Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

University Town, Northern Samar, Philippines
Web: http://uep.edu.ph; Email: uepnsofficial@gmail.com

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES SENIOR HIGH LABORATORY SCHOOL

SHSRes2 – PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2

IDENTIFYING THE INQUIRY AND STATING THE PROBLEM

CHOOSING A RESEARCH TOPIC

Researchable topics useful for everyday life are all around you. Sometimes, the topic, possibly even the
question, is defined for you. Other times, you must define the topic and refine the question yourself. As a researcher,
you will find problems, issues, and questions of interest all around you. Before choosing the topic, however, you will
find there are other philosophical and practical factors to consider. According to research experts there are actually
three things you should ask yourself if your study has:

1. Should-do-ability - It is about the purpose, relevance, importance, appropriateness, and ethics of the research.
2. Do-ability - This is about the manageability, skill required, prior experience needed, timeframe anticipated,
and resource support available to conduct this research.
3. Want-to-do-ability - It focuses on your own motivation, commitment, and perseverance.

Below is a useful checklist that gets you to consider the practical considerations (i.e., the do-ability) in relation to
conducting a piece of research. Not how this checklist picks up many of the ideas we’ve already met and questions
we’ve already asked. It also links to the two earlier sections on what it means to be a researcher and the decisions that
researchers make.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN SELECTING A RESEARCH TOPIC
1. Size • Is your topic or question carefully stated in a way that sets out the limits of your study?
• Have you focused your research in a way that will keep you on track?
2. Scope • Have you defined the scope in terms of population and sample or setting and case?
3. Time • Have you made a calculated guess at the length of time this study will take?
• Is the study manageable in the time you have at your disposal?
• Can you fit this study around your other work, family, or community commitments?
• Can you meet the necessary deadlines?
4. Resources • Can you obtain the resources (financial, material, administrative, and personnel) required?
• Do you have easy access to these or the finances to support them?
5. Skill • Do you have the data-gathering and analytic skills to conduct this study?
• Can you get help or training if it is beyond your expertise?
6. Access • How easy is it to gain access to the site, the sample population, and/or cases you need to study?
• Have you considered whose permission you will require and how you will get it?
7. Prior Knowledge • How well do you know the field within which this topic sits?
• How familiar are you with the research, theoretical, and methodological literature around this topic?
• Do you know where to go for support or advice?
8. Motivation • Will this topic hold your interest for the required length of time?
• Have you considered what intrinsic and extrinsic incentives might keep you going throughout the research?

How do you find your Research Topic?

1. Consider research you have already done.
2. Your own interests are a great source to find a topic.
3. Current events or timely issues can be a good place to find a promising research question.

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THE RESEARCH TITLE
The title summarizes the main idea or ideas of the study. A good title contains the fewest possible words
needed to adequately describe the contents and/or purpose of the research under study.

Effective titles in research studies have several characteristics, namely:

1. Indicate accurately the subject and scope of the study

2. Avoid using abbreviations
3. Use words that create a positive impression and stimulate reader interest
4. Use current nomenclature from the field of study
5. Identify key variables, both dependent and independent
6. May reveal how the paper will be organized
7. Suggest a relationship between variables which supports the major hypothesis
8. Is limited to 10 to 15 substantive words or descriptive terms and phrases that accurately highlight the core
content of the paper
9. Does not include "study of," "analysis of" or similar constructions, 10. Titles are usually in the form of a phrase,
but can also be in the form of a question
10. If a quote is used as part of the title, the source of the quote is cited using an asterisk and footnote
11. Use correct grammar and capitalization with all first words and last words capitalized, including the first word of
a subtitle. All nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs that appear between the first and last words of
the title are also capitalized, and
12. In academic studies, rarely is a title followed by an exclamation mark. However, a title or subtitle can be in the
form of a question.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH

One of the beginning steps to completing a research study is the background study for it. The background
study for a research study consists of a review of the area being researched, current information surrounding the issue,
previous studies on the issue, and relevant history on the issue. Preferably, the study should effectively set forth the
history and background information on your research problem. The purpose of a background study is to help you to
prove the relevance of your research question and to further develop your research.

