HANDOUTS IN

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

(QUALITATIVE RESEARCH)
 TOPIC 1: NATURE OF INQUIRY AND RESEARCH
 The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to
establish facts and reach new conclusions.
 Research is very significant on our lives, it has gradually changed human life
through history.

Five (5) importance of research to our daily lives.

1) Research aims for truth (Rolfe 2002).
2) Research improves quality of human life (Bornmann 2013).
3) Research saves life (Cancer Research UK 2019).
4) Research gathers necessary information (Igwenagu 2016).
5) Research explores humanity (Lee, Tran, and Lee 2007).

Characteristics of Research
1. EMPIRICAL
 Research is based on direct experience or observation by the researcher.
2. LOGICAL
 Research is based on valid procedures and principles.
3. CYCLICAL
 Research is a cyclical process because it starts with a problem and ends with a
problem.
4. ANALYTICAL
 Research utilizes proven analytical procedures in gathering the data, whether
historical, descriptive, and experimental.
5. CRITICAL
 Research exhibits careful and precise judgment.
6. METHODICAL
 Research is conducted in a methodical manner without bias using systematic
method and procedures
7. REPLICABILITY
 The research design and procedures are replicated or repeated to enable the
researcher to arrive at valid and conclusive results
 RESEARCH PROCESSES
1. Select a general problem.
2. Review the literature of the problem.
3. Select a specific research problem, question, or hypothesis.
4. Collect data.
5. Analyze and present or display data.
6. Interpret the findings and state conclusions or generalizations regarding the
problem.

Ethics in Research
Ethics
 It is generally considered to deal with beliefs about what is right or wrong, proper
or improper, good or bad.
Ethical considerations in conducting research
1. Objectivity and integrity
2. Respect of the research subjects right to privacy and dignity and protection of
subjects from personal harm
3. Presentation of research finding
4. Misuse of research role
5. Acknowledgement of research collaboration and assistance.
6. Distortions of findings by sponsor

DIFFERENCE OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Expressed in words Expressed in Numbers
Smaller sample size Large sample size
Gain understanding of human mind To prove/disprove a hypothesis
Interview of group discussion Survey questionnaires, checklist

The Kinds of Research Across Fields

1. Art Based Research
 Personal expression in various art forms in use as a primary mode of inquiry.
 EXAMPLE: The Effects of Music on Learning and Behavior
2. Research in Humanities
 Designed to explore human culture such as philosophy, religion, literature,
linguistics, and history.
 EXAMPLE: Values Education in the Public Schools: Practices and Challenges.
3. Research in Sports
 Intended for athletes to endure their health and wellness goals through proven
high- quality products.
 EXAMPLE: Diet and exercise techniques for different kind of sports
4. Research in Science
 Causes and Effects of Climate Change.
 EXAMPLE: The Environmental Factors Affecting Natural Calamities.
5. Research in Business
 Acquire information in business to maximize the sales profit.
 EXAMPLE: Effectiveness of Facebook ADS on sales.
6. Agriculture
 Improves productivity and quality of crops irrigation, storage methods, effective
farm management and marketing of agricultural resources.
 EXAMPLE: Effect Of Different Rates Of Nitrogen Fertilizers On Growth And
Quality Of Rice And Corn.
7. Fisheries
 Increase the productivity and management of fishery resources to provide food.
 EXAMPLE: Environmental causes of variation in survival rates, growth rates, and
age at maturity of Pacific Salmon..
8. Information And Communication Technology
 Aim to adapt current technology advancement which enhances development of
resources.
 EXAMPLE: The Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on
Educational Improvement

TOPIC 2: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN DAILY

LIFE
(The Value of Qualitative Research: Its Kinds, Characteristics, Uses, Strengths, and
Weaknesses)
 KINDS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
 Phenomenology
- It is the study of how people give meaning to their experiences, like death of
loved ones, care for the people, and friendliness of the people.
 Ethnography
- It is understanding of how a particular cultural group goes about their daily lives
which includes their organizational set-up, internal operations, and lifestyle.
 Grounded Theory
- This occurs when a researcher discovers a new theory based on the data
collected. It is research methodology for discovering theory in a substantive area.
 Case Study
- Involves investigations of a person, group, organization, or situation for a long
period of time to explain why such things occur to the subject under study.
 Content and Discourse Analysis
- Requires the examination or analysis of the substance or content of the
communication that takes place through letters, books, journals, photo, etc.
 Historical Analysis
- This is the study of primary documents to explain the connection of past events
to the present time.

