1 | BASICS OF RESEARCH

1.1 WHAT IS RESEARCH?

• “to know” (Lt)
• recherché – “to investigate” (Fr)
• systematic and replicable process, which identifies and defines specific problems,
employs well-designed method in collecting and analyzing data to answer these
problems, and disseminates the findings to contribute to existing knowledge
• an investigation of an idea using a scientific, engineering, or research method
• to do research is to investigate the problem systematically, carefully, and thoroughly

Research is purposeful since it is conducted with a view to achieving an outcome.

Research as a Process
• a process we undertake with the goal of generating knowledge about what we believe
the world is
• a process of organized and systematic enquiry and investigation that increases
knowledge
• a thorough and rigorous at all stages of the research process
• it addresses a specific problem or issue (the research problem)

1.2 | TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE

1. BASIC RESEARCH
• researches whose purpose is to extend the base knowledge in the discipline or to
formulate and refine theory
o desire to expand knowledge
o curiosity driven
o intended to answer why, what, or how questions
o increase understanding of fundamental principles
o does not have immediate commercial objectives
o it may not necessarily result in an invention or a solution to a practical
problem

2. APPLIED RESEARCH
• researches that focus to finding solutions to existing problems in the society
o new knowledge acquired has specific commercial objectives:
productions, procedures, or services
o answer the specific questions aimed at solving practical problems

Basic research in engineering is by definition concerned with the discovery and systematic
conceptual structuring of knowledge. Engineers develop, design, produce or construct, and
operate devices, structures, machines, and systems of economic and societal value.

1.3 | GENERAL TYPES OF RESEARCH

1. QUANTITATIVE
• seek to generate numerical data that can be used to produce statistics and
identify patterns
o experimental
o quasi-experimental
o descriptive
o correlational
 2. QUALITATIVE
• used to understand opinions, attitudes, and motivations
• answering questions that cannot be quantified with numbers
o action research o historical methods
o case study o ethnography
o grounded theory

1.4 | QUALITIES OF A GOOD RESEARCHER

To be a good researcher first requires the intention to be involved in research and immediately
thereafter to show a dedicated interest to do the best research possible. From there we must
accumulate the knowledge needed to advance the current ideas already existent in the
research world.

The qualities to be a good researcher can be broken down into more specific core competencies:
• Communication skills • Organizational skills
• Intellectual skills • Information technology skills
• Independence & critical thinking • PERSEVERANCE & HARD WORK
• Motivation
1.5 | UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AGENDA
1. Disaster Risk Reduction Management: The reduction of the damage caused by natural
hazards like earthquakes, floods, droughts, and cyclones, through an ethic of prevention.
2. Sustainable Development: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
3. Poverty Alleviation: The lifting of people out of poverty through both economic and
humanitarian means.
4. Local Knowledge: The collections of facts and relates to the entire system of concepts,
beliefs, and perceptions that people hold about the world around them. This includes the
way people observe and measure their surroundings, how they solve problems and
validate new information. It includes the processes whereby knowledge is generated,
stored, applied, and transmitted to others.
5. Disciplinal and Multi-Disciplinal Studies: The generation of knowledge based on the
different school disciplines or programs and integration of the same among disciplines or
programs.
6. Institutional Studies: The knowledge generation along broad category of work done in the
university to inform campus decision-making and planning in areas such as but not limited
to admissions, financial aid, curriculum assessment, enrollment management, staffing,
student life, finance, facilities, athletics, and alumni relations.

CENTER FOR ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION (CERTI)

The Center is responsible in advocating research and development activities in the fields of
engineering, architecture and information technology. It shall serve as the hub for collaborative
studies for the design, development and implementation of innovative ideas that shall lead to its
utilization for community development.

The Center's key themes are:

Construction, Geoscience,
Innovative Technologies, Energy,
and Computer Science
2 | DOING RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING

2.1 | TYPES OF ENGINEERING INFORMATION

EVALUATING INFORMATION
No matter where you get your information, you need to make sure you critically evaluate each
source to ensure it's appropriate for your research! Many publications have a particular bias or
agenda, which may not be obvious at first glance.

Here are a few criteria that could help you in your evaluation:
• Authority
• What are the author’s credentials and affiliation?
• Who publishes the information?
• Accuracy
• Based on what you already know about the topics or from reading other sources, does the
information seem credible?
• Does the author cite other sources in a reference list or bibliography, to support the
information presented?
• Scope
• Is the source at an appropriate comprehension or research level?

