Chapter 1

RESEARCH
CONTENT STANDARD
The Learner demonstrate understanding of:
 The importance of research in daily life
 The Characteristics, processes and ethics of research;
 Qualitative and Quantitative research; and
 The kinds of research across fields.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES
The Learners…..
 Share research experience
 Explains the importance of research in daily life;
 Describes characteristics, processes and ethics of research; and
 Make their own research

LET US
START!
Instruction:
1. Find your pair.
2. Tackle with your pair at least one (1) of these topics:
a. Poverty
b. Unemployment
c. Same-sex marriage
d. Drug addiction
e. Divorce
3. In a piece of paper, construct a table like the one below to process your conversation:

TOPIC WHAT? WHO? WHY?

Put the chosen Put the facts that Put here the people Write here the
topic here. you and your involved in the reasons why the
partner talked issue you chose. chosen issue/topic
about. exists.

4. After completing the table, answer the following questions:

a. What made the topic you chose interesting?
b. Is the information you put in the table realistic. How did you come up with those
data?
 c. Do you think your personal preference affected the data you put into the table? Justify
your answer.
This simple activity introduces students to the world of research. It is an inevitable
activity for scholars and common people alike. To understand this activity, we should
start by asking the following questions:
1. What is research?
2. Why should research be done?
3. How do we go about research? How should it be done?

The chapter would like to answer these questions and more. Apparently, this would aid
students in trying to understand the activity of research better. Consequently, they will be able to
do the activity properly in the coming future.

