MODULE 3

Research Questions
BEGIN

”
When you want to know something, you inquire and ask
questions. In order to answer your questions, it should be specific and
direct to the point. If you ask questions to someone and your question
is very broad, the one you are asking will then ask specific questions
in order for him or her to give specific answers. This concept is applied
to research particularly in stating the research questions. The specific
research questions which are to be answered in the study are called
research questions. This is the research problem stated in an
interrogative statement which will serve as a guide for the researchers
in collecting the data of the study.
In this module you will learn how to state research questions
from general to specific and to identify and create a good research
question.

YOUR TARGETS
At the end of the lesson you should be able to:

 Identify the characteristics of a good research question

 State the general research question
 State the specific research questions
 TRY THIS
Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer on the answer sheets
provided.

1. Which of the following is NOT an essential characteristic of a researchable

question?
A. The question is answerable by some sort of data that can be collected.
B. Answering the question provides a positive outcome to society.
C. The question is comprehensive.
D. The question is interesting.

2. Which of the following questions is most suitable for quantitative research?

A. Will the colors of the wall affect children’s preference and engagement during
play time?
B. Is there a relationship between soil components and shape of seeds?
C. Do online materials enhance the performance of students?
D. What are the features of herbal plants in the province?

3. Which of the following best describes the development process of a research

question?
A. A broad topic is trimmed down to make it more interesting.
B. Research topic must be refined first before doing preliminary research.
C. As specific question can be broadened to make a study more significant.
D. Preliminary research helps trim down a broad topic to a more manageable
question.
4. A good research question is:
A. Feasible, clear, significant and includes a hypothesis
B. Feasible, clear, significant, and ethical
C. Clear, significant, and ethical
D. Feasible, clear, and ethical

5. Which of the following research questions is an example of correlational research?

A. Is there a difference in the height of Mung Bean in setup A from setup B after
various treatments?
B. What are the various learning modalities offered in Gusa Elementary School
for SY 2020-21?
C. Is the pre-online tutorial effective in preparing preschool for distance learning?
D. What is the relationship between time spent on texting and spelling ability?

6. Which of the following qualifies as a good quantitative research question?

A. How would the parents respond to the current educational challenge?
B. Is blended learning more effective than face to face learning?
C. Does a social medium lead to more social awareness?
D. Are the teachers well-motivated?
7. A research question becomes significant when
A. no harm is possible to be inflicted to participants
B. it contributes to a bigger body of knowledge
C. when it does not take undue resources
D. it uses simplest words for readers

DO THIS
Directions: If you would be given a chance to ask questions to the following people, what
would you ask?
1. doctor
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. President of the Philippines
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. parent
_________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

EXPLORE
Directions: Given the research title below, identify if the questions asked are good
research questions or not. Write (√) if it is a good research question and (X) if it is not.
Write your answer on the space provided.

Nutritional Status and its impact of Academic Performance of Selected High School Students of
Pola National High School

_______1. What is the nutritional status of High School Students of Pola National High
School?
_______2. What is the level of Academic Performance of High School Students of Pola?
National High School?
_______3. Is there a significant difference between nutritional status and academic
performance of High School Students in Pola National High School?
_______4. Is there a significant effect of nutritional status to academic performance of High
School Students of Pola National High School?
_______5. Is there a significant difference on the nutritional status of High school students
before and after the intervention?
 KEEP THIS IN MIND

If in case you encountered the following situations, what would you do? (1) it’s
your first time in Manila and you were lost (2); your new friend will be celebrating his/her
birthday and you want to surprise him/her and (3) you will be one of the candidates of
Mr./Ms. Summer 2021 but you still have belly fats and you lack confidence.

From the situations above, what are the common steps or actions that you will do?
Most of you would answer that they will look for someone to ask, they will ask questions,
conduct research either from people or experts with experiences, etc. These are some
ways by which people do inquiry in order to solve something or in order to respond in a
given situation once they face them thus, they are doing inquiry. This also applies in
research in formulating g research questions. If you want to get specific and reliable data
to solve your problem in your study, you need to state a good research question.

Research question
The research questions contain the problem to be investigated on. The research
problem is specifically identified through research questions or investigative questions.
The answer to these questions will be derived from the actual gathering of data. These
questions will serve as a guide of specific data that you would want to obtain.

Characteristics of Good Research Questions

A good research question is feasible, clear, significant and ethical (Fraenkel &
Wallen, 2020).

The research is feasible considering the resources you need are available which
includes the respondents, the approval of the authorities concerned, and data is
accessible.

Your research questions are considered as the main focus in the gathering and
analyzing the data, it is therefore very important that these are stated clearly and specific.
If questions are not clear, the data will be inaccurate.

The research question or the actual research itself should contribute or benefit a
person or group of people or organization. It should be relevant and could address the
research problem and worth investigating.