CHARACTERISTICS AND USES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. Qualitative research takes place in natural setting like home, school, institution, or
community.
2. It focuses on participants’ perceptions and experiences (Franenkel and Wallen,
1988 in Creswell, 2013.
3. Researchers are sensitive to participants’ needs and participants are actively
engaged in the process
4. Data are collected through observation, interviews, documents, e-mails, blogs,
videos etc.
5. It may result in changes in research questions after new discoveries occur.
6. It is the process of describing a situation, analyzing data for themes or categories,
and making interpretations and drawing conclusions.
7. It may be subjected to the researcher’s personal interpretations.
8. The researchers, as a primary instrument in data collection, view social phenomena
and situation holistically.

STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. Issues can be analyzed through detailed and deep examination.
2. The obtained data from human experience is powerful and sometimes more
interesting than quantitative data.
3. Data usually are collected from a new cases or individuals so findings cannot be
generalized to a larger population.
4. It is useful for describing complex phenenomena.
5. It requires few respondents.

WEAKNESSES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. The volume of data makes analysis and interpretation time-consuming
2. It is sometimes hard to prove.
3. It is an open-ended question yield data overload that requires long time analysis
4. It involves a lot of researcher’s subjectivity in data analysis.
5. Issues of anonymity and confidentiality can bring in problems when presenting
findings.
6. Qualitative research is more difficult to analyze.

IMPORTANCE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ACROSS FIELDS OF

INQUIRY
1. Qualitative Research in Education
 Qualitative research is important as it navigates toward the improvement of
performance in education.
2. Qualitative Research in Technical Communication
 Qualitative research can also be use of technology in the workplace to ensure a
smooth flow of communication.
3.Qualitative Research in Psychology
 Understanding psychology processes and how they affect society is the
contribution of qualitative research.
4. Qualitative Research in Advertising
 The stated connection of understanding the connection between advertising and
consumers’ preferences can be explained through qualitative.
5. Qualitative Research in Social Work
 Conducting research under social work means studying people’s experience
especially what they found traumatic and painful.
6. Qualitative Research in Marketing
 Historically, qualitative research in marketing is influenced by social research and
has embedded projective devices within the approach of in-depth interview.

TOPIC 3: IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE

PROBLEM

The Subject Matter of the Research

Guidelines in Choosing a Topic
1. Interest in the Subject Matter
2. Availability of Information
3. Timeliness and Relevance of the Topic
4. Limitations on the subject
5. Personal Resources

Topics to be Avoided
1. Controversial Topics
2. Highly Technical Subjects
3. Hard-To-Investigate Subjects
4. Too Broad Subjects
5. Too Narrow Subject

Examples of broad and specific topics:

BROAD SPECIFIC
Lack of Self Esteem Lack of Self-Esteem Among Introverts:
Remedies And Intervention
Drug Addiction Health Hazards Of Vaping: Prevention
And Intervention
 Covid-19 Causes, Prevention, And Treatment Of
Covid-19

Sources of Research topics

1. Mass Media Communication-Television, Newspaper,Radio, Films, Etc.
2. Books, Internet, Journals,Government Publications
3. Work Experience

Example of research topics and their resources:

A. SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Sources: Magazines, Journals, Social Media, Books, Newspaper
Topic: Cyberbullying And Coping Mechanisms Among Senior High School Students.

FORMULATION A RESEARCH TITLE:

 Research Title is the Most Important Element of Your Research As It Clearly
Express The Problem To Be Explored.
 It Is Expressed in Few Words Possible and Just Enough To Describe The
Contents And The Purpose Of Your Research
 It Needs to Be Informative
 A part of a research title has the following information:
 What: The Subject Matter Or Topic To Be Investigated
 Where; Place Or Locale Where The Research Is To Be Concluded
 Who: The Participants Of Respondents Of The Study
 When: The Time Period Of The Conduct Of The Study