WHAT IS RESEARCH?
Our world is full of mysteries. It is full of beauty and wonders that cannot easily be
understood by human beings. Fortunately, the world is also intelligible. We can know,
understand, explain, and in some manner, predict the events happening in our world. For us, it
is essential for us to do all these things because we should know our world. However, we must
admit the fact that we cannot know, understand, explain, and predict everything. There are things
that are still beyond human comprehension.
Still, human beings are undeniably curious. The reason for such us the existence of
human rationality. Rationality refers to the ability of a human person to think and reason
out. It is what separates us from the animals. Due such, human beings continue to search for
answers to a lot of questions about the world or in their life. Hence, it can be likened to a search
for truth. This is the activity of philosophy. Plato, a famous Greek philosopher, remarked:
“philosophy starts with wonder.” Apparently, this perfectly describes human nature.
We never stop asking questions and trying to find the answers to these questions. Thus,
we are also involved in the process of knowledge production. The aforementioned process is
tricky, tedious, and difficult one. The reason is that knowledge is not simply something that pops
out of nowhere. Also, there is a need to validate whether the knowledge produced is a valid one.
In a similar manner, knowledge does not come from rumors and speculations. It should be
supported by empirical data. In this context, research becomes important.
Research is a systematic process of gathering information, interpreting information,
interpreting information, and analyzing information to resolve a specific problem. As the
word would suggest, it is a process of “searching again” for information that is already available
in our world but, no one has made sense about it yet. Thus, this makes the process of research as
a way to discover relatively “new” things. As discussed above, since our world in enigmatic or
mysterious, we can find the answers we are looking for in the conduct of research.
 The discussion cannot emphasize more on the importance of research in the lives of
people. However, it should be recognized that research is not a monotonous task. Similarly, it is
not done in a single manner. As Johnson and VanderStoep argued, research has many forms and
each form presents a different way of doing the task. In this context, it is proper to introduce the
readers to the different forms or types of research.
Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Generally, there are two types of research: quantitative and qualitative research.
Quantitative research is a form of research that uses statistical data as the main source of
knowledge. Basically, this form of research would like to operationalize reality into numbers
that can be easily analyzed. In this light, it can establish the causal relationships among the
different variables (dependent and independent) it studies. This form of research is often
done in the physical and natural sciences because there is a need for a higher degree of control
that can be done in laboratories. However, the social sciences have also delved into this form of
research due to its explanatory power and its main aim of generalization. For example, when a
survey firm would conduct a survey on who would be the next possibly be the next president of
the Philippines during election time. Survey firms like Social Weathers Station (SWS) and Pulse
Asia would use sampling methods to determine who would be the respondents of the survey they
are conducting. From these sample (since they would not be able to conduct the survey to the
whole population of the Philippines), they would gather their opinion on whom they will vote. If
done properly, quantitative researchers argue that the result of the survey is representative of the
opinion of the whole population. Thus, they can generalize on the results Chapter 3 shall discuss
more on this form of research especially in comparison with qualitative research. In fact, the
second book in this series will focus more in quantitative research. For now, let us move on to
the discussion on qualitative research.
Qualitative research is actually the focus of this book. As compared to the previous
form, qualitative research relies not in numerical analysis but on narratives and stories
coming from its research participants. It aims to construct a story and a “thick” description
of the object of study. In this case, this form of research uses documents, anecdotes and
observations as sources of data. Also, instead of trying to establish causal relations, the
qualitative researcher would like to give a description on what the respondents really want to say.
For example, one form of qualitative research is ethnography (this will be further discussed in
Chapter 5). In a nutshell, an ethnographic study would like to construct culture maps. This
culture maps is essentially a thick description of a cultural event or activity. Let us say one
research would like to research on the culture of the Igorots in Baguio. The researchers can do
this in two ways. First, the researcher can become a participant in the culture of Igorots and
immerse himself/herself in it (participatory research). Or second, the researcher can just
observe the culture as detached observer (observer approach). Either way, the aim of the
research is to come up with a vivid and detailed description of the culture of the people. He/she
can also employ some interviews with the members or leaders of the tribe to understand them
better. Thus, unlike quantitative research, qualitative research does not aim for objectivity rather
it recognizes the fact that there is subjectivity. Moreover, it aims for a description not a
generalization. This form of research shall be discussed more in the succeeding chapters since
this our focus here.
These two general types of research are not necessarily mutually exclusive. However, it
should be recognized that the advantages of one is the disadvantage of the other and vice-versa .
For example, quantitative research has the power for generalization due its large number of
samples. Consequently, the data gathered will be more relevant and more credible than data
gathered from a few respondents. But, the data gathered in a quantitative research are purely
numbers. They do not necessarily answer the question of “why” and “how”. In fact, the main
criticism against quantitative research is that it is reductionist – it reduces reality into numbers,
thus, it falls under the danger of oversimplification. On the other hand, qualitative research can
make sense of what the respondents are really saying because they are expressed as the
respondents express them. In effect, qualitative research avoids oversimplifying reality because it
avoids reducing responses into numbers. The only criticism here is that the respondents of
qualitative researchers are too few that they do not necessarily represent a certain population.
Thus, there is little to no room for generalization.
From this point on, we can now go to the question on the importance or significant or
significance of research in our daily lives. In a similar light, we would now discuss the question
on why should we do research.