POPULAR VS. SCHOLARY SOURCES

1. POPULAR SOURCES
• aim to inform the general public, and are more informal in tone and scope
• useful when looking for background or current information on a topic, although
they aren’t generally considered scholarly
• in general, these sources:
o are not written by subject experts
o are written for the general public
o have no or limited citations and references to their source information
o include advertisements and graphics

o IEEE Spectrum, a trade magazine

o The Globe and Mail, a newspaper
o Gizmodo, a blog

2. SCHOLARY SOURCES
• are written by experts in a particular field, with the expectation the audience has
a certain level of pre-understanding
• journal articles, conference proceedings, theses/dissertations, and others
• in general, these sources:
o are written by subject experts
o are written for experts (researchers, post-secondary students, and so on)
o have extensive citations and references to their source information
o include figures, tables, charts, or graphs that generally focus on results

PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY SOURCES

1. PRIMARY SOURCES
• report the findings of original research
• often describe a new theory or the results of experimental work
o journal articles
o conference papers
o technical reports
 o government publications
o patents
o theses/dissertations

2. SECONDARY SOURCES
• review the existing literature, and often summarize, interpret, or evaluate the results
found in primary resources
• not as current as primary resources but are often useful for finding introductory
material
o books
o review articles in journals
o standards
o news reports
o handbooks
o manuals

PEER REVIEW
• an article is reviewed by other experts in the field before publication
• helps ensure that a published work is a high quality, accurate, informative, and with
reduced bias
• also called refereed publications
• how to tell if a publication is peer-reviewed:
o use peer review filters
o use the publisher’s website

2.2 | ACADEMIC SEARCH ENGINES

1. Google Scholar
2. Microsoft Academic
3. BASE
4. CORE
5. Science.gov
6. Semantic Scholar
7. Researchgate

2.3 | PATENTS AND UTILITY MODELS

1. PATENTS
• an invention patent is a government-issued grant, bestowing an exclusive right to
an inventor over a product or process that provides any technical solution to a
problem in any field of human activity which is new, inventive, and industrially
applicable
• an exclusive right that allows the inventor to exclude others from making, using, or
selling the product of his invention during the life of the patent
• patent owners may also give permission to, or license, other parties to use their
inventions on mutually agreed terms
• owners may also sell their invention rights to someone else, who then becomes the
new owner of the patent
• The Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines sets three conditions for an
invention to be deemed patentable: it has to be new, involves an inventive step,
and industrially applicable
• the term of a patent shall be twenty (20) years from the filing date of the
application, and must be maintained yearly, starting from the 5th year.
o Patentscope
 o USPTO Web Patent Databases
o Espacenet Open Access
o The Lens: Patent Search
o Google Patent Search
o IPOPHL Search

2. UTILITY MODELS
• a registrable utility model is any technical solution to a problem in any field of
human activity which is new and industrially applicable
• may or may not have an inventive step
• a Utility Model (UM) allows the right holder to prevent others from commercially
using the registered UM without his authorization, provided that the UM is new
based on the Registrability Report
• compared with invention patents, it is relatively inexpensive, faster to obtain, and
with less stringent patentability requirements.
• the provisions regarding "Non- Patentable Inventions" as provided for in Part 2, Rule
202 of the Regulations for Patents shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to non-registrable
utility models:
o Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
o Schemes, rules and methods of performing mental acts, playing games or
doing business, and programs for computers;
o Methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy
and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body. This
provision shall not apply to products and composition for use in any of these
methods;
o Plant varieties or animal breeds or essentially biological process for the
production of plants or animals. This provision shall not apply to micro-
organisms and non-biological and microbiological processes.
o Provisions under this subsection shall not preclude Congress to consider the
enactment of a law providing sui generis protection of plant varieties and
animal breeds and a system of community intellectual rights protection:
o Aesthetic creations; and
o Anything which is contrary to public order or morality.
• a utility model is entitled to seven (7) years of protection from the date of filing,
with no possibility of renewal.
3 | RESEARCH CONCEPTUALIZATION

3.1 | PROCESS OF RESEARCH

1. Conceptualizing the Study
a. Identifying the Research Topic
b. Identifying the Research Problem
c. Formulating Research Questions
d. Reviewing Relevant Literature

2. Planning the Study

a. Developing the Study Design
b. Identifying the Population/Sample
c. Identifying the Data Collection Methods
d. Access and Ethical Issues

3. Conducting the Study

a. Recruiting Participants
b. Collecting Data
c. Preparing Data
d. Data Analysis
e. Drawing Conclusions

4. Communicating the Result

a. Writing the Study

3.2 | RESEARCH CONCEPTUALIZATION

1. Choose a Topic
2. Narrow the Topic
3. Ask some Questions
4. Pick a Question
5. Focus the Question

3.3 | GOOD RESEARCH QUESTION

A good question focuses on only one issue and doesn't try to fit in too much. It requires analysis
and thinking and doesn't have an obvious answer. How and why questions are best for this. It is
specific and focused. A good question is also clear, with all the vague words.