Simply, the background study is a compilation of sufficient information based on the analysis of your proposed
argument or problem and the steps required to arrive at the design and implementation of feasible solutions and the
results achieved. Thus, background study is the work you did to determine this is a problem, these are the methods
required to solve this problem and that is the purpose of any method or experiment used. Back- ground study requires
research and proper interpretation of the research as well as citation backing the research done. A way to write a
background of the research study is shown below:

1. First you should give a general overview of the research topic and introduce the pivoting ideas you will be
using throughout the research study. This should take a paragraph.
2. Then you provide detailed, precise information about the methodologies researched depending on individual
and thesis topic, this could take several paragraphs.
3. To avoid plagiarism, cite your sources and resources
4. Introduce your study after this by briefly describing the methodology used and the objective of this
methodology. In other words, the reason/s for the use of this method and not the other.

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THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

A research study starts with a research problem. Based on the research problem is the formulation of the
problem statement that be thought of as consisting of a research question and a research purpose. A set of clear
research questions and purpose direct the entire research study including the data analysis. Asking relevant questions
is essential in gathering the right data and consequently to provide the analysis with the necessary input to ultimately
answer the research questions. The answer to a research question is knowledge. The research goal indicates what the
knowledge obtained will be used for. In other words, why is it worthwhile to answer the research questions? What is
the use of the whole endeavor? It is important that the research question and research purpose match.

Quantitative research aims to numerically:

• describe a phenomenon of interest (descriptive research);
• explore relationships among variables (correlational research); or
• manipulate variables in order to measure the effects (experimental research).

To frame a quantitative research question, you need to understand some important concepts:
1. A research unit / unit of analysis is the object or event that you are counting or measuring, that is, the cases
that make up your sample. These might be individual people (as in a survey), interactions (as in an
observation), or households (as in a census).
2. A variable is a concept that describes a phenomenon in a way that can be counted or measured (e.g., age,
gender, IQ, mathematical ability, interest in sport). Variables can be:
a. independent, that is, influences, acts upon, or causes change in another variable; or
b. dependent, that is, is acted upon or is the effect of the prior variable.
3. Attributes are the categories into which you divide your variables. For example, gender might be “male” and
“female”; age might be “below 20”, “between 20 and 40”, and “over 40”; and mathematical ability might use
the stanines from a PAT test.

There are four main types of research questions that quantitative research is suited to finding an answer to:
1. The first type of research question is that demanding a quantitative answer. Examples are: 'How many students
choose to study management?' or 'How many Management professors are needed and how many are currently
teaching in the school district?' That a researcher needs to use quantitative research to answer this kind of
question is obvious.
2. Numerical change can likewise accurately be studied only by using quantitative methods. Are the numbers of
students in your university rising or falling? Is achievement going up or down? There is a need to do a quantitative
study to find out.
3. As well as wanting to find out about the state of something or other, a researcher often wants to explain
phenomena. What factors predict the recruitment of Management faculty members? What factors are related to
changes in student achievement over time? This kind of question can babe studied successfully by quantitative
methods, and many statistical techniques have been developed that allow to predict scores on one factor, or
variable (like teacher recruitment) from scores on one or more other factors, or variables (like unemployment
rates, pay, conditions).
4. The final activity for which quantitative research is especially suited in the testing of hypotheses. A researcher
might want to explain something like whether there is a relationship between pupil's achievement and their self-
esteem and social background. He could look at the theory and come up with the hypothesis that lower social
class background leads to low self-esteem, which would in turn be related to low achievement. Using quantitative
research, he can try to test this kind of model.

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Guidelines in Formulating a Quantitative Research Problem and Research Questions
1. Formulate a research problem that is researchable; meaning, open to empirical investigation.
2. See to it that you state your quantitative research problem clearly, concisely, and possibly, if under APA
referencing style, not beyond 12 words.
3. Have your research problem focus on a general understanding of your research topic.
4. Construct a research problem that mirrors the importance of carrying out the research for finding answers or
solutions to a problem.
5. Let your quantitative research problem state the variables and their relationships with one another.
6. Construct an introductory statement to present your research problem, which is the main problem of your
research.
7. State your research questions or sub-problems, not in the form of yes-or-no questions, but in informative
questions.
8. Express your research problem and research questions either in an interrogative or declarative manner, but
some research books say that the former is more effective than the latter form. (Babbie 2013; Punch 2014; Walliman 2014)

Approaches to Quantitative Research Questions:

Likewise, you may start asking research problems or research questions based on any of these two approaches:

1. Deductive Approach. Your questions begin from “hunches or predictions” or expectations about the outcome
of your research. Ask questions centering on a theory or concept, discover the accuracy of the theory, ponder
on variables to represent the extent of the application of the theory, and make up your mind on which variable
to study through observation, interview, or experimentation. Explaining the meaning of a variable based on
its involvement or role in the research process, particularly, in the measurement, manipulation, or control of
the concept application is giving such term its operational definition.
2. Inductive Approach. Deductive approach goes from bigger ideas such as theories or concepts to smaller ideas;
conversely, inductive approach starts from smaller and simpler ideas to bigger or more complex ones.
Inductively formulated research questions focus on description of things to prove an idea or a system. Central
to this approach are specific details to prove the validity of a certain theory or concept. (Walsh 2009, p. 35)

Research Questions in Different Kinds of Research:

A. In descriptive research, measurable or observable data are collected to produce a categorization or description of
the variables or combinations of the variables. These can result in statements such as, “Twenty percent of girls
between the ages of 10 and 15 read for pleasure for more than five hours per week.”
B. In correlational research, researchers are interested in the relationship between variables. Researchers ask if one
(the independent variable) links to or even causes a behavior or reaction in another (the dependent variable). If,
for example, we were interested in whether boys or girls choose more free-choice activities in an early childhood
center, we might ask how does the independent variable (e.g., gender) relate to the phenomenon of interest (e.g.,
free-choice activities in an early childhood center)? Can we establish this by observing dependent variables, such
as activity choices, length of time on task, individual or group play?
C. In experimental research, researchers manipulate one or more variable(s) to measure its/their effect on another.
For example, they might decide to randomly assign a matching cohort of students to one of two groups. The
experimental group receives a treatment (e.g., a new program for learners with reading difficulties) and the control
group does not. The researchers then compare the “before and after” results to see if the treatment had an effect.
In classrooms, it is often difficult to control all the variables, that is, by trying to match for age, gender, ethnicity,
ability, socioeconomic status, first language, time in school, number of schools attended, previous experience of
a task, or the myriad other variables that might affect performance. As such, teachers are more likely to use quasi-
experiments or single-case design but these still require a unit of analysis and a set of variables.

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Quantitative research requires you to restate your research question as a hypothesis. This is your best guess about the
relationship between the variables that you will then set out to test. The following are the characteristics of
hypotheses:

A hypothesis:
• Is logically linked to your research question;
• Is a statement about the relationship between variables;
• Is clearly stated in a form that gives variables precise meanings;
• Is testable by means of gathering empirical data;
• Uses variables that are measurable in an acceptably accurate and reliable way; and
• Is falsifiable, that is, it must be possible to disprove the claim in the hypothesis.

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THE SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope and limitations are very important to the nature of your study. As your study begins with your
problem statement and purpose statement outlining the reason and direction for your study, your study must also
indicate its limitations. In addition to what your study intends to accomplish, a discussion of what your study intends
not to accomplish is of importance and value as well. What are the boundaries that perhaps the design of your study
may not allow? These could include:

1. A brief statement of the general purpose of the study.

2. The subject matter and topics studied and discussed.
3. The locale of the study, where the data were gathered or the entity to which the data belong.
4. The population or universe from which the respondents were selected. This must be large enough to make
generalizations significant.
5. Sampling. Is your sampling a non-probability or purposeful sampling for example? Why?
a. It was not cost effective to survey all members of the organization
b. It was not time efficient to survey all members of the organization
6. A limitation in the scope and validity of your survey instrument.
7. Limitations to your choice of methodology As a result of these limitations, great care was taken with the ability
to generalize the resultant findings when discussed.
8. The period of the study which is the time, either months or years, during which the data were gathered.

There is often confusion on what is meant by delimitations and limitations. Just by defining your problem
statement in any particular way, you are potentially limiting the scope, boundaries, or parameters for your study.
There are many approaches you could consider. By taking your particular approach, you are committing to a particular
scope of action and path that you will be traveling. You will need to clearly define what you intend to study as well as
what you do not. Be very specific in both areas for your reader to clearly understand your intents on both levels.