Examples:
 Struggles In Online Learning Modality Among Students Of Quezon National
High School During School Year 2021-2022
What: Struggles In Online Learning Modality
Where: Quezon National High School
Who: Students
When: School Year 2021-2022
 Less Mastered Competencies Of Senior High School Students In Bukidnon
National High School Year 2020-2021
What: Less Mastered Competencies
Where: Bukidnon
Who: Senior High School Students
When: School Year 2020-2021

It is not necessary to complete the data on what, where, who, and when in the
title:
EXAMPLES:
 Study Habits Of Senior High School Students In Public Schools Of Bukidnon
 Understanding The Academic Journey Of Senior High School Students

JUSTIFICATION AND REASONS FOR CONDUCTING QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH

FACTORS THAT JUSTIFY CONDUCT OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. CREDIBILITY- Refers to the truth value of the qualitative study.
2. VALIDITY- Refers to in-depth description that shows complexities of variables
and the embedding of interactions in data derived from the setting.
3. DEPENDABILITY- Refers to the researchers’ attempts to account for changing
conditions in the phenomenon chosen for the study
4. TRANSFERABILITY- Is the applicability of one set of findings to another
context.
5. CONFORMABILITY- Answers the following questions: Do the data help
confirm the general findings and lead to the implications?

CHAPTER 1
 INTRODUCTION
 THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
 SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
 DEFINITION OF TERMS

INTRODUCTION
 The most challenging part of the paper to write.
 An introduction should announce the topic.
 Well-written introductions set the tone for the paper, catch the reader’s interest.
 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.

 Consist of:
 TOPIC/BACKGROUND
 RELEVANT RESEARCHES
 RESEARCH GAP AND RATIONALE
 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
AVOID
 Overloading of related literature and studies
 Inaccurate Details
 Irrelevant Facts
 Copy and Paste Contents
 Vague Contents
 Poor Organization of Contents

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
 Consist of concepts together with their definitions and reference to relevant
scholarly literature, and existing theory that is used for a particular study.
 The theoretical framework must demonstrate an understanding of theories and
concepts that are related to the topic.

TO WRITE THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK:

1. TITLE OF THE THEORY
2. AUTHOR/PROPONENT (YEAR)
3. THEORITICAL PRINCIPLE
4. RELATIONSHIP/RELEVANCE TO THE PRESENT

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
 A conceptual framework is a representation of the relationship you expect to see
between your variables, or the characteristics or properties that you want to study.
 Conceptual frameworks can be written or visual and are generally developed
based on a literature review of existing studies about your topic.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 The central question is a statement of the question being examined in the study in
its most general form.
 Begin with ‘what’ or ‘how’ to convey an open and emerging design. ‘Why’
suggest cause and effect, an approach consistent with qualitative research.

Guidelines in Writing the Statement of the Problem (According to Calderon &

Gonzales,1993)
1. The general statement of the problem and the research questions should be
formulated first before conducting the research.
2. Research questions should be stated in the interrogative and each should be clear to
avoid confusion.
3. Each research question should be researchable
NOT RESEARCHABLE
× Do all grade 11 students eat breakfast before attending to their morning
class?
× Should Senior High School students taking ABM be good in Mathematics?
RESEARCHABLE: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHY, HOW
 What is the profile of the students in terms of:
age?
gender?
 How does study habits influence the level of achievement of Grade 12
students in English subject?
4. The summary of the answers to all the specific questions will give a complete
development of the entire study.
SCOPE AND DELIMITATION
 The scope of the study in your research paper contains the explanation of what
information or subject is being analyzed.
 It is followed by an explanation of the limitation of the research.
 Indicate the principal variables, locale, timeframe and justification.
 To whom your research is directed to?
 What is the subject matter of the study?
 Where will the study take place?
 Indicate the timeframe. State the coverage of the study.
 Do not forget the limitation. What is the limitation of your study
 Is it beneicial to all? Or to a certain person/institution only?

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

 Describe the contributions of the study as new knowledge.
 Cite usefulness of the study to the specific groups.
 Cite all the persons and groups that will benefit your study/research.
 Include a short explanation regarding how those person and groups will benefit
from your study.
 The researchers should also include themselves as beneficiaries.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
There should be two types of definition:
1. CONCEPTUAL MEANING
 Based on what a dictionary or an encyclopedia tells.
2. OPERATIONAL MEANING
 Based on how the researchers used a term in the study

NOTE: The terms should be arranged logically. The key variables should be defined
first.