1. What to do with the question? 3. What sources can be used in

selecting a topic?
2. Where do topics arise from? • personal experience
• a concern with some social • personal observation of the
problem environment
• an interest in some theme or • journals/printed sources
pattern behavior • on-going research projects
• some body of theory • available data sets
• some personal inclination or
interest 4. In making your final choice, consider
your topics.
• Feasibility
• Relevance
• Novelty
• Ethical Issues
4 | REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

4.1 | WHAT IS LITERATURE REVIEW?

• a critical analysis of scholarly articles or a published body of knowledge
• a required part of grant and research proposals and often a section in theses and
dissertations

FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Ensures that you are not "reinventing the wheel".
2. Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem and also the people who laid the
groundwork for your research.
3. Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical issues related to your research
question.
4. Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize, and critically evaluate existing literature.
5. Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a significant and substantial
contribution to the literature (Le., resolving an important theoretical issue filling a major
gap in the literature).

WHEN TO DO A LITERATURE REVIEW?

1. BEGINNING: SEED OF A PROBLEM
• a literature review in the proposal writing stage is needed to establish the context
and rationale for your study and to confirm your choice of research focus/questions

2. MIDDLE: AS THE RESEARCH IS BEING CONDUCTED

• the literature review keeps you in touch with current, relevant research in your field,
which is published during the period of your research

3. END: WRITING THE MANUSCRIPT

• needed when relating your findings to that of others, and to identify their
implications for theory, practice, and research
• the further review will provide better focus, than that in your initial review

4.2 | STEPS IN DOING A LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Identify your question
2. Search the literature
3. Analyze and evaluate critically
4. Synthesize
5. Write the review

4.3 | MODEL ARTICLE

• primary data article closes to the topic you have in mind or which you would like to
replicate

• What to do with the articles you search?

1. Read and ask these questions:
a. What research question/s did the review cover?
b. What concepts and theories were reviewed and how were they
interconnected?
2. Take note of the most recent article included in the review. Add related articles
published between that date and the current date.
3. Take note of the writing and organization style, you may want to follow the same
when you write your own literature review.
 4. Do #1 and #2 to another review paper you want to consider.

• What to do with your chosen article?

1. Thoroughly read the full article again from the beginning to the end.
a. Objective
b. Methods
c. Results and Conclusion
2. Evaluate again the replicability of the article.

4.4 | STEPS IN THE REVIEW PROCESS

1. Scan the Conclusion and Recommendation or Results and Discussion
2. Scan the Methods
3. Evaluate each of the article selected:
a. Good Article
• clear writing style
• problem and objective easily understood
• progression of ideas is logical
• background literature reasonably adequate and correctly done
b. Good Methodology
• removes or minimizes sampling bias
• appropriate and adequate in relation to the attainment of the objectives
• contains enough information to allow another person to replicate what was
done
c. Good Results
• sample is adequately represented in the data
• data given are what are expected from the methodology and objective of
the paper
• data are presented in a clearly and organized manner
d. Good Analysis
• comprehensible
• responsive to the data
• congruent with all preceding material in the article
e. Good Findings and Conclusions
• generated from the research
• must not be lacking relevance to the specific problem at hand
• has a sense of finality and closure that is derived directly from the problem

4.5 | LITERATURE MATRIX

• enables you to quickly compare and contrast articles in order to determine the scope of
research across time
• help you more easily spot differences and similarities between journal articles about given
research topic
• review matrices are especially helpful for health sciences literature reviews covering the
complete scope of a research topic over time.
• organize your source by date in order to make easier to see changes in research over time
• note any important issues you identify
5 | RESEARCH PROCESS

5.1 | PICK A TOPIC AND KNOW YOUR ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS

KNOW YOUR ASSIGNMENT
• Topic • Citation Style
• Type of Research • Format/Length
• Scope • Due Date
• Sources

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TOPIC?

