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Research I
Quarter 3 – Module 1:
Research Design

DIVISION OF ANGELES CITY

Research I – Grade 9
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 3 – Module 1: Research Design
First Edition, 2021

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Research I
Quarter 3 – Module 1:
Research Design
Introductory Message
This Self-Learning Module (SLM) is prepared so that you, our dear learners,
can continue your studies and learn while at home. Activities, questions,
directions, exercises, and discussions are carefully stated for you to understand
each lesson.

Each SLM is composed of different parts. Each part shall guide you step-
bystep as you discover and understand the lesson prepared for you.

Pre-tests are provided to measure your prior knowledge of lessons in each

SLM. It will tell you if you need to complete this module or if you need to ask your
facilitator or your teacher's assistance for a better understanding of the lesson.
At the end of each module, you need to answer the post-test to self-check what
you are learning. Answer keys are provided for each activity and test. We trust
that you will be honest in using these.

In addition to the material in the main text, notes to the Teacher are also
provided to our facilitators and parents for strategies and reminders on how they
can best help you with your home-based learning.

Please use this module with care. Do not put unnecessary marks on any
part of this SLM. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises and
tests. And read the instructions carefully before performing each task.

If you have any questions using this SLM or any difficulty in answering the tasks
in this module, do not hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator.

Thank you.

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 What I Need to Know
This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help
you master the principles of research design. Once the principles of research
design have been learned, students are now ready to write the research proposal
or any other application on the principles of research design. The language used
recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students. The activities are arranged
to follow the standard sequence of the course. But the order in which you read
them can be changed to correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module contains:

Lesson 1 – Principles of Research Design
(Apply Principles of Research Design – MELC Q3W1)

After going through this module, you are expected to:

• identify the variables,

• recognize the basic research principles, and
• apply the research design structures.

What I Know

Directions: Read each question carefully. Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. Which of the following best describes a research design?
a. It serves as a framework for the literature review and answering the
research questions.
b. It is the overall strategy that you choose to integrate while planning
the research proposal.
c. It makes the conclusion valid because it takes into consideration all
the assumptions that went into deriving the various inferences.
d. It ensures that appropriate data will be obtained that permits an
objective analysis, leading to valid inferences about the stated
problem.

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 2. How many tests do homogeneous experimental units be subjected to the
same treatment under similar conditions?
a. at least one replicate c. minimum of three replicates
b. minimum of two replicates d. multiple times
3. Anna thinks that if people are exposed to ultraviolet light then they are
more likely to get skin cancer. She designs an experiment wherein sample
A consisted of people who were exposed to ultraviolet light and sample B
was not.
Which is the independent variable in the problem?
a. skin cancer c. exposure to ultraviolet rays
b. samples A and B d. people who are exposed to
ultraviolet light
4. A researcher plants three plots of flower seeds. He weeds and waters the
first plot every day. He weeds and waters the second plot every other day.
He leaves the third plot alone. After 12 weeks, the researcher measures
the height of each flower. What is the role of the plots of flowers in the
experiment?
a. control group c. dependent variable
b. experimental units d. independent variables

5. Justin B. believes that the temperature lowering during the fall months is
what causes the color of the leaves to change. He set up an experiment
wherein he placed some plants in 80 degrees rooms and some in 60-
degree rooms. He then observed the color of the leaves for a total of 1
month. At the end of the month, Justin observed that ¾ of the plants in the
60-degree temperature had been to change colors and only ¼ of the plants
in the 80-degree temperature began to change colors. What is the
dependent variable in the problem?
a. the changing colors of the leaves
b. temperature lowering during the fall months
c. ¾ of the plants placed in the 60-degrees temperature
d. ¼ of the plants placed in the 80-degrees temperature
6. The boss in a company wants to experiment if workers will complete the 2
months of stress management training will lessen their number of sick days
in a year. How should the control group in this experiment be treated?
a. no participation in the stress training program
b. complete the stress training program for 2 months
c. participate in different training programs in 2 months
d. participate in the stress training program at different number of days

For questions 7-10, refer to the given situation.