Research questions should be formulated and stated with ethical considerations

and the one which could not hurt physically and emotionally the possible respondents
and the readers of your study.
Stating the research question

Research questions are written based on the title. It can be generally classified
into two: general and specific. The general question of the study is derived from the
research problem while the specific questions are anchored on the general research
problem.
In writing the research question, a researcher should write first the general
objective of the study followed by specific objectives stated in interrogative format or in
question form.

Sample # 1

Title: Learning Delivery Modes and Learning Styles of Senior High School
Students in Oriental Mindoro National High School

General: This study aims to determine the relationship between the types of
learning delivery mode and students’ learning styles

Specific: Specifically, it will answer the following research questions:

1. What are the different learning delivery modes of the school?
2. What are various learning styles of the students?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the different learning delivery
modes of the school and the learning styles of its students?

In the example above, you will notice that the general statement stated what you
will generally do with the research variables indicated in the title. It was further specified
in the first research question the independent variable located at the left side of the title
which is the learning delivery modes

Sample # 2

Title: Health Risks and Anxieties experienced by Medical Personnel of Oriental

Mindoro Provincial Hospital

General: This study aims to determine the health risks and anxieties
experienced by Medical personnel of Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital

Specific: Specifically, it will answer the following research questions:

1. What are the health risks experienced by Medical Personnel of
Oriental Mindoro Provincial Hospital?
2. What are the anxieties experienced by Medical Personnel of Oriental
Mindoro Provincial Hospital?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the health risks and
anxieties experienced by Medical Personnel of Oriental Mindoro Provincial
Hospital?
Research Question and Conceptual Framework

Sample Conceptual Framework

1 2
Environmental Practices of Environmental conditions
the communities of Caluangan lake in terms
surrounding Caluangan 3 of :
lake in terms of: a. physical
a. agriculture b. biological
b. domestic c. chemical
c. industrial

4
Strategic Management Plan

The study aims to determine the environment practices and conditions of communities
surrounding Caluangan lake.

Specifically, it will answer the following questions:

1. What are the environmental practices of the communities surrounding Caluangan
lake in terms of:
a. agricultural
b. domestic
c. industrial?
2. What is the environmental condition of Caluangan lake in terms of:
a. physical
b. biological
c. chemical?
3. Is there a significant relationship between environmental practices and environmental
condition of the communities surrounding Caluangan lake?

4. Based on the findings of the study, what strategic management plan can be
proposed?

The research design of the study as represented by the framework is descriptive –

correlational research. If you will analyze the conceptual framework and the formulated research
questions, you will notice that they are congruent.

The number of questions are based on the number of boxes and lines and its type in the
framework. There are four questions formulated. The first question represented the first box
(independent variable-IV), the second question the second box (dependent variable - DV), the
third question represents the solid arrow between boxes which test the relationship between the
two variables (IV and DV) and the last question represents the box at the bottom which is the
possible output of the study. The broken arrow does not indicate relationship thus research
question will not be formulated.

If the study is comparative or testing the differences between the variable the question
number 3 should start with the phrase “Is there a significant difference between box 1 (Variable
1) and box 2 (variable 2)
 Aside from the variables in the title (Module 5), and the conceptual framework
(Module 10), the research design should be considered in formulating the research
questions. It should be reflected in the research questions if you will either describe,
determine the differences, or the effects or relationship of one variable to another
variable.

Research questions and Research design

1. Descriptive Research focuses on observing and reporting factors or aspects of the

research problem. Phrases such as how often/frequently, how many/much, what is/are,
to what extent/degree, and the likes are used in these questions.

Examples:
What are the various social media platforms used by Senior High Students?
How many hours do students spend on social media per week?

2. Correlational Research aims to determine the relationships among two or more

variables in your research problem. Correlational research questions usually begin with
the phrases “Is there a significant relationship” or “What the relationship is
between/among”.

Examples:
What is the relationship between the length of hours spent on social media and
level of digital literacy of students?

Is there a significant relationship between the type of social media used and the
level digital literacy of students?

In descriptive - correlational research, questions that describe the dependent and

independent variables will be formulated for questions 1 and 2 respectively. It usually
starts with the question “What is / are the…”. The third question will ask for the
relationship which will either start with “What is the relationship between variable 1 and
variable 2” or “Is there a significant relationship between variable 1 and variable 2?”

3. Ex Post Facto Research attempts to identify the causes of the phenomenon in the
context of your research problem. It is also assumed that no control or manipulation of
variable has been done in order to cause the effect. It is understood that the cause of
the problem already exists before you conducted your study.

Examples:
Is there a difference in the literacy level of students between their cultural and
educational family background?

Is there a difference between the proficiency level of Senior High School students in
research before and after the Inquiry- Based Learning intervention?

4. Experimental and Quasi-experimental Research suggests that answers to these

questions are brought about by manipulation or control of a certain variable during the
conduct of the study. These questions provide explanation to the causal relationship of
variables.
Examples:
Is there a significant difference in the posttest scores of the control group and
experimental group?

Is there a significant difference in the growth rate of Solanum melongena in the control
and experimental group?