WHY RESEARCH?
As discussed above, research is a very important human endeavor. The research for such
is it would help us find answers to a lot of questions that we ask as human beings. It may not
give all the answers but, it will survey clarify some important questions we all aim to find
answers to. To further expand it significance, let us answer this question: why should research be
done? When we answer this question, we shall also know the importance or significance of
research in our daily lives. The following can answer our question:
1. Knowledge Production. We can say that this is the main significance of research – to
produce knowledge. The main point of research is to “discover” relatively new
knowledge for whatever important purpose it may serve. Consequently, the knowledge
produced will be considered as facts that can be used by man. However, in Chapter 2, we
are going to clarify the meaning of knowledge and study of it (epistemology) so that we
can come up with a clear philosophical foundation of research.
2. Finding Answers. From the production of knowledge, we can now derive some answers
to the problems we encounter in our daily lives. Whether it is about how we deal with our
family and friends or about the socio-political problems of the Philippines like poverty
and corruption, research would aid us in finding answers to our questions. However, it
should be noted that research has its limitations. Sometimes a research may yield more
questions than answers. This is not actually bad because research should open our eyes to
a larger whole. As we are going to discuss in the succeeding chapters, there is no one way
of doing research. In these different ways, there would be advantages and disadvantages
 for each one. Similarly, there would be no perfect research design. But there is an
appropriate design for a research question that you would like to answer. We are going to
discuss ore on this later.
3. Human Convenience. Have you ever wondered why we have our comforts today? This
was all because of research. Without research, we will not be able to experience the
comfort and convenience we have now. Hence, research is done because it aims to make
the lives of human beings easier.
For example, there was a time when communication is takes days, weeks or even
months. For people to communicate, they have to send their messages thru letters or
messengers. But, because of research, we have the internet, social media, mobile phones,
tablets, and other means to communicate with people in a faster and more efficient
manner. More importantly, it would only take a second or less to communicate because
of research. We can provide more examples of such developments but the point is that
research made our lives more convenient and it will continue to find ways to make it
more convenient.
4. Research Precedes Progress. Progress will never happen without research. Whatever
developments we have today, this is all because of research.
For example, in the field of health and medicine, the use of stem-cell technology
and nanotechnology has resulted to more “medical miracles”. Due to the activity of
research, we have found new ways to treat disease that are untreatable before and it will
continue until we find ways to cure other mysterious diseases. Nonetheless, research will
remain a vital tool to catalyze or instigate progress in all fields of discipline.
5. Make the World Better. It would be selfish for human beings to do research for them
alone. In fact, there are some research outputs that have been helpful to human beings
but, harmful to the world around them
For example, the creation of air conditioning units and refrigerators has been
helpful to human beings. However, both inventions have environmental costs. They
release greenhouse gases from the refrigerants that harm our environment. There
emissions have contributed to the worsening of global warming and climate change.
Thus, it is also important to look at research in more holistic manner. In a similar light,
we would like to conduct research not only for human progress but also for helping our
world become better. We should conduct research in a way wherein we are going to
determine whether our research is more helpful or more harmful. Hence, we should
consider the some rules or ethics of research. We are going to tackle this more in the
next section of the paper.
There may be a lot more reasons to conduct research. However, the reasons discussed
above have covered the very gist of why we should do research. Moreover, these five (5) reasons
we discoursed also covered the significance or importance of doing research. Thus, we only have
one question left to answer: how to go about with research? We shall tackle it in the next section
of this chapter.
HOW TO DO RESEARCH?
As discussed above, research is a systematic activity. This would mean that it has to
follow certain steps and procedures so that it can come up it an answer to a specific problem.
This section of the chapter shall provide a general discussion on how to go about this research. It
will be treated as a step-by-step process that must be done so that you can arrive at the solution.
However, it should be taken note that the process is not a strict or rigid one for all types of
research. Analogously, the research process must not only be seen as a straight line wherein you
must undergo all steps in their proper arrangement. Apparently, there would be types of research
wherein you have to look at these steps as a circular one. For example, quantitative research
would follow these steps like a straight line while qualitative research would follow these steps
in a circular manner – qualitative research can innovate or improvise along the way. Nonetheless,
it is important to discuss these steps to make the readers understand how the research process
goes.