• broad enough that you can find enough information on the subject
• focused enough that you are not overwhelmed with too much information
• interesting to you
• keep in mind:
o good research takes time and effort
o it is always good to brainstorm about your topic before jumping into a library or
internet resource search
o creating a research question can help to focus your research

SEARCH STRATEGY/INDETIFY KEYWORDS

1. Using a search strategy
• will save you time and energy
• will make it easier for someone else to understand your research process
• will help you to remain consistent in your search from one resource to another

2. Identify the keywords

• review your research question
• review common terms from an initial library/web search
• identify synonyms and words related to topic
• record assigned subjects/subject headings that relate to your key words

5.2 | FIND INFORMATION SOURCES 5.3 | READ AND EVALUATE SOURCES

IDENTIFYING RESOURCES 1. TIMELINESS (When)
1. Information Publication Timeline 2. RELIABILITY (Where & How)
2. Popular Articles 3. AUTHORITY (Who)
3. Scholarly Articles 4. PERSPECTIVE & PURPOSE (What & Why)
4. Choosing the Right Database
5. Choosing your Research Tool
a. Books
b. Journal
c. Web Pages

5.4 | ORGANIZE, WRITE, AND CITE

WRITING THE PAPER
1. Taking Notes 3. Incorporate Source Material
2. Outline the Paper

PLAGIARISM
• occurs when a writer duplicates another writer’s language or ideas and then calls the work
his or her own
• copyright laws protect writer’s words as their legal property
6 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL WRITING: THE TITLE

6.1 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL

• a plan or outline of your proposed research project
• a document that contains details about a scientific investigation to be carried out (i.e.,
not started yet)
• it contains details about:
o the problem to be studied
o how the investigation will be conducted
o expected results and contribution
o work schedule / time frame
o budget (for those seeking funds)

KEY ELEMENTS OF A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1. Title
2. Introduction
a. Background of the Research (Rationale/Relevance)
b. Objectives of the Research
c. Literature Review
3. Methods
4. Work Schedule

6.2 | TITLE
• a good proposal has a good title
• first thing that help the reader begin to understand the nature of work
• good titles identify the field/s of research and indicate the kind of results to be obtained
• avoid too long, too general, or vague titles
7 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL WRITING: THE INTRODUCTION

7.1 | THE INTRODUCTION

• serves the purpose of leading the reader from a general subject area to particular field of
research
• establishes the context of the research being conducted by summarizing current
understanding and background information about the topic, stating the purpose of the
work in the form of the hypothesis, question, or research problem, briefly explaining your
rationale, methodological approach, highlighting the potential outcomes your study can
reveal, and describing the remaining structure of the paper.

7.2 | THE NARRATIVE FLOW

• Your introduction should clearly identify the subject area of interest.
• Establish context by providing a brief and balanced review of the pertinent published
literature that is available on the subject.
• Clearly state the hypothesis/objectives that you investigated.
• Why did you choose this kind of research study or design?

7.3 | THE 4-STEP APPROACH TO WRITING THE INTRODUCTION SECTION

1. Provide background information and set the context.
• initial part of the introduction prepares the readers for more detailed and specific
information that is given later
• first couple of sentences are typically broad
• at the same time, the introductory statement should not be too broad
• once the first sentence has introduced the broad field, the next sentence can point
to the specific area within the broad field

2. Introduce the specific topic of your research and explain why it is important.
• move towards presenting the specific topic of your research
• bring in some statistics to show the importance of the topic or the seriousness of the
problem
• highlight the possible benefits from solving the problem, emphasize the positive

3. Mention past attempts to solve the research problem or to answer the research question.
• indicate any earlier relevant research and clarify how your research differs from
those attempts

4. Conclude the introduction by mentioning the specific objectives of your research.

• earlier paragraphs should lead logically to specific objectives of your study
• give the specific details but avoid too much detail because some belong to the
Materials and Methods section
8 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL WRITING: THE OBJECTIVES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

8.1 | OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

• in general, research objectives describe what we expect to achieve by a project
• usually expressed in lay terms and are directed as much to the client as to the researcher
• may be linked with a hypothesis or used as a statement of purpose in a study that does
not have a hypothesis
• can serve to guide the activities of research
• general objective of your study states what you expect to achieve in general terms
• specific objectives break down the general objective into smaller, logically connected
parts that systematically address the various aspects of the problem

Your objectives should be stated using action verbs that are specific enough to be measured, for
example: to compare, to calculate, to assess, to determine, to verify, to calculate, to describe, to
explain, etc.

8.2 | SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

• a written statement that explains why your research was needed
• justification of the importance of your work and impact it has on your research field, it’s
contribution to new knowledge, and how others will benefit from it
• also known as rationale of the study

HOW DO YOU WRITE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY?

