Practical


Research 1
JOHN WAYNE V. JACINTO
Lecturer

Reference: Baraceros, E. L. (2016). Practical Research 1. Quezon City: Rex Bookstore.

RESEARCH
What is
?
Do you have difficulties in
research?
What do you expect to learn in
this lecture?
Nature of Inquiry and Research

 Learning competencies:
 Shares research experiences and knowledge;
 Explains the importance of research in daily life;
 Describes characteristics, processes, and ethics of
research;
 Differentiates quantitative from qualitative research;
and
 Provides examples of research in areas of interest.
 Research

 A process of executing various mental acts
for discovering and examining facts and
information to prove the accuracy or
truthfulness of your claims or conclusions
about the topic of your research.
 It’s an analogous to inquiry, in that, both
involve investigation of something through
questioning.
 Research

 Central to research is your way of
discovering new knowledge, applying
knowledge in various ways as well as seeing
relationship of ideas, events, and situations .
 Research then puts you in a context where a
problem exist.
 

?
What is the
importance of
research
Characteristics of Research

1. Accuracy
It must give correct or accurate data, which the
footnotes, notes , and bibliographical entries
should honestly and appropriately documented
or acknowledged.
Characteristics of Research

2. Objectiveness
It must deal with facts , not with mere opinions
arising from assumptions, generalizations,
predictions, or conclusions.
Characteristics of Research

3. Timelines
It must work on a topic that fresh, new, and
interesting to the present society.
4. Relevance
Its topic must be instrumental in improving
society or in solving problems affecting the
lives of people in a community.
Characteristics of Research

5. Clarity
It must succeed in expressing its central point
or discoveries by using simple, direct, concise,
and correct language.

6. Systematic
It must take place in an
organized or orderly manner.
 Purposes of Research

 To learn how to work independently.
 To learn how to work scientifically or
systematically.
 To have an in-depth knowledge of something.
 To elevate your mental abilities by letting you
think in higher-order thinking strategies (HOTS)
of inferring, evaluating, synthesizing,
appreciating, applying, and creating.
 
 To improve your reading and writing skills.
 To be familiar with the basic tools of research and
various techniques of gathering data and of
presenting research findings.
 To free yourself, to a certain extent, from the
domination or strong influence of a single textbook or
the professor’s lone view point or spoon feeding.
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

Is the research applied to theoretical or practical
issues?
 Type of Purpose
 Basic: gaining knowledge, testing a theory
 Applied: solving specific problem, establishing policy
program
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Data
 Quantitative: adhering to rigid design, statistical
 It involves measurement of data. Thus it presents
research findings referring to the number of frequency
of something in numerical forms (i.e., using
percentages, fractions, numbers).
 Qualitative: describing subjective reality
 It requires non-numerical data, which means that the
research uses words rather than numbers to express
the results, the inquiry or investigation.
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Methods
 Experimental: it conducts testing with treatment and
control
 Non-experimental: this is a non-laboratory or
controlled
 Longitudinal research: it involves the study of a
sample on more than one occasion
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Methods
 Descriptive research: aims to describe social
systems, relations or social events, providing
background information about the issue in question
as well as stimulating explanations.
 It aims at defining or giving a verbal portrayal or
picture of a person, thing, event, group, and
situation.
 Comparative research: it identifies similarities
and/or differences between units at all levels, for
example at a historical or cultural level.
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Methods
 Causal research: This is considered the
most 'respected' type of research in the
social sciences and is employed to explain
the causes of social phenomena and their
consequences.
 Theory-testing research: aims is to test the
validity of a theory.
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Methods
 Correlational research: it shows relationships or
connectedness of two factors or agents called
variables that affect the research.
 Explanatory research: it is a type of research that
elaborates or explains not just the reasons behind
the relationship of two factors but also the ways by
which such relationship exist.
 Exploratory research: its purpose is to find out how
reasonable or possible it is to conduct a research
study on a certain topic.
 Types of Research
(Sarantakos 1998: 6 & Baraceros, 2016)

 Type of Methods
 Action research: it applies fact finding to practical
problem solving in a social situation with a view to
improving the quality of action within it, involving
the collaboration and co-operation of researchers,
practitioners and laymen' (Bums, 1990: 252).
 Action research studies an ongoing practice of a
school, organization, community, or institution for
the purpose of obtaining results that will bring
improvements in the system.
 Approaches to Research

Scientific or positive approach
 In which you discover and measure information as
well as observe and control variables in an
impersonal manner.
 Approaches to Research

Naturalistic approach
 In contrast to the scientific approach that uses
numbers to express data, the naturalistic approach
uses words.
 Approaches to Research

 Triangulation approach
 In this case, you are free to gather and analyze data
using multiple methods, allowing you to combine or
mix up research approaches, research types, data
gathering, and data analysis techniques.
 It also gives you the opportunity to view every angle
of the research from different perspectives. ( Badke
2012; Silverman 2013)
 Qualitative Research

This is a research type that puts premium or high value
on people’s thinking or point of view conditioned by their
personal traits. As such, it usually takes place in soft
sciences like social sciences, politics, economics,
humanities, education, psychology, nursing, and all
business-related subjects.
 
