▪ Refers to question of right or wrong. There are number of ethical principles that all researchers should be aware of and apply to their investigation.
▪ The basic ethical consideration for all researchers to consider is whether any physical or psychological harm could come to anyone as a result of the research. Hence, all subject in a research study should be assured of that any data collected from or about them will be held confidential. A further responsibility in protecting individuals from harm is obtaining their consent if they may be exposed to any risk.
▪ Brinkman (2012) list some ethical questions as guide for the researcher at the start of a research project:
• What are the beneficial consequences of the study?
• How can informed consent of the participants be obtained?
• How can confidentiality of the participants be protected?
• What are the consequences of the study for the participants?
• How will the researcher’s role affect the study?
▪ In the context of social science, Murphy and Dingwall (in Flick, 2011) have developed an “ethical theory” based on four principles:
• Non-maleficence - researchers should avoid harming participants.
• Beneficence - research on human subjects should produce some positive and identifiable benefit rather than simply be carried out for its own sake.
• Autonomy or Self Determination - research participants value and decisions should be
respected.
• Justice - all person should be treated equally.
Ethical Consideration in Research
a. Integrity of the Researcher the researcher must act professionally in the pursuit of truth. They should be committed to discovering and reporting things as honestly as possible. A very basic ethical rule is to acknowledge the sources of information used throughout the text. Knowledge or information taken from another source must be acknowledged by citing the name of the author/authors and reference material when such ideas were taken.
b. Deception or misinterpretation must be avoided another ethical issue in research is deception. As
used in research, deception refers to intentionally misinforming the subject of a study as to some or all aspects of the research topic. To avoid such, current professional guidelines are as follows:
• Whenever possible, a researcher should conduct the study using methods that do not require deception.
• If alternative methods cannot be devised, the researcher must determine whether the use of deception is justified by the prospective study’s scientific, educational, or applied value.
• If the participants are deceived, the researcher must ensure that they are provided with
Page | 13 sufficient explanation as soon as possible.
c. Informed Consent is a principle that is fundamental to the notion of human rights. This means that it is absolutely essential to seek the voluntary consent of the human subject. Studies using children or minors as participants present some special issues for researchers. The young are more vulnerable in some respect, have fewer legal rights, and may not understand the language of informed consent. Therefore, the following specific guidelines need to be considered:
• Children may never be coerced into participation in a study.
• Informed consent of parents of those legally designated as caretakers is required for the participants defined as minors. Signers must be provided with all necessary information inappropriate language and must have the opportunity to refuse.
d. Privacy, Confidentiality, and Anonymity the researcher should ensure confidentiality of information and safeguard the identities of the target participants or respondents of the study. To ensure anonymity, researchers can use codes in the research report on methodology rather than the real names of people, places, or organizations like student 1,2,3 …, teacher A,B,C, …, school X,Y,Y, …, and so on. But the researcher needs to record the true identities in his/her own private file for verification and clarification purposes.
A researcher is encouraged to consider the following in reporting the result of his/her study:
• Data should be reported honestly, without changing or altering the findings to satisfy certain predictions or interest groups.
• Studies completed by others should not be plagiarized, and credit should be given for materials quoted from other studies.
• Research should be free of jargon and be understandable to those being studied.
• Research should not sit unpublished and that researchers should openly share their findings.
• Result should be published and disseminated, even though they may present findings contrary to accepted standards.
Page | 14 Lesson 5. The Formulation of Chapter 1 Introduction
▪ The introduction of the study of any thesis or research work is the part which introduces the reader to the topic investigated and it provides an overview of and rationale for the study. Therefore, it is in this part that the writer should try to arouse the interest of the reader and convince them that the research is worth reading.
▪ Before discussing the main topic/problem of your thesis, you should be able to introduce it first in a broad perspective. Your introduction should be able to offer an overall view of the research area and the general nature of the topic/problem.
▪ The introduction of the study should not be to lengthy as to discourage the reader from reading them nor should it be too short that it will fail to cover salient items for introduction.
▪ Discuss what is the problem, why is it a problem, how it should be solved, why it must be solved, and the main purpose of the study.
▪ In writing an introduction of the study the following should be considered:
• Describe the problem situation globally, nationally, and/ or locally, specifically the trends and issues in the field.
• Cite the legal bases of the study (if applicable).
• Link the situation to the existing body of knowledge. Cite statistics and authoritative sources to support the idea.
• State the contribution of the study.
• Make a clinching statement that will relate the introduction to the proposed research problem.
Background of the Study
▪ This section discusses the historical background of the problem. It describes the problematic situation, the extent and gravity of the problem, who are affected by it, its effects, etc. and how it led the researcher to conduct the study and conceptualization. Pertinent statistical data can be cited to support the researcher’s claim of existence of the problem.
▪ It is more specific than the introduction. Mention the rationale of the study or what motivated you to conduct the study. Essentially it is a synthesis of what you have read and observed regarding the phenomenon that you are trying to explain.