Situation: A farmer wants to study whether organic fertilizer will increase the
growth of the lettuce plants at a fast rate. He used 20 lettuce plants
for this experiment. He randomly chose 10 lettuce samples treated
with organic fertilizer while the remaining 10 samples are to be

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 treated with commercial fertilizer. The amount of water and sunlight
are kept the same for all the sample plants.
7. What type of experiment design is used in the given situation?
a. complete block design
b. completely randomized design
c. randomized complete block design
d. both b and c

8. Which are the experimental units?

a. 10 lettuce plants without fertilizer
b. 10 lettuce plants with organic fertilizer
c. 20 lettuce plants used in the experiment
d. 40 lettuce plants used in the experiment

9. What is the purpose of keeping the same amount of water and sunlight for
all lettuce plants?
a. serve as extraneous variables
b. to focus on the experimental treatment
c. to know other variables that may contribute to the growth of the
lettuce plants
d. both a and b
10.What is the primary purpose of having a group of 10 lettuce plants treated
with commercial fertilizer?
a. control
b. extraneous
c. experimental
d. study subject

Lesso
Research Design
n 1
A. Definition:
The research design serves as a framework for research planning and
answering your research questions. Formulating your research design means
determining the following (McCombes 2020):
What type of data do you need?
Who are the sources or the participants of your study?
Which variables and or hypotheses (if relevant) will you investigate?
How will you collect and analyze your needed data?

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 B. Significance:

• It serves as a guide for direction during the actual experimentation.

• It allows a gain of maximum information relevant to the problem at a
minimum cost.
• It makes the statistical test of significance valid because it takes into
consideration all the assumptions that went into deriving the various
statistics.

What's In
In our previous lesson, you were introduced to a scientific method. Let us
recall by exploring the processes involved.

Directions: Label each arrow with the correct step in the scientific method.

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 First A question that needs to
1.
be answered

A process skill that uses

2. the senses to gather
information

3. An educated guess

A procedure to test the

4.
hypothesis

5. Collect, re
cord, and
examine the data

Compare the hypothesis

6. result in the experiment

Hypothesis supported Hypothesis not supported

7. Share results

Figure 1: Scientific Method

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 What's New

The research design refers to the complete sequence of steps that will be
undertaken in a project. The design should ensure that appropriate data will be
obtained in a way that permits an objective analysis, leading to valid inferences
concerning the stated problem. Preparation of the research design is a step in
problem-solving, consisting of a detailed plan to be followed to obtain the needed
data.
One of the basic elements that you must consider when planning the
sequence of steps that will embody the research design is the identification of
variables. In research, variables are any characteristics that can take on different
values, such as height, age, species, or exam score. In scientific research, we
often want to study the effect of one variable on another one.
Classification of Variables

There are different ways of classifying variables. The method of

classification will depend on what stage of the research process you are in. When
formulating the experimental design, you classify the variables based on cause
and effect because you need to define the relationships that exist between your
variables.
Classes of Variables Based on Cause and Effect:

• Independent or Manipulated
• Dependent or Responding
• Extraneous or Constant
Variables in the Research Design

When you design your experiment, you need to make sure that you have
covered all your bases in terms of the different types of variables used, the
values for the identified variables, and the time that each variable takes on a
value.
Here are guide questions that you may use to determine if you have
covered all the bases:

• Independent Variables - What variables will you manipulate or vary?

• Extraneous Variables - What will you keep constant during
experimentation or data gathering?
• Dependent Variables - What will you observe during and/or after
experimentation/testing?

Here is the example showing the application of the three variables:

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 Type of variable Definition Example (fertilizer added
to plants experiment)

Independent variables Variables you manipulate The amount of fertilizer added

to affect the outcome of to each plant’s water.
an experiment.
Dependent variables Variables that represent Any measurement of plant
the outcome of the health and growth: in this
experiment. case, plant height.

Extraneous variables Variables that are held The temperature and light in
constant throughout the the room the plants are kept
experiment. in, and the volume of water
given to each plant.

Table 1: Independent vs dependent vs extraneous variables

Groups in Experiment Design

An experimental group is a test sample or the group that receives an

experimental procedure. This group is exposed to changes in the independent
variable being tested.
A control group is a group separated from the rest of the experiment such
that the independent variable being tested cannot influence the results.
While all experiments have an experimental group, not all experiments
require a control group. Controls are extremely useful where the experimental
conditions are complex and difficult to isolate. Experiments that use control
groups are called controlled experiments.