Subjectivity in qualitative research is true, not only for
an individual or a group under study but also for you,
the researcher, because of your personal involvements
in every stage of your research.
Characteristics of a Qualitative
Research

 Human understanding and interpretation
Data analysis results show and individual’s
mental, social, and spiritual understanding of the world.
 Active, powerful and forceful
A lot of changes occur continuously in every
stage of a qualitative research.
 
 Multiple research and approaches
You are free to combine this with quantitative
research and use all the gathered data and analysis
techniques.
 Specificity to generalization
Specific ideas in a qualitative research are
directed to a general understanding of something. It
follows an inductive or scientific method of thinking.
 
 Contextualization
A qualitative research involves all variables,
factors, or conditions affecting the study. Thus, it is
crucial for you to examine the context or situation of an
individual’s life.
 Diversified data in real-life situation
A qualitative researcher prefers collecting data in
a natural setting like example observing people as they
live and work.
 
 Abounds with words and visual
Words, words, and more words in big quantity in
this kind of research.
 Internal analysis
You examine the data yielded by the internal
traits of the subject individuals (i.e., emotional, mental,
spiritual characteristics).
 Strengths and weaknesses of
qualitative research

 Strengths:
 Researching people in natural settings.
 Stressing interpretations and meanings.
 Achieving a deeper understanding of the
respondent's world.
 Humanising research process by raising the role of
the researched.
 Allowing higher flexibility.
 Presenting a more realistic view of the world.
 Strengths and weaknesses of
qualitative research

 Weaknesses:
 Problems of reliability caused by extreme subjectivity.
 Risk of collecting meaningless and useless
information.
 It is very time-consuming.
 Problems of representativeness and generalisabil ity
of findings.
 Problems of objectivity and detachment.
 Problems of ethics (entering the personal sphere of
subjects).
Guidelines in Choosing a Topic

 Interest in the subject matter
 Availability of information
 Timeliness and relevance of the topic
 Limitations of the subject
 Personal resources
 
 What are the sources of
Research topics?





Research Format


 
 What are the sources of
Research topics?
 Research Problem

 A research problem is a definite or
clear expression [statement] about an area of concern,
a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be
eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in
scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice
that points to a need for meaningful understanding and
deliberate investigation. A research problem does not
state how to do something, offer a vague or broad
proposition, or present a value question.
 Source:
http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction/researchproblem
 Research Problem

 This is an area of conflict, concern, or controversy (a
gap between what is wanted and what is observed).
Include the most relevant reference that supports the
claim.
 Specifying a particular topic requires
BRAINSTORMING.
 Reading background information or conducting a
preliminary interview can also help specifying your
research problem.
 Sources of Problems for
Investigation

 Deductions from Theory
 Interdisciplinary Perspectives
 Interviewing Practitioners
 Personal Experience
 Relevant Literature
 What Makes a Good Research
Statement?

 Compelling Topic
Simple curiosity is not a good enough reason to
pursue a research study because it does not indicate
significance. The problem that you choose to explore
must be important to you, your readers, and to a the
larger academic and/or social community that could
be impacted by the results of your study. The
problem chosen must be one that motivates you to
address it.
 What Makes a Good Research
Statement?

 Supports Multiple Perspectives
The problem must be phrased in a way that avoids
dichotomies and instead supports the generation and
exploration of multiple perspectives. A general rule of
thumb in the social sciences is that a good research
problem is one that would generate a variety of
viewpoints from a composite audience made up of
reasonable people.
 What Makes a Good Research
Statement?

 Researchability
It seems a bit obvious that you don't want to find
yourself in the midst of investigating a complex
research project and realize that you don't have
enough prior research to draw from for your analysis.
There's nothing inherently wrong with original
research, but you must choose research problems
that can be supported, in some way, by the
resources available to you.
 Formulating Research
Questions

 Establish a clear relation between the research
questions and the problem
 Base your research questions on your review of related
literature
 Formulate research questions that can arouse your
curiosity and surprise you with your discoveries
 State your research questions in such a way that they
include all dependent and independent variables
referred to by the theories, principles or concepts
 Avoid questions that are answerable with yes or no and
the use of how questions
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 Common Mistakes in Formulating
Research Problems


Source: https://library.weber.edu/sites/default/files/files/LIBS1704%20Textbook/
researchquestions.pdf
 

Source: Fishchler, A. (__). From Research Problem Statement to Research Questions. Nova Southeastern University.
Retrieved from
http://education.nova.edu/Resources/uploads/app/35/files/arc_doc/from_problem_statement_to_research_questions.pdf