STEP #1: Problem

No matter what type of research or research method you choose all of them would begin
with a problem. As we have discussed earlier, this world has presented us with a lot of questions
and the natural curiosity of human beings has led to the quest for the answer. Thus, any research
enterprise must begin with a problem or a question that one yearns for an answer. Without a
problem, there is no reason to research.
When it comes to the problem, there are some characteristics that it must contain for it to
be considered a good research problem.
Here are the traits a problem should have:
1. Interesting. The problem, of course, should be interesting. More particularly, the
problem should be of a great interest to the research/s. if it is not, then, there is no point in
researching the answer to a problem that does not interest the researcher. In addition, the
interest of the researcher is important because it serve as a motivating factor to resolve a
problem.
For example, a researcher in the field of political science may want to study the
voting behaviors of people living in a certain area. This researcher is interested in the
subject matter because it is part of his/her discipline. However, it can also happen that a
researcher will research on something that is not necessarily directly related to his/her
discipline. In fact, one of the authors of this book has done research on the different
religions of the world without it necessarily being part of his discipline. Why? He was
just interested in it. Hence, the concept of interests is really important in trying to come
up with a research problem.
2. Relevant. Just like the previous characteristics, there is no point in investigating
something that is not relevant. The researcher must think beyond his/her interest to do
that. A researcher should also look at the larger picture and see how he/she can study
something relevant to other people. Consequently, we would go back to our previous
discussion on the importance of research not only for ourselves but for the benefit of
society.
For example, you would like to know teaching strategy would best fit your
students who are mostly visual learners. At the offset, you will conduct the study for your
own benefit as a professor or a teacher. However, the results of your study will also be
beneficial to other people in the same profession. In the context, your study has become
relevant not only to you nut also to other people.
c. Focused. A research problem should have a particular focus because this will serve as
your limitation. If the problem is too broad, it might result into having too many
variables, with too many variables, the study may become meaningless because it will not
tell you anything. Moreover, this would lead to you failing to conduct your study because
it is too broad. Thus, in order for you to be successful in your study, you should have a
focus that will provide some limitations to your study.in this case, when formulating your
problem, you should start with a broad topic but do not stop there.
For example, let us say your topic is about poverty. This topic is too broad so you
cannot just stick to it as it is because you will end up doing a problematic research. In this
light, we should narrow it down to a more doable one. Since there are many aspects of
poverty, we can just focus on one. Let us say poverty in the sense that you cannot eat
three times a day. With such focus, you can now formulate questions in a manner that
your study will have direction.
d. Plausible. The research problem should be plausible in the sense that it can be studied by
a particular researcher. Sometimes, the problem with some researchers is that they are too
ambitious that they forget that they have limitations and constraints too. Time, financial,
and ethical constraints can come into the picture when it comes to specific study.
For example, a researcher who is till undertaking his/her undergraduate studies
cannot just simply deal with a research that is national scope. Even if he/she has the
financial capability, the researcher might fail to finish his/her research before the date of
graduation. Thus, he/she must choose a problem that he/she can do within the constraints
that he/she has.
e. Verifiable. A research should have some kind of foresight to see that the result or
answers that one can have in a certain problem can be verified in another research. Thus,
the research must be verifiable empirically. In other words, when a researcher comes up
with a research problem, there should be a possibility that the result of the study can be
verified or falsified. This would mean that the study should be realistic and not part of a
fantasy. Apparently, this is the reason why the data that must be gathered in a research
should be found in reality and is knowable through our senses or rationality.
 These are just some characteristics of a research problem. There are be more but
this five (5) characteristic tell you how important the problem is in a research endeavor.
In fact, we would like to argue that this is the most important aspect of a research since
this serves as the foundation of all research. If your problem is well problematic the
research would fail miserably. However if the problem is well-stated and is well-focused
the research will be successful. The later chapters in the book will tell you how to
formulate your research problem in relation to your research – especially in the case of
qualitative research. As already mentioned above, the reason is that there is no one way
of doing research. In the same light there is no one way of formulating and answering a
research question.