Let us Check our New Learning on Variables!

SPOT THE VARIABLES

Directions: Read the following experiments and fill in the blanks that follow.
Hint: One problem does not contain a control group

1. A study was conducted to test the effects of jazz on people's sleeping

patterns. The experiment hypothesized that if people listened to jazz music as
they fell asleep, they would sleep for more extended periods. For the
experiment, two groups of people were created. One group was placed in a
quiet room where they went to sleep, and they were timed on how long they
slept. The other group was placed in a room where jazz music softly played as
they began to sleep and played throughout the night. As each group awoke,
their sleep times were monitored.

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Independent Variable:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Experimental Group:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Control Group:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Dependent Variable:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Extraneous Variables:
__________________________________________________________________________________

2. A student wanted to test how the mass of a paper airplane affected the
distance it would fly. Paper clips were added before each test flight. As each
paper clip was added, the plane was tested to determine how far it would fly.

Independent Variable:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Experimental Group:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Control Group:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Dependent Variable:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Extraneous Variables:
__________________________________________________________________________________
Sources: Kathryn's experimental design examples – Course Hero
VARIABLES WORKSHEET #2: MORE PRACTICE - pch.district70

What is It

The research design refers to the overall strategy that you choose to
integrate the different components of the study coherently and logically, thereby,
ensuring you will effectively address the research problem; it constitutes the
blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of data.

The following are the basic elements that you must consider when planning the
sequence of steps that will embody the research design:

1. Identification of variables
2. Application of basic research principles
3. Consideration of the research design structure

I. Variables

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 A variable is any entity that can take on different measurable or
observable values. The use of variables is an intrinsic part of any investigative
research. Variables are used as the point of comparison between two or more
objects or experimental units, as a means for specifying the focus of the
investigation, and as the basis for defining the scope of a project. (Detailed
discussion of the classification of variables in this module - What's New)

Variables in Engineering Projects

Experimentation is not always apparent in engineering projects because in

creating a new device, software, or system, there is already a design in mind that
is based on known concepts and theories.

What you need to remember, though, is that when a new product is

created it needs to be tested in terms of functionality and efficiency. In an
engineering project, the use of variables is applied mainly during the testing
phase, when the product is being evaluated for its performance or effectiveness
in providing a solution to the real-life problem.

Testing a product follows the same process of identifying independent and

extraneous variables, setting values for these variables, and then making
observations to come up with values for the dependent variables. It is done only
when it has been proclaimed by the researcher that the product is “finished.”
This means that the prototype is built and that there are no more changes that
will be made to its design or functional specifications.

Example of an engineering project:

A salt manufacturing device was designed to be able to produce
mineral-rich salt via solar method at a faster rate than ordinary methods.
To test the performance of the salt manufacturing device, the following

variables are identified:

Independent variable : method of salt production (two values are “using

the created dev ice” and “via traditional method.”) Extraneous variables:

• amount of saltwater used

• source of saltwater (thus the assumption that the salinity of the water
is constant)
I.• exposure time of the saltwater in the device to sunlightBasic Principles
of Research Design
• place of exposure Dependent variables:
• time for total evaporation to occur, in minutes
• amount of salt produced, in grams
• mineral content of the salt produced (list of minerals in grams per unit
weight of salt)
Source: Variables - BSICR-Ch-4-Copy

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II. Basic Principles of Research Design

For a Research Design to be considered sound, three basic principles are

expected to be present:

• Local control refers to the balancing, grouping, and blocking of

experimental units so that the units within each block are relatively
homogeneous. In engineering projects where new products or systems are
created, the product or system itself may be considered as the
experimental unit. Examples are a prototype of a device or a computer
program that is subjected to various treatments (test cases) to determine
its correctness and consistency in performance.

• Replication refers to the conduct of an experiment or test using three or

more homogeneous experimental units subjected to the same treatment
under similar conditions. In the case of technical research where the
product of design is the lone experimental unit, replication refers to the
repetition of a test under controlled conditions. Replication makes the test
of significance possible.

• Randomization refers to an unbiased method of assignment of

experimental units (or subjects) to the treatment/s or vice versa. It assures
the validity of the statistical tests of significance.