The Statement of the Problem
▪ In this section you should be able to state clearly and directly the objectives of your study or research questions.
▪ Begin this section with a sentence or two stating the general objective/purpose of the study, followed by specific questions/ objective that expand/ specify the coverage of the general objective/ purpose of the study.
• Level 1 question - descriptive part (What is – questions)
Page | 15 • Level 2 question - inferential part of the hypothesis testing (Is there – questions)
▪ The general problem should have the following characteristics:
• It results from a felt need.
• It must reflect a noteworthy contribution to knowledge.
• It must be within the researcher’s competence and interest.
• It must be within the resources of the investigator with reference to time (within the thesis writing period), money (financial plan) and workability (availability of data).
• The general problem should be stated in such a way that it is not answerable by yes or no, when and where.
• Each sub- problem should be as extensive in coverage as the others along mutually exclusive dimensions (no overlapping)
• The sub- problems should be arranged in logical order from factual to analytical.
• Sub- problems on the background, expected conclusions, implications and recommendations of
the research should be excluded.
Page | 16 Hypothesis
▪ Hypothesis (when the study is quantitative nature) refers to a statement that requires proof of its truthfulness. Usually written in its null hypothesis form. A thesis hypothesis (TH) is the researcher’s tentative speculation, guess, or inference on what the researcher believes would be the outcome of the study.
▪ Null Hypothesis is a statement of “no significant difference” or “no significant relationship” between two or more variables or group that are to be measured and tested though inferential statistics. It is in a negative statement form so that it could be statistically treated or subjected to a test.
▪ The reverse statement of a null hypothesis is called alternative hypothesis (Ha), it is a statement of “there is a significant difference” or “there is a significant relationship”.
How to write you Hypothesis
▪ Make an introductory statement (e.g. The following hypothesis will be tested in this study …)
▪ Use a NULL HYPOTHESIS in your research proposal.
▪ The number of NULL HYPOTHESIS depends on the Level 2 questions in your Statement of the Problem.
Theoretical Framework
Theories
▪ Are statement about the mechanism underlying a particular behavior.
▪ Theories help organize and verify different observations related to the behavior and good theories will generate predictions about the behavior. A theory is constructed to explain, predict, and master phenomenon (e.g. relationship, events, behavior). In many instances, we are constructing, models of reality.
Framework
Page | 17 ▪ Is a fundamental structure which supports and gives shape to the general body.
Theoretical Framework
▪ Presents the theory from which the research problem was derived or to which it is linked.
▪ Present theories as sufficient as possible since they are the bases of your variable to be studied.
▪ In formulating the theoretical framework for the study, you may look at various theories upon which you may base your study. In other words, this is a discussion of the theory which serve as basis for the study.
▪ Cite the theory and discuss it fully.
▪ Relate or anchor your research study to the theory/theories cited.
Conceptual Framework
▪ Is the developed to assist the researcher in finding way/s to answer the statement of the problem. To put it simply, a conceptual framework consists of “concepts or propositions that essentially structure or guide the conduct of research”.
▪ The Conceptual Framework presents the relationship between the specific concepts that may be studied. The concepts used at this level should be deprived from concepts used in the theoretical framework.
▪ Also known as the Research Paradigm that serves as the basis or backbone of your research.
▪ Can be presented in an IV-DV form (dependent and independent) or through the Input-Process-Output (IPO) Model.
Page | 18 Significance of the Study
▪ The significance of the study in the research title proposal should state the potential contribution of the study of the study. Ideally the significance of the study can be derived from the statement of the problem, it serves as a guide to identify the specific contributions of the study.
▪ The significance of the study is predicated on the expected outcomes. It can therefore state the anticipated outcomes of the study in relation to theory, practice, social policy, and personal learning. Basically, the following questions can be used as guide for the development of the significance of the study:
• Why is this work important?
• What are the implications of doing it?
• How does it link to other knowledge?
• Who will benefit from this study?
• Why is it important to our understanding of the world?
• What new perspective will you bring to the topic?
• What further research can be derived from this study?
Scope and Limitation of the Study
▪ The scope of the study defines where and when the study will be conducted and who the subjects are, it specifies what is covered in terms of concept, number of subjects or the population included in the study, as well as the timeframe when the study was conducted. The scope sets the delimitation and establishes the boundaries of the study. It also states the specific variables covered in the study. The delimitation of the study describes the factors or variables that are not to be included and the boundary in terms of timeframe, number of respondents/subjects who are included in the study.
▪ The limitation of the study is an aspect of the study which may affect the result adversely but over which the researcher has no control.
Page | 19 Definition of Terms
▪ Terms are defined in two (2) ways – conceptual definition and operational definition.
▪ Conceptual Definition or also called the technical definition of terms comes from authoritative sources like dictionary, books, and other materials. On the other hand, operational definition is defining the terms/concepts as used in the investigation.