Limitations are those elements that may limit what you can say about the results. They are what elements will
affect the ability for your study to generalize the results. Limitations occur in all types of research and are, for the most
part, outside the researcher's control given practical constraints, such as time, funding, and access to populations of
interest. They are threats to the study's internal or external validity. Limitations can get in the way of your being able
to answer certain questions or draw certain types of inferences from your findings. Therefore, it's important to
acknowledge them upfront and make note of how they restrict the conclusions you'll be able to draw from your study.
Frequently, limitations can get in the way of our ability to generalize our findings to the larger populations or to draw
causal conclusions, so be sure to consider these issues when thinking about the potential limitations of your study.

In quantitative research, common limitations include the following:

1. Participant dropout
2. Small sample size, low power
3. Non-representative sample
4. Violations of statistical assumptions
5. Non-experimental design, lack of manipulation of variables, lack of controls
6. Potential confounding variables
7. Measures with low (or unknown) reliability or validity
8. Limits of an instrument to measure the construct of interest
9. Data collection methods (e.g., self-report)
10. Anything else that might limit the study's internal or external validity

Delimitations by contrast are those characteristics and details about your study that may limit the scope or
define your specific boundaries of your particular study. They are the definitions you set as the boundaries of your
own research study, so delimitations are in your control. Delimitations are set so that your goals do not become
impossibly large to complete. Examples of delimitations include objectives, research questions, variables, theoretical
objectives that you have adopted, and populations chosen as targets to study. When you are stating your
delimitations, clearly inform readers why you chose this course of study. The answer might simply be that you were
curious about the topic and/or wanted to improve standards of a professional field by revealing certain findings.

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 Delimitations are often strongly related to your theory and research questions. Remember that delimitations
are not good or bad. They are simply a detailed description of the scope of interest for your study as it relates to the
research design.

Common Examples of Delimitations

Two most common sources of delimitations in quantitative research include the following:
1. Inclusion/exclusion criteria (or how you define your population of interest)
2. Research questions or problems you have chosen to examine

Several other common sources of delimitations include the following:

1. Theoretical framework or perspective adopted
2. Methodological framework or paradigm chosen (like quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods)
3. In quantitative research, the variables you've chosen to measure or manipulate (as opposed to others)

Sample Scope, Delimitations, and Limitations of the Study

The main purpose of the study is to provide information regarding metrosexuality and how being a metrosexual
affects the lifestyle of the student. The study considers the student's personal information such as their name (optional)
gender, age, and section.

The researchers limited the study to 80 male and female preparatory dentistry students enrolled in the second
semester of school year 2011-2012 of Centro Escolar University-Manila. Each of the respondents was given a questionnaire
to answer. The students selected came from four different sections to avoid prejudice of their perceptions.

In order to assure manageability of the collected data, the questionnaire only included multiple choice items,
likert scale, checklist and ranking/rating questions and did not include open-ended response items.

The researchers included additional interview questions exclusive for male second year preparatory dentistry
students also from the four different sections. Open-ended questions were used to have a better and clearer
understanding of male students' perception on metrosexuality.
Source:https://chrisonis.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/chapter-1-scope-delimitations-and-limitations- of-the-study/

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study provides information to the reader on how the study will contribute. It must be
specifically stated, however, what the study will contribute and who will benefit from it.

An explanation of the significance of a study may include the meaning of the research work to you personally
and should include how your research benefits or impacts others in part or whole. Discuss what people or groups of
people might benefit from reading your research. Show how this project is significant to developing a body of
knowledge. Without significant contribution, a research study will neither be appreciated nor regarded feasible to go
on, and will not be given the chance to be funded.

SAMPLE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be a significant endeavor in promoting good work environment in the workplace and motivations of its
employees. This study will also be beneficial to the students and instructors in strategic management, corporate strategies
when they employ effective learning in their classroom setting particularly in different concepts related to the use of
effective human resources management. By understanding the needs of the students and benefits of quality education,
these instructors and students be assured of a competitive advantage. Moreover, this research will provide
recommendations on how to evaluate the performance of a certain institution in accordance to human resources
management.

Moreover, this study will be helpful to the retail industry and business practitioners in training and informing them in
the area of human resources management, objectives, and strategies. It will also serve as a future reference for
researchers on the subject of human resources and corporate companies. And importantly, this research will educate

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 clients in deciding on whether an industry e.g. business industry is really fulfilling its responsibility to the to the community
or is just showing off to promote its business.