The Experimental Units

Before you start verifying if you have considered the three basic principles
of research design in your project, make sure that you have correctly identified
your experimental units first.
An experimental unit also referred to as the experimental subject, is the
focus of testing or experimentation. It is the organism, material, product, or
device that is subjected to one or more treatments and is, therefore, the source
of observation or data. It could be plants, animals, or inanimate objects.
Examples are lettuce heads, bacterial culture set-ups, mice pieces of wood, and
rabbit human testers.

Checklist of Applied Principles

After identifying your experimental unit, you may now check if the three
basic principles of research design are evident in your project:

1. Local Control
• Do all experimental units that receive the same treatment bear
the same characteristics?
2. Replication
• For every treatment (experimental or control) or test, do you
have a minimum of three replicates?

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 3. Randomization
• Is there a randomization method used to divide the experimental
units in each block among the various treatments? Note that if
randomization were done, it would not matter what treatment is
assigned to an experimental unit.

III. Basic Types of Research Design

A good research design also considers the organizational structure of the

experimental units. There are two basic types: completely randomized design
and randomized complete block design. The other designs are variations of these
two basic types.

• Completely Randomized Design (CRD) is used when the set of

experimental units is homogeneous concerning the factors that may
affect the results. Each experimental unit is simply assigned a
treatment randomly. In the figure below, there are a total of nine
experimental units, all of the same type. Any three experimental units
may be assigned for each of the three treatments (T1, T2, T3).

Figure 1: Experimental units assigned randomly in three treatments

Source: Variables - BSICR-Ch-4-Copy

• Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) is used when the

experimental units have varying characteristics that may affect the
results of the experiment. When this happens, the units are divided into
homogeneous groups or blocks. Within each block, the subjects are
assigned treatment randomly. The result is that all treatments should
be assigned to corresponding experimental units within each block.

Figure 2: Experimental units divided into three blocks and assigned

treatment randomly
Source: Variables - BSICR-Ch-4-Copy

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 The sample illustration above shows three types of frogs, hence the division
into three blocks. Within each homogeneous block, treatment is assigned to
three frogs. Note that the number of replicates per treatment is still three.
Because the frogs in Block 2 are different from those in Block 1, they are
considered as different set-ups.

Features of a Good Design

A good research design should have a well-defined set of experimental

units. Before execution of the project, it must be verified that the experimental
units have homogeneous characteristics or have been classified accordingly into
homogeneous groups.

If the characterization and blocking of experimental units are done

properly, it should be easy to verify if these basic principles (replication, local
control, and randomization) are applied in the research design.

Once the basic elements of the research design are set, then you are
ready to write the research proposal.

What's More
Directions: Read the situation below and answer the guide questions for each of
the activity that follows.

Situation: A footwear company wants to test the effectiveness of its new insoles
(soft insole and air-fill insole) designed to prevent shin splints resulting
from running. They hire a group of physical trainers and a statistician,
who recruits 100 healthy adult runners with the same age range to
participate in a study. The statistician randomly assigns the 60 runners
to follow the same weekly running schedule, wherein 30 runners will
use new insoles and the remaining 30 will use the existing insoles the
company already sells. After 10 weeks, the statistician records the
number of runners from each group that has developed shin splints.
They made sure that the results are valid that they have performed
the testing three times for each treatment.

Activity I: Identification of Variables

Guide Questions:

1. Which is the independent variable?

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 ____________________________________________________________________________
2. Which is the dependent variable?
____________________________________________________________________________
3. What are the extraneous variables?
____________________________________________________________________________
Activity II: Recognition of Basic Research Principle

Guide Questions:

1. What is the primary purpose of the 30 runners who used the new insole in
the experiment?
___________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the significance of the 30 runners who used the existing insole in
the experiment?
___________________________________________________________________________
3. How is replication applied to test the significance of the result?
___________________________________________________________________________

Activity III: Application of Research Design Structure

Guide Questions:

1. What type of research design was used in the situation? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________

2. Illustrate the type of research design used in the situation. Show how the
samples were assigned to the treatments.

What I Have Learned

Directions: Fill in the blanks with the correct word/s.

1. ___________________ means planning a set of procedures to investigate a

relationship between variables.
2. ___________________ is the variable you think is the cause, while a/an
___________________ is the effect.