STEP #2: Research Design and Methodology

After determining the problem, the next step is to choose an appropriate research design
for your study. A research design would refer to the form or kind of research you are going to
do. As discussed earlier, there are two general types of research quantitative and qualitative
research. Consequently, it is very important to choose the proper research design since it would
also determine the methodology you will use. In other words, the proper research design and
methodology is crucial for your study.
In order for you to know the proper research design is, you have to go back to your
questions. If your questions deals with causality and you would like to establish a pattern, you
must choose a quantitative research design. In this case you also have to choose the
quantitative techniques to conduct your research. A survey is usually the method used in
quantitative research. When it comes to the treatment of data you can use the proper statistical
treatment to make sense of the data.
For example, to establish the relationship between variables, you can use a correlation.
This discussion of the quantitative research design shall be discussed more in another book.
If your question would like to describe and explain " in-depth, " the proper research design
would be a qualitative one. As discussed earlier, the qualitative research design uses text instead
of statistic as its data. In this light, one of the best method used here is an interview (either
structured or unstructured). Unlike surveys, interview collect explanations that cannot be seen
in a simple survey form. On the one hand, a structured interview has pre-determine questions
that must be answered by a responded. This kind of interview allows the researcher to gather
definite answer from the respondents since they would answer a specific number of questions.
This is not a free-flowing type of interview. On the other hand, an unstructured or sometimes
known as an open-ended interview allows a free-flowing discussion of a questions. As
compared to its counterpart, this form of interview gets more information and explanation from
the responded. Although, the disadvantage of such is that it might be a long one and it might
gather irrelevant data from the respondents. Apparently, this is just one method in the qualitative
method . Chapter 3 will discuss more on this.
 Obviously, the determination of a proper research design and methodology relies heavily
on what research you want to know. In the other words , search question and how it is framed is
the most important consideration when it comes to determining your design and methodology. In
this context, the failure of one to relate or connect his/her research question with the appropriate
design and methodology also result into failure of research. Again, the succeeding chapters of
this books focus more on the qualitative research design. Hence, we will discuss later on the
different methods that we can use from the different form of qualitative research

STEP #3: Theory and Hypothesis

Usually, a research work is done to test a particular theory or a particular hypothesis.
Although they may sounds the same, two different things. First, a theory is a systemized body
of ideas used for the explanation of phenomenon. Basically, a theory is an explanation tool. It
should be noted, however, that a theory is not the same with a law. A theory has its limitation
because it is context-bound. It means that a theory may be correct in one instance and wrong in
another. Apparently, this is the reason why a theory is tested through research. The main reason
is to know how powerful the explanation of a theory is. Let us use a theory in the social sciences
to illustrate the limitation of a theory. One theory from the Marxist lens with be dependency
theory. This theory became dominant during the 1960s. Essentially, the theory explain the
reason why most of the countries in Latin America during that time are underdeveloped.
However, the theory lost its explanatory power when the East Asian Miracle (Singapore,
Taiwan , South Korea, Hong Kong) happened. This even was called as such because four (4)
countries in the East Asia became develop even though there are "dependent" on the age of
course states. In this light , theories to be rethought. This is the reason why the dependistas (this
is how the dependency theories are called) formulated the idea of semi-peripheral states. After
all this discussion, the point is actual simple: theories are bounded by time, place, and
environment. This is the reason why dependency theory was correct in Latin America during the
60s but, it was not correct in another context. Thus, it is important to test theories through
research.
A hypothesis, on the other hand, defined as the tentative intellectual guess of the
researcher. Basically, this is the claim of the one conducting research. The hypothesis serves as
the one that guides researchers since it is the one that must be proven or disproven. There are two
types of hypotheses - null and alternative hypothesis. The former is stated negatively while the
latter is stated positively. For example, if you want to determine if there is a significant
difference between the academic performance of males and females in the field of mathematics
the following hypotheses can be made:
1. Null: There is no significant difference between the academic performance of males
and females in the field of a mathematics.
2. Alternative: There is a significant difference between academic performance of males
and females in the field of mathematics.
 Usually, researcher would start from the null hypothesis and dust research to prove or
disprove the claim. If proven, often than not through statistical analysis, the researchers should
accept the null hypothesis. If not proven, then, the research must go with the alternative
hypothesis. Nonetheless, the researcher should be able to explain why such a result came out.
However, it should be noted that not all research endeavors are theory-and hypothesis-
testing. There are some researches that are done to build theories. This is sometimes known as
grounded theory. Basically, such an activity is done in qualitative research wherein there is
flexibility in doing the research enterprise.
For example, you can collect data first then, build your theory according to the data.
Usually, this is done in action research (Chapter 8). Such a form of research is done to resolve an
immediate a problem. It is often done in education research wherein the educator tries to come
up with teaching strategies for a specific class. Thus, we can say that this is a different kind of
approach to research since it does not rigidly follow usual step. This will be discussed more in
the later chapters.
Again, the two may be related but they are not the same. Theories can be tested even
without statistical analysis. However, hypothesis needs statistical analysis to determine which
hypothesis must be accepted or rejected. In this context, hypothesis is usually found in a
quantitative research while theories are found in qualitative research. In our research endeavor,
this is considered to be STEP#3 because we need to determine the problem and the research
design first before choosing or theory or formulating a hypothesis. Reason is that this will help
us become clearer with the direction of the research is going.