Source: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2008/06/a-sample-thes-2.html

Researchers attempting to describe the significance of a study should consider why their work is important and
what its implications are. They should consider how the study might fill in knowledge gaps in their field, develop better
theoretical models or point the way toward further study. Researchers should also examine what impact the study
might have not just on the academic or scientific community but also on the general public. They should present
practical benefits, such as how the work might inform policy, improve some aspect of people's lives, help people save
money, make a process more efficient or help the environment. They should also explain the unique perspectives they
or their team bring to the research study.

Write the significance of the study by looking into the general contribution of your study, such as its importance
to society as a whole, then proceed downwards towards its contribution to individuals and that may include yourself
as a researcher. You start off broadly then narrow down gradually to a specific group or person. Here are some tips
when writing the significance of the study:

❖ It describes the contributions of the study as new knowledge, make findings more conclusive.
❖ It cites the usefulness of the study to the specific groups.
❖ Cite all the persons and groups that benefited on your study/ research.
❖ Include a short explanation regarding how those persons and groups benefited from the study or simply how
the research study will help them.
❖ The researchers should include themselves.

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Generally speaking a Research Problem is a situation that needs a solution and for which there are possible
solutions. If a situation has no possible solutions then it makes little or no sense expending resources researching it.
Everyone wants to be young, and nobody wants to age. Aging seems like a problem that needs a solution. But there is
no possible solution. People must age. Thus, research on how to stay young forever makes little sense.

On the other hand, a solution to a problem that fills a gap in the existing knowledge is a good basis for a
research problem. An example might be that obesity among adolescents can be reduced via healthy eating and regular
exercise. Here obesity is the problem, and there are possible solutions. A good problem will originate from a research
question formulated from observation, a literature review, a study of previous experiments, and your own preliminary
data. A research problem may be described as incongruence; a discrepancy between what is and what ought to be. It
may be also described as the gap in knowledge that needs to be filled.

The description of the issue that currently needs to be addressed will be the problem statement. The
statement of the problem is the focal point of any research. A good problem statement is just one sentence with
several paragraphs of elaboration. For example, it could be: "The frequency of job layoffs is creating fear, anxiety, and
a loss of productivity in middle management workers." While this problem statement is just one sentence, it should be
accompanied by a few paragraphs that elaborate on the problem.

The paragraphs could cover present persuasive arguments that make the problem important enough to study.
They could include the opinions of others (politicians, futurists, other professionals); explanations of how the problem
relates to business, social or political trends via presentation of data that demonstrates the scope and depth of the
problem.

A well-articulated statement of the problem establishes the foundation for everything to follow in the proposal
and will render less problematic most of the conceptual, theoretical and methodological obstacles typically
encountered during the process of proposal development. This means that, in subsequent sections of the proposal,
there should be no surprises, such as categories, questions, variables or data sources that come out of nowhere.

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Problem statements often have three elements:
1. The problem itself, stated clearly and with enough contextual detail to establish why it is important
2. The method of solving the problem, often stated as a claim or a working paper
3. The purpose, statement of objective and scope of the study being proposed.

These elements should be brief so that the reader does not get lost. One page is enough for a statement
problem. The statement of the problem should clearly indicate what is to be investigated. The actual statement may
be in a declarative or in a question form. The statement should indicate the variables of interest and the specific
relationship between the variables that are to be studied.

The problem statement implies some question that your research will be answering. Sometimes it is necessary
to draft or pre-write for a while to discover what that point will be. When you set up to write a statement problem
you should know that you are looking for something wrong or something that needs close attention. Your problem
statement is the statement that makes a point about the issues and information you are discussing, and is what the
rest of the proposal hinges upon. It is not just your topic, but what you are saying about your topic. In other words
there must be very good communication between your topic and the statement problem. The importance of the
problem should receive considerable and persuasive attention.

Nevertheless, objectivity can be injected by answering questions such as these:

1. Is the problem of current interest?
2. Is it topical?
3. Is the problem likely to continue into the future?
4. Will more information about the problem have practical application?
5. Will more information about the problem have theoretical importance?
6. How large is the population affected by the problem?

Sources:
 Practical Research 2 (Quantitative Research) Kto12 Compliant by Prof. Angelita Ong Camilar Serrano, DBA
 RBS Practical Research 2 (First Edition) by Esther L. Baraceros (2016 Edition)
 Chapter 2. Selecting A Research Design from:
https://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/press/abstracts/Doing%20Ed_2ndEd_ch%202.pdf

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