36

Data gathering instrument

The main source of gathering the important data for the study was the self-constructed

questionnaire made by the researchers. The questionnaire could measure the impact of parental

separation to the interpersonal development of the respondents in terms of their academics,

communication gaps, self esteem and socialization.

A. Construction of Questionnaire

To gather the needed information in the study, the researchers will construct a

questionnaire that aims to answer the problem stated in the study. The questionnaire will

be divided into two sections. The first section will be about the basic information of the

respondents like their name, sex at birth, year level, college/ department, family status,

civil status, civil status of parents, and age at time of parents separation.

The second section will be the main source of gathering information in the study.

The questionnaire is composed of different situational statements that the respondents

may have encountered. Statements were divided into different factors namely

communication gaps, academics, self esteem, and socialization. It will be rated as 4,3,2,1

with corresponding verbal interpretation of 4-always, 3-sometimes, 2- rarely and 1-never.

For constructing the content of the interview guide question, related studies were

used as references. The interview guide questions were written in English and were

translated in Filipino. The researchers will use the unstructured interview as a tool to

develop an in depth understanding of the data needed for the study from the participants.

Since the unstructured interview contains open -ended questions, the researchers will

record the interview and will transcribe the field notes for an analysis.
 37

The interview guide questions will be validated based on which the participants

have willingness and feel free to share their experiences and challenges as being raised by

a single parent. The unstructured guided questionnaire is composed of two general

questions that the participants can describe themselves. This questionnaire will help the

researchers to gather the needed data.

The first draft of questions for the interview will be submitted to the thesis adviser

for consultation. To determine validity of each question, the researchers will also consult

other people whom they considered as experts in the field for their suggestions,

comments and recommendations for the enhancement of the questions for the interview.

B. Validation of Questionnaire

Validity is a criterion by which the researcher expects to obtain the responses to

measure the criteria expected from the objective and variables.

The researchers created an item pool for professional assessment and the questionnaire

was given to a grammarian to ensure the correction of sentence structure. The validation

of self-constructed questionnaire was done by presenting it to a practitioner in the field

of Psychology who can incorporate changes and revisions in the tool.

C. Administration of Questionnaire

Prior to the administration of the questionnaire, the researchers started to look for

the respondents in Batangas State University - Lipa Campus. Then eventually the

researchers approach each respondent through personal communication or email address

to orient them of the purpose of the study and the value of the results and to answer the

test. The researchers will administer each questionnaire through the use of their g-suite

accounts that they will be answering correctly. The researchers will conduct interviews
 38

also considering that the study is a mixed method. After gathering all of the information,

the selected data was used in developing and analyzing the program.

D. Scoring of Questionnaire

After completing the survey questionnaire, the responses were tallied by the

researchers and later were forwarded to the statistician for the computation and statistical

treatment of data.

The respondents answers in the questionnaire were scored by summing up their answers

and multiplied by the numerical value and divided by the total number of the respondents to get

the mean deviation. In order to score the responses, the researcher used the following scale to

understand the impact of parental separation to the interpersonal development skills of students.

Specifically, it followed the scoring below:

Scale Interval Verbal Interpretation

4 3.50 - 4.00 Always

3 2.50 - 3.49 Sometimes

2 1.50 - 2.49 Often

1 1.00 - 1.49 Never

IV. Data Gathering Procedure

The first step before going to properly collect data is to make a request letter. Upon

approval, the researchers will retrieve the requested letter. The researchers will communicate to

the Dean initially with a letter of permission to conduct the survey. After the approval of the

agreement, researchers will schedule the time for answering the questionnaire. Before starting

the data gathering procedure, the self-made research tool will be subjected to validity, and

reliability tests to ensure that the quality of data that will be collected from the respondents is

accurate. The research-made questionnaire will be validated by a panel composed of three

experts, a statistician, an English grammarian and the research professor or adviser. The

reliability test will be conducted based on the results of the study that will be held on Batangas

State University- TNEU Lipa Campus.

In administering the questionnaire, the researchers will use the time allotted for vacant

time to avoid destruction of class discussion. The student responses were given enough to answer

the questions. The researchers will inform the participants that their identity and privacy will be

protected and ensured. The answers and information to the questionnaire will be confidential to

others. Succeeding participation, the researchers will inform the participants about the general

and definite intents of the study. After data gathering, the researchers now collect it for tallying

the scores and to apply statistical analysis and treatment to be used with the entire study.

During the data gathering, the participants allowed researchers to record the interview

using video recording. The participants showed different emotions and gestures while sharing

their experiences. All the data gathered were kept confidential and documented, so the

researchers were able to analyze all the data gathered regarding the respondents.
 40

To avoid confusion, an introduction letter was provided from the department of

development studies. The researcher ensured a high level of privacy during and after data

collection and also the researcher sought to have agreement from respondents before data was

collected from them.

V. Statistical Treatment

Data were gathered, collated, analyzed, and interpreted using a statistical treatment to

achieve the study's aims.

The following statistical tools and procedures were utilized specifically:

Frequency/Percentage. This is a data presentation that gives the percentage of observations for

each data point or collection of data points. This was used to determine the respondents' profiles.

Weighted Mean. This is the sum of the frequency of each weight's responses multiplied by the

numerical value of each weight divided by the total number of respondents. This was used to

determine respondents' assessments of their personality development.

Composite Mean. This is the weighted mean of the times in each category divided by the total

number of items in each category. This was utilized to assess the influence of parents' separation

on the students' interpersonal development.

Multiple Regression. This was utilized to see if there was a significant association/relationship

between the respondents' communication gap, academics, self-esteem, and socialization when

they were categorized according to their profile variables.