APPLY WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

A. Directions: Identify if the following are good research questions. If not, rewrite the
given research questions.

1. “How do parents feel about the blended learning modality for elementary learners?”
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

2. “How would giving each learner their own laptop to be used in this blended learning
modality affect their performance tasks?”

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

B. Directions: Write one research question for each of the given research study.
1. Level of Acceptability of Worksheets for Film Clippings by the teachers of English in Divine
Word College of Calapan 2019- 2020
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Awareness on Traffic Rules and Regulations of Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association in
San Vicente East, Calapan City
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

C. Directions: Write three possible research questions that you can ask given the conceptual
frameworks below:

1.
Learning Learning styles of
Delivery Modes Senior High School
of the school Students

a. _______________________________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________________________
2.

Blended Face to Face

Learning Learning

a. _______________________________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________________________

REFLECT
Directions: Complete the following statements:

What I know about research question

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

I have learned that good research questions are

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

I have realized that that when stating quantitative research questions

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

REINFORCEMENT/ENRICHMENT
Directions: Write your approved “working title”, general objective of the study and
specific questions that will be answered in the study.
Title:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
 A. General objective or aim of the study

The study aims to

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

B. Write the specific questions

Specifically, it will answer the following questions:

1. _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2.______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

3.______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

ASSESS WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED

Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer on the answer sheets
provided.

1. Which of the following is NOT an essential characteristic of a researchable

question?
A. The question is answerable by some sort of data that can be collected.
B. Answering the question provides a positive outcome to society.
C. The question is comprehensive.
D. The question is interesting.
2. Which of the following questions is most suitable for quantitative research?
A. Will the colors of the wall affect children’s preference and engagement during
play time?
B. Is there a relationship between soil components and shape of seeds?
C. Do online materials enhance the performance of students?
D. What are the features of herbal plants in the province?

3. Which of the following best describes the development process of a research

question?
A. A broad topic is trimmed down to make it more interesting.
B. Research topic must be refined first before doing preliminary research.
C. As specific question can be broadened to make a study more significant.
D. Preliminary research helps trim down a broad topic to a more manageable
question.
4. A good research question is:
A. Feasible, clear, significant and includes a hypothesis
B. Feasible, clear, significant, and ethical
C. Clear, significant, and ethical
D. Feasible, clear, and ethical

5. Which of the following research questions is an example of correlational research?

A. Is there a difference in the height of Mung Bean in setup A from setup B after
various treatments?
B. What are the various learning modalities offered in Gusa Elementary School
for SY 2020-21?
C. Is the pre-online tutorial effective in preparing preschool for distance learning?
D. What is the relationship between time spent on texting and spelling ability?

6. Which of the following qualifies as a good quantitative research question?

A. How would the parents respond to the current educational challenge?
B. Is blended learning more effective than face to face learning?
C. Does a social medium lead to more social awareness?
D. Are the teachers well-motivated?

7. A research question becomes significant when

A. no harm is possible to be inflicted to participants
B. It contributes to a bigger body of knowledge
C. when it does not take undue resources
D. It uses simplest words for readers

GLOSSARY
General question is the statement of the problem which includes the general objective
of the study.

Research design refers to the quantitative design like descriptive, correlational, ex post
facto, experimental and quasi experimental research. Different types of research
question were formulated based on research design.
Research question pertains to the specific questions that will be answered in the study
and will serve as a basis in data collection.

Specific question refers to the detailed questions ask to answer the research problem.

Conceptual framework pertains to the researcher’s idea on how the research problem
will be explored. This is presented in framework showing the dependent and dependent
variables and the test for either relationships and differences among variables.

REFERENCES
Almeida, A., Gaerlan, A. & Manly, N. (2016).Research Fundamentals. From Concept to
Output. A guide for Researchers and Thesis Writers. Manila: Adriana Publishing Co. Inc.

Baraceros, E. ( 2016). Practical research II. Manila: Rex Bookstore

Faltado, R., Bombita, M., Boholano, H., & Pogoy , A. ( 2016). Practical Research 2: Quantitative
Research . Manila: Lorimar Publishing Inc.

Goodwin, J. and Goodwin, K. (2014) Research Methods: Designing and Conducting Research
with a real – world focus. Los Angeles: Sage

Kalof, L.Dan, A. & Dietz T. (2008). Essentials of Social research. Berkshire, England: Open
University

Lapan, S.,Quartaroli, M.,and Riemer, F.(2012). An introduction to Research Methods and

Designs.USA: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Print.

Mujis, D. (2011). Quantitative Research in Education. Los Angeles: Sage

Organizing Your Social Science Research paper: Theoretical Framework. Retrieved from
http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/theoreticalframework on December 29, 2015

Sharp, J. (2012). Success with Educational research project. Los Angeles: Sage

Uy, C., Cabauatan, R., De Castro, B. & Grajo, J. (2016). Practical Research 2. Manila: Vibal
Publishing Inc.