STEP #4: Sampling and Data Collection

The next step in the research activity has something to do with the data. Since we already
have our problem, research design in the methodology, theory and hypothesis (this basically is
what comprises a research proposal), we must now collect our data. However, before we collect
our data, we must determine first who (respondents) and where (locale) to collect our data. The
second question is easy. All you have to do is to determine where you want to conduct your
study or where you can find the right people to respond to your data-collection questions.
For example, if you want to know the different teaching styles of chemistry professors,
all you have to do is to choose schools where you can find chemistry professors. Thus, the
determination of the locale of your study depends upon the researcher. The first question of
"who" is the trickier one.
There are different ways of determining the respondent of your study. But, the usual
method of doing so is undergoing the process known as sampling. Sampling refers to the
process of choosing a part of the population you want to study. Essentially, sampling is done
to choose the appropriate representative so that you can generalize up to a certain point in your
research (especially in the case of quantitative research). There are generally two types of
sampling: probability and non-probability sampling. Probability sampling tries to come up
with random samples. It basically tries to use some statistical methods to come up with random
samples that can represent the population. Furthermore, it assures an equal chance for all
members of the population to be part of the sample. Simple random sampling and stratified
random sampling are example of this type of sampling.
Non-probability sampling does not have this characteristic of equal chance for all
members of the population. Moreover, it does not use any statistical method to come up with the
samples.
For example, convenience sampling is a type of non-probability sampling. It is done in
a way that whoever will come as the "convenient" sample (the one who you saw first or came to
volunteer first) is considered as a respondent. Thus, this kind of sampling has a lesser chance of
coming up with representative samples for the whole population.
Apparently, both sampling methods would help in determining the required number of
samples in a study. However, it should be noted that probability sampling has a higher chance of
getting representative samples than non-probability. Hence, the researchers doing a quantitative
one most often than not perform this kind of sampling. On the other hand, even if non-
probability sampling does not produce a representative sample, this kind of sampling will
provide you with the needed data if you are conducting a qualitative research. Thus, it gets you
directly to the respondents you really need. Nonetheless, the researcher should be the one to
determine which sampling technique would benefit them more. Is there would be more
discussion on the different sampling techniques in the other book that is focus more on a
quantitative research.
When you have determine the "who" and the "where" of data collection, the researcher
can collect data. Again, the nature of the research will determine how data can be collected. It
should be remember however that the researchers should be careful when it comes to the data
being collected because they have to know which data is relevant and which is not. Thus, the
proper data interpretation and analysis must be done next.