• first, think about the where the gaps in knowledge are in your research field (problem
statement)
• then, think about the significance of your research from two perspectives: 1) what is the
general contribution of your research on your field, and 2) what specific contribution have
you made to the knowledge and who does this benefit the most
9 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL WRITING: THE LITERATURE REVIEW

9.1 | LITERATURE REVIEW

• surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area
of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical
evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated
• designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a
particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger
field of study
• combines both summary and synthesis, often with specific conceptual categories
o a summary is a recap of the important information of the source
o a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information in a way that
informs how you are planning to investigate a research problem

PURPOSE OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW

• provide a critical written account of the current state of research on a selected topic
• identifies areas of prior scholarship
• places each source in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the specific
issue, area of research, or theory under review
• describes the relationship of each source to the other that you have selected
• identifies new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in previous research
• points the way forward for further research

9.2 | WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW

1. CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
• write about the materials according to when they were published
• this approach should only be followed if a clear path of research building on
previous research can be identified, and that these trends follow a clear
chronological order of development

2. BY PUBLICATION
• order your sources by publication chronology, then, only if the order demonstrates
a more important trend

3. THEMATIC (USL FORMAT)

• thematic reviews of literature are organized around a topic or issue, rather than the
progression of time
• more authentic thematic reviews tend to break away from chronological order
• a review organized in this manner would shift between time periods within each
section according to the point made

4. METHODOLOGICAL
• focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher
• a methodological scope will influence ether the types of documents in the review
or the way in which these documents are discussed

9.3 | HOW TO WRITE THE LITERATURE REVIEW?

• summarize and synthesize (don't do an "annotated bibliography')
• paraphrasing (be sure to represent the author's information or opinions accurately and in
your own words)
• select only the most important points in each source to highlight
• use quotes sparingly
• use evidence (the importance of citation)
• as much as possible, write continuously until you are finished with a particular theme
• anytime that you use information that is not considered common knowledge, you must
acknowledge your source, hence, allows your reader to follow up that source to get more
information
• in discussing literature focus on the topic (i.e. topic-oriented) and not on the author/s
(author-centered)
10 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL WRITING: MATERIALS AND METHODS

10.1 | WHAT IS MATERIALS AND METHODS?

• one of the most important parts used to judge the overall quality of the paper
• give readers enough information so that they can repeat the experiments
• reviewers should look for potential sources in of bias in the way the study was designed
and carried out, and for places where more explanation is needed
• the specific types of information in a Methods section will vary from field to field and from
study to study
• some general rules for Methods sections are:
o it should be clear from the Methods section how all of the data in the Results section
were obtained.
o In most cases, the experiments should include appropriate controls or
comparators. The conditions of the controls should be specified.
o The outcomes of the study should be defined, and the outcome measures should
be objectively validated.
o The methods used to analyze the data must be statistically sound.
o Explain the research method in chronological order, including research design and
research procedure.
o If the authors used a technique from a published study, they should include a
citation and a summary of the procedure in the text. The method also needs to be
appropriate to the present experiment.
o All materials and instruments should be identified, including the supplier's name
and location. For example, "Tests were conducted with a Vulcanizer 2.0 (XYZ
Instruments, Tuguegarao City, Philippines).
o The Methods section should not have information that belongs in another section
(such in as the Introduction or Results).
o Explain the research method in chronological order, including research design and
research procedure.
o In the case of a paper that develops both an analytical model and laboratory
results, it is common to write separate methods sections for each. At the conclusion
of the methods sections, the reader should be able to form an educated opinion
about the quality of the results to be presented in the remaining sections.

10.2 | TITLES OF THE METHODS SECTION

Engineering research papers has no standard Method Section parts, it varies from paper to paper.
However, if you are not sure of in what to include in the Method Section part you may just have
the following subsections:
• Design and Specification
o may include: gathering of materials, study area, block diagrams, schematic
diagrams, sketch or drawing, and flowcharts
• Testing and Evaluation
o includes all the testing which your product will undergo like accuracy testing,
compressive strength test, reliability test, and workability test

10.3 | HOW TO WRITE THE MATERIALS AND METHODS SECTION?

• List the major steps you will undergo to complete your study.
• Give each step a title (this title will be the subsections in your Methods).
• Explain each subsection comprehensively. In explaining each title, you should use figures
and tables. One of the purposes of the Method section is to allow others to replicate what
you have done by just reading this section.
• If necessary, combine some of the sub-sections.