
you start your rationale of the study from the international context, you will need to read
more on the global situation when it comes to your thesis topic. This is what we call pre-
literature review phase. You will need at least 5 in-text citations in their rationale. This
would imply that you would cite sources to support their justification in choosing the topic.
You will start by reading books, journal articles, new items, and previous researches.
What do they say regarding the relevance of the chosen topic? What are happening in
the field where your topic belongs? What is happening in the global scene? What is the
historical background of the topic? Why are you interested in investigating the research
problem? What are the research gaps? Which research gap will your study focus on?

∙
Theoretical Framework of the Study

How to do a critical review of the related literature (Young, 2012):

1. The main purpose of a review of related literature is not to just give a descriptive
list of the material available, or a set of summaries of studies related to the
research topic. Instead, the main purpose of a review of related literature is to
discuss and analyze critically the scientific works conducted by the other
researchers that the researcher used for investigating the given area of study.
• It should add value to all those papers the you have read; It should explain how
the many salient ideas of others (often gathered from many disparate sources)
have led up to and have contributed to the research problem.
• It should show that as student researchers, you know the literature related to your
research topic and that there is a need to be selective.
You should be able to determine which related studies to be included in the critical
review.
 • You should give the readers the background to understand the research work
and this includes both readers who are specialists in the area, and readers who
know nothing about it (e.g., external examiners).
• The literature review should lead you to the research problem that you wish to
tackle; what others have done before within this context, what is being done now,
what problems have been identified, what has not been worked on, and how your
own work builds/ adds onto this.
• You should give a new view of the problem/solution by combining and synthesizing
together the literature in a way that adds something new. You should be able to fit
all the pieces together into an organization that relates all the parts through a
framework.
• A literature review has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion or a synthesis.
Students should also include a review of related studies. You should visit the
university library and look for theses and dissertations related to your topic. You
should review these and show how these relate to their research.

Theoretical Framework

It is in this section that you present the theoretical framework that is relevant to
your study. You can make sense of the review of related literature when you can put
everything together in a framework. You should be able to present the
interconnectedness of the theories already written about. It is possible that you will have
a number of theories that are relevant to your study, so you can include these in this
section, but definitely, you should choose one that is closest to your topic. This section
should end with the schematic diagram of the theoretical framework or model you have
chosen. You have to identify the source of the theory or model.

Conceptual Framework

In this section, you should be able to present the research variables under study
and what to do with them. You should discuss each of these variables and how they relate
to one another. The constructs and concepts you will have gathered from the review of
the related literature that you believe are relevant to the research problem should be
reflected in the conceptual framework. If you adopt an existing theory for your study, then
there is no need to develop a conceptual framework.

However, if you want to design your own conceptual framework, you can go ahead
and do it. However, it should follow the research questions and include relevant variables.
Your own conceptual model should be depicted in a schematic diagram showing the
interrelationships of the variables to be investigated in the study.
 This section ends with the diagram of the conceptual framework. Chapter 2
requires at least thirty (30) pages, and at least 10 journal articles, 10 books or reference
materials, and around 5 theses and dissertations and other unpublished materials cited.

The idea is for you to immerse yourselves in the related literature to understand
the state of the art of your topic, the previous research studies done on your topic, and
how your study is different from these past researches, and what research gap is
established by reviewing the literature.

Statement of the Problem

This is the problem that you will have identified to be investigated in your study. The main
problem statement should be stated in complete, declarative sentence. It should be able
to capture all the relevant variables that that need to be investigated in relation to solving
the research problem.
Once you have stated the problem statement clearly, concisely, and effectively,
you will then identify the sub-problems stated as research questions or research
objectives (if you choose to state them as research questions, then there is no need to
come up with research objectives, meaning choose only one or the other). It will be
redundant to have both research questions and research objectives. If they are stated as
questions, then use the interrogative statement. This means it is in the form of a question.
However, if you choose to state the sub-problems as research objectives, these
should be stated in the infinitives, for example, “identify the factors that affect the
implementation of best marketing practices.” If it is in the form of a research question, it
will be “What are the factors that affect the implementation of best marketing practices?”.
Normally, the research questions should not be too many; ideally, at most three
research questions/objectives. The more sub-problems, the more answers you will need
to research on. The last objective of the study should be on the original contribution of the
research.

Significance of the Study

This section of chapter 1 of the research proposal provides you the opportunity to
mention those who are to benefit from the study and how each may be benefitted. You
have to discuss the value of the study to individuals, groups, institutions, and to your own
field of discipline. Who are the stakeholders who will benefit from the findings of your
study?

You should identify the stakeholders one by one and write one brief paragraph on
the benefits for each stakeholder. You should follow the correct format of writing this,
with the stakeholder clearly identified and how he will benefit from the study.
 Scope and Limitations

The scope and coverage of the study can be highlighted in this section. There may
be some limitations in the proposed study that need to be mentioned here so that the
readers will not expect more from the study. The constraints can be time, cost, mobility,
availability of the respondents, among others.