STEP #5: Data Presentation, Interpretation and Analysis

After the collection of data, we must make sense of the data. It should not be left as it is.
Of course, it is important to present the data as it is first. The presentation of data can be done in
a lot of ways. In quantitative research, the statistical data collected is usually presented in
tabular or graphical forms. Apparently, this allows the researchers and readers of the research
allowed to understand the data better. The reason is that the data is in the simpler and more
understandable manner. In this light, interpreted and analyzed in an easier manner. On the other
side of the spectrum, data is presented in a narrative or thematic form in qualitative research.
Since the qualitative data is in the form of text, the researcher should be able to construct a
narrative of the collected data. Obviously, it should be presented in the way it has been collected
to avoid the misinterpretation of the researcher. Hence, it would lead to understanding the
respondents of the qualitative research within the context of the respondents. In this context, data
should be presented would still depend on the kind of research one is doing.
The presentation of data is just the beginning. The next step is to interpret the data.
Basically, in the interpretation of data, researcher should explain what the data means and how it
fits in with the study. It should clarify the importance of the data collected in trying to come up
with the answers to your research question. Consequently, this is where the knowledge and
ability of a researcher comes in. The researcher must be able to interpret the data as it is and how
it is important in answering the research question. In this light, the interpretation of the data is a
step closer to answering your research question.
The last treatment of the data will be its analysis. Usually, the analysis of data is done by
going back to your theory or hypothesis. In the light of the theory, you can now determine if your
theory is correct or not. In the context of research that aims to establish a new theory, data should
be analyzed in a way that it will all fit in like a puzzle. Metaphorically, the theory you are
constructing is the puzzle while the data you have collected is the puzzle pieces. Thus, in order
for you to build the puzzle, you've got to have all the pieces. If not , there is a need to collect
more puzzle pieces(data) to complete your puzzle (theory).
In light of the hypothesis, the use of statistical tools will allow you to know if your
hypothesis is accepted or rejected. As discussed above, you can either accept the null hypothesis
or reject it. If it is rejected, you must accept the alternative hypothesis as correct. In short, the
analysis will tell you if your theory and/or hypothesis or correct and will answer your research
question. The latter chapter in this book will provide you with examples on how to do the
presentation, interpretation, an analysis of data depending on your research.

STEP #6: Formulating Conclusions and Recommendations

Finally, after all the data collection and making sense of it, the final task of the researcher
is to formulate his/her conclusions and recommendations. The penultimate task is to answer the
question by coming up with conclusion data you have gathered. The conclusion must answer
the research question or question formulated by the researcher. However, if the conclusions
fall short in answering the question or the researcher is not satisfied with the answer, he/she must
continue the study to find the answers or better answers to the research question/s this is where
recommendation will come in.
Recommendations of the statement made by the researcher for the beneficiaries of
the study. There are a lot of reasons why researcher make recommendation. Here are some of
the following reasons why recommendation are important:
1. Usefulness of the research. Since recommendation are usually made for the
beneficiaries or stakeholders of the research, are made so that research can be useful.
 For example, the researcher can recommend using the study for the improvement
of a certain policy. Thus, the research will have its practical uses for the betterment of
society.
2. Improvement of research. The researcher can also make recommendation for future
researchers to improve the study.
For example, they can proposed to make the study better by expanding its
horizon. Apparently, this would lead to the production of more knowledge that we can
use for the betterment of society and the world. Moreover, new researcher can overcome
the constraints of the previous researchers. Thus, it would lead to an improvement of the
study.
3. Exploring different aspect. Due to the constraints and limitation of research, the
researcher cannot explore all the possible aspect of a certain problem. As discussed
earlier, a research problem should have focus. In this lieu, the researcher can only focus
on specific aspect to limit his study. This is the reason why making recommendation is
important. New researchers can study a new aspect of a problem to produce new
knowledge of for the use of mankind.
This final step in research would ensure that the answer to a certain question is either found
or the task of finding it is given to the other researchers. Essentially, please would ensure that the
research enterprise will continue and never stop. This is much like the natural curiosity of human
beings: it never ends. Even if you find answer to some of all questions, new question will arise.
Thus, there is a need to find new answers. Therefore, it is very important to do research
appropriately so that we can continue to contribute to our society and our world.
In light of doing research right, we should take a little "detour." basically, detour refers to the
importance of research ethics. Generally, this will help us understand how research is ought to be
done.