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 3. An treatment group, also known as a/an ____________________, receives the
treatment whose effect researchers wish to study.
4. The ________________________ refers to the balancing, grouping, and
blocking of experimental units so that the units within each block are
relatively homogeneous.
5. The ____________________ receives no treatment in the experiment.
6. In a/an _____________________________, every subject is assigned to a
treatment group at random.
7. ______________________________ is used when the experimental units have
varying characteristics that may affect the results of the experiment.
8. __________________ refers to the repetition of a test under controlled
conditions.
9. In a controlled experiment, ______________________are held constant to
focus on your experimental treatment.
10. In an engineering project, when the researcher says that the product is
“finished,” it means that the _______________ is built and that there are no
more changes that will be made to its design or functional specifications.

What I Can Do

Directions: Read the given situation, identify the variables, and illustrate a
research design structure.

Situation: A local pharmaceutical company introduced Moringa D, a new pill

that has a good chance of helping people lower their blood sugar.
Typically, the Hemoglobin A1C test is a way to measure the average
blood sugar for the last three months. The company hopes that the pill
lowers blood sugar as shown with lowered AIC. To experiment, 100
diabetic patients were randomly selected into two groups: patients
who would take the New pill and patients who would take the popular
Brand A pill in the market.

Guide questions:

1. What is the role of Moringa D in the experiment?

____________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the significance of having a lowered AIC in the experiment?

____________________________________________________________________________

3. What are the extraneous variables?

____________________________________________________________________________

4. Which is the experimental unit and what treatment is applied?

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___________________________________________________________________________

5. How should the control group in this experiment be treated?

___________________________________________________________________________

6. Illustrate how the samples are assigned using a Randomized Complete Block
Design. Show the repetition of tests in triplicate in each treatment.

Assessment

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 5. Which is the best way to assign samples using a completely randomized
design?
a. random select 75 households with keto-based and 25 with keto-free
diets
b. random select 75 households with keto-free and 25 with keto-based
diets
c. random select 50 households with keto-based diet and 50
households with keto-free diet
d. random select 50 households with other diet and randomly select 25
with keto-based and 25 keto-free diets

Additional Activities

Directions: Read the given engineering project and answer the questions that
follow.
Situation: Graphene is proven in several studies to possess high energy
storage. A local manufacturer designed a graphene-made battery that
has a longer charge capacity. To test the performance of his invention,
he compared the charge capacity of a graphene-made battery to a
conventional battery in the market.
Guide questions:
1. What is the independent variable?
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. What are the extraneous variables?
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the dependent variable?
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the experimental treatment applied?
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. Which is the control in the experiment?
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. If you were the manufacturer, how will you test the performance of your
invention?
_________________________________________________________________________________

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References
Bevans, Rebecca. 2020. “A Quick Guide to Experimental Design: 4 Steps &
Examples.” Scribbr. 2020.
https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/experimental-design/.

Chupungco, Ana Maria A. 2013. “Variables.” Accessed January 17, 2021. BSICR-
Ch-4-Copy.

De Vaus, D. A. 2001. “Research Design in Social Research.” SAGE. 2001.

https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/researchdesignsethods
Knowledge Base. 2006.

"Experimental Design Multiple Choice Test-Review Game Zone." Accessed

December 30, 2020. http://bit.ly/3oxEm6e.

“Introduction to experiment design.” Accessed January 19, 2021.

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/ap-statistics/gathering-data-
ap/statistics-experiments/v/intro-experiment-design.

“Kathryn's Experimental Design Examples Worksheet.” n.d. Course Hero.

Accessed January 10, 2021.
https://www.coursehero.com/file/45514515/Kathryns- experimental-design-
examples-worksheet/.

McCombes, Shona. 2020. "Research Design: Types, Methods, and Examples."

Scribbr. September 21, 2020. https://www.scribbr.com/research-
process/research-design/.

Schmied, John. 2020 "Experimental design version 4.3."

https://www2.slideshare.net/jschmied/experimental-design-verision-3.

Wichmanowski, Taylor. "Evaluating Existing Experimental Designs." Last modified

July 29, 2014. https://betterlesson.com/lesson/619737/evaluating-
existingexperimental-designs.

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