Definition of Terminologies

This section presents the important terms included in the Statement of the
Problem that needs to be made operational. The terms should be defined as how these
will be used in the study. Now, there are two types of definitions. One is, of course its
dictionary meaning and you can easily find the meaning of a term from a standard
dictionary.
However, what we want is the operational definition of the term, not usually its
dictionary meaning. When we say operational, the term should be defined as it will be
used in the study. For example, the term, age. There are many meanings of age in the
dictionary, but for the purpose of the study, it will be defined according to age of
respondents belonging to18 to 40 age range, thus, they have limited the definition of the
term, age, by specifying which age group they are referring to.
It should be remembered to define only the terms that are found in the title, problem
statement, and research questions/objectives. If you would like to define more
technical terms, you can create a Glossary of Terms and put this after the Bibliography.

Methodology

The introductory paragraph of this chapter specifies and qualifies the type of
research that will be used. The research design should be briefly described in this section.
The research process or flow of research may be presented here in a schematic diagram
but should be placed last in the chapter.

Gathering Primary Data

Research Environment

This pertains to the location of the research, i.e. the research setting. You should
describe exactly where you would conduct the study – i.e., in the Philippines and the exact
province, city, or town, or in ASEAN countries, if you can afford to travel to any of these
Asian countries. If possible, you should provide a geographical map and pinpoint the
exact location of the research environment.
Research Respondents

This pertains to the participants of the research who are called respondents or
subjects of the study. In this section, you should identify who will be involved, how many
in terms of sample size as opposed to the population, and how will you arrive at the correct
sample size.

Sampling design should be discussed as well as the criteria for selection of

respondents. You should describe the population and the sample to be surveyed and
provide reasons for the selection of the population and sample. Then you should describe
the sampling method to be used and you should show how the sample would be derived.

Research Instruments

This pertains to the research instruments that will be used in gathering data for the
study. This can be in the form of survey questionnaires (whether standardized or
researcher-made), interview protocols or guides, checklists, journal notes, and other
instruments (if experimental research, equipment and measuring devices, etc.) You
should describe how the instruments would be designed and pre-tested for validity and
reliability.

Research Procedures

This has two sub-sections, namely:

 GATHERING OF DATA – this refers to how primary and secondary data will be
gathered. You have to explain how you will gather data. This may be through the
use of survey questionnaire or interview protocol. Some researchers conduct
Focus Group Discussion (FGD) to gather qualitative data through interaction of the
FGD participants.
 TREATMENT OF DATA – this refers to how the data will be treated for meaning.
This also pertains to the statistical treatment to be applied to the data, i.e. using
descriptive or inferential statistics.

Gathering Primary Data

Data-gathering Procedure - this refers to how secondary data will be gathered.

You have to explain how you will gather data.
 Sources of Data – this refers to the sources of secondary data. Mention here the
organizations or government institutions or agencies as the sources of your data.

Treatment of Data – this refers to how the data will be treated for meaning. This
also pertains to the statistical treatment to be applied to the data, i.e. using descriptive
or inferential statistics

Chapter 2 - Results and Discussions (Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of

Data)

Phase One
Phase Two SOP (based on Treatment of data)
Phase Three

Chapter 3 - Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

This section provides the major findings of the study. It should provide answers to
each of the research questions/objectives raised in Chapter 1.

CONCLUSIONS

This section provides the conclusions of the study, which emanate from the
research findings. Thus, it follows the research questions/objectives (i.e. if you have four
research questions, then you will likewise have four conclusions).

RECOMMENDATIONS
 This section provides the major recommendations of the study, again, following
the research questions/objectives (i.e., if you have four research questions, then you will
also have four major recommendations. You may want to add areas for further research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Periodicals

Unpublished Materials

Internet Resources
TITLE SHOULD BE IN UPPERCASE, DOUBLE SPACED, AND IN BOLD LETTERS

A Mini-Research

Presented to the

Faculty of the Senior High School

Basic Education

University of San Carlos

Cebu City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for

Senior High School - Accounting, Business and Management Strand

 By

YOUR NAME IN UPPERCASE

Month and Year Completed

APPROVAL SHEET

This thesis, entitled “--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------” submitted by ___________________________ in partial fulfilment for

Senior High School - Accounting, Business and Management Strand

has been examined and accepted for ORAL DEFENSE.

Thesis Committee

________________________
Adviser

__________________________ ________________________
Member Member

__________________________
Chair
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 APPENDIX A

TRANSMITTAL LETTER

• Presents the letter of permit

 APPENDIX B

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

• Presents the Questionnaire/Interview Schedule/Observation Guide

 CURRICULUM VITAE

Place 2x2
Picture

Personal Information

Name:

Date of Birth:

Address:

Educational Background

Relevant Work Experience