Detour: Research Ethics

Ethics is essentially a branch of philosophy that deals with the rightness or
wrongness of an act. It came from the Greek word " ethos" that means "customs." In this case,
ethics has something to do with how things should be done. Analogously, ethics as part of the
philosophical enterprise would like to answer "what is ought to be?" Thus, it would like to know
what is right and what is wrong.
Everything in this world has some kind of ethical consideration. Even those who do not
believe in absolute ethics or morality still believe in some kind of right and wrong. It may be
relative but, they still consider that there is such a thing as right and wrong. They just depend on
the cultural context of people. In this light, it cannot be denied that research, being a human
activity, also has it ethics. In a similar light, research has some rules that we must not violate.
In reality, there is no absolute ethics in research. However, there are some general
guidelines that we must consider so that we will not have any problem with how we do our
research endeavor.
Here are some general rules of research:]

1. Proper Research Structure. When it comes to the structure of research, it follows a

certain pattern. Of course, the usually structure of a research with follow the step we
discussed earlier. It should begin with the problem and its focus. The next one with
tackle the research design and methodology. Then, the theory or the hypothesis will
be tested in the research. The data collection and making sense of these data will
follow so that we can answer the research question. The last part with the making
recommendation on how to utilize or improve the research. Following the structure
would make the research become correct. However, depending on the research, this is
structure may change especially if we are going to talk about the qualitative research
design.

2. Proper Research Content. The content of the research is as important as its

structure. Apparently, the content of a research should be original. This would mean
that the content should contribute something new to the research enterprise. If ever
the research is a replication (this happens when you want to test your theory and
hypothesis), the study should not be at the copied version of the original study. There
should still be something new in it (e.g. The data and how it is treated). The content
should be factual or truthful. There should be no attempt to deceive the readers and
manufacture data. Apparently, this is the reason why the findings of a certain research
should be verifiable.

3. Ethics for the Respondents. Basically, the respondents of a research should be given
respect. Since the respondents are usually human being, they should be treated as
human beings. If it is an experimental research about certain objects, then, there is not
much problem. For as long as it does not bring about more problems for society, then,
it is ethical. However, it is a different story if we are dealing with human beings.
They cannot be experimented upon or control without their consent. Also, deception
must not be done unless it is part of the research. It should be remembered that if ever
deception will be used, it should not hurt the respondents or affect them in any
negative manner. Consequently, it is advised that the debriefing will be done to
explain to the respondent why deception was used. But in general, deception is not
encouraged in the conduct of research. Another important reminder for researcher
who will conduct survey and interviews, the respondent should be informed of all the
possible information or risk a research may bring.
For example, an interviewee (the respondent) must know that he/she is being
interviewed. If it is being recorded, he/she must be informed that it is being
documented unless there is a need to keep it so that the researcher can come up with
the most natural response. Again, it would still depend on the situation and research
being done.
 4. Credibility, Reliability and Honesty. The research should be credible, reliable, and
done with honesty. Essentially, this is the reason why we use other sources to make it
credible and reliable. We use the word and ideas of the other scholars and researcher
to support or arguments in the research. However, it is a mistake to claim their
ideas to be ours. This is known as plagiarism. Plagiarism is intellectual dishonesty.
This is probably the worst crime research commit. Basically, this happen when we
clean ideas of other as our own. This is the reason why we use citation to recognize
our sources. This allows us to use the ideas of others but, it does not mean that we are
claiming it as our own. Hence, by recognizing our sources, we can avoid plagiarism
and be honest with a research enterprise.

All this ethical consideration are all important in our endeavor. We should always
remember them so that we can do research in an appropriate manner. It should be
noted however that these ethics of research are just general rules. Just like every rules,
there would be some exception especially when it comes to the concept of consent
from the respondent. Moreover, each form of research would have different ethical
considerations since each type of research is done differently. Hence, different form
of research would entail different ethical considerations.

LET SUM IT UP!

The main ideas found in the chapter are the following:

1. Research is an important human activity. It is systematic process of finding answers to
questions.
2. Research reduce knowledge, the life of human beings convenient, answers to difficult
questions, notes into progress, and the world better.
3. Research should follow certain step-by-step process. However, different forms of research
would entail a different way of doing it. Hence, there is a possibility to not follow the general
outline given above.
4. Finally, research has ethics. There are certain rules that must be followed in the conduct of
research. However, the rules may change depending on the way research is done.