Fundamental Issue in Research

What is a research problem?

 This can be anything that anybody finds unsatisfactory
or unsettling
 Research problems involve areas of concern or
conditions that might need improvement and
difficulties that need to be eliminated
Research questions
 Usually a research problem is initially posed as a
question
 Approaches to answering the questions may involve
various methodologies:
 How can a principal improve faculty morale?
(interview research)
 How do parents feel about the school counselling
program? (survey research)
 Does client-centered therapy produces more
satisfaction in clients than traditional
therapy?(traditional experimental research)
 Does behavior modification reduce aggression in
autistic children? (single-subject experimental
research)
 Are the descriptions of people in social studies
discussions biased? (grounded theory research)
 What goes on in an elementary school classroom
during an average week? (ethnographic research)
 Do teachers behave differently towards students of
different genders? (causal-comparative research)
 How can we predict which students might have trouble
learning certain types of subject matter? (correlational
research)
Whatever the methods the researcher must
collect data of some sort to answer his research
problems to make them researchable
 Unresearchable questions: examples are those that
cannot have empirical or observable value
 Example: Should philosophy be taught in high
school? - there is no way to determine what should or
what should not be done
 The question could be rephrased as: Do people think
that philosophy be taught in high school?
 By doing so the problem becomes empirical and
therefore researchable
Research questions that are metaphysical or
transcendental are unresearchable
 Examples:
 What is the meaning of life?; Does God exist?; Are
children happier when taught by a teacher of the same
gender?; What is the absolute best way to teach
history?; What would schools be like today if WWII
did not occur
 Questions 1 is a metaphysical question
 Questions 1, 4 and 5 are vague
 The last question requires the creation of an
impossible situation
Characteristics of good research
questions
 Research questions must be feasible
 These can be investigated without expending an
undue amount of time, energy or money
 What would be the level of achievement if each
student is given a laptop to use for a semester?- not
feasible
 How do students of Magsaysay High School feel about
the new social studies textbook issued in the District?
- feasible
The research questions must be
clear
 Most people would agree to what the key words in the
question mean
 Example: How do teachers feel about special classes
for the educationally handicapped?
 Issues raised: what age group is involved? What is the
level of experience of the teachers? Are all teachers in
the country involved? Does “feel” mean “opinion,”
“emotional reactions,” What is the definition of
educationally handicapped?
A definition of terms maybe
necessary in clarifying terms
 Define terms clearly and when feasible, operationally
and constitutively
The question must be significant- it
must be worth investigating
 The researcher must be guided by these three cardinal
rules:
 How might answers to this research advance knowledge in
my field?
 How might answers to this research question improve
educational practice?
 How might answers to this research question improve
human condition
 This boils down to researcher’s personal and professional
contribution and advancement
The question is ethical-
 it will not involve physical or psychological harm to
human beings or the social environment of which they
are a part
Ethics in research
 Ethics refers to questions regarding right and wrong
 When researchers think about ethics they must ask
themselves if it is right to conduct a certain study or to
carry out certain procedures
 Ethical behavior conforms to the standards of a given
profession or group
Examples of unethical practices in
research
 A researcher requires a group of high school sophomores to
sign a form in which they agree to participate in a research
study
 Asks first graders sensitive questions without the consent
of their parents
 Requires university students to fill out a questionnaire
about their sexual practices
 Deletes data he collects because these do not support his
hypothesis
 Involves a group of eight graders in a research study that
may harm them psychologically
More examples
 Possibility of harm to participants
 Deception: we are required to ask you to sign this consent
form. You need not read it because it is just routine
 A few cases seemed quite different from the rest so we
deleted them
 As a student in this university you are required to
participate in this study
 There is no need to tell any of the parents that we are
modifying the school lunch diet for this study
 Requiring students to participate in class discussion might
be harmful to some, but it is necessary for our research
The researcher must:
 Ensure the confidentiality of his research data – once
the data has been collected he must make sure that no
one else save for a few research assistants has access to
the data
 All subjects have to be assured that any data collected
shall be held in confidence
 The names of individual subjects should never be used
in any publication that describe the research
 All participants shall have the right to withdraw from
the study or request that the data collected will not be
used
Subjects should not be deceived
 The issue of deception is a troublesome matter
 Whenever possible the researcher must conduct the
research using methods that do not require deception
 If alternative methods cannot be devised the
researcher must determine whether the use of
deception is justified by the prospective study’s
scientific, educational or applied value
 If the participants are deceived the researcher must
ensure that they are provided with sufficient
explanation as soon as possible.
Research with minors
 An informed consent of parents or their legal
guardians is required for participants defined as
minors. Signers must be provided wiuth all the
necessary information in appropriate language and
must have an opportunity to refuse
 Researchers do not present themselves as
diagnosticians or counselors in reporting results to
parents.
 Children may never be coerced into participation in a
study.
 Any renumeration for the child’s services does not
affect the application of these and other ethical
principles.
The researcher must further do
 Minimize risk to participants by using procedures that
do not unnecessarily expose subjects to harm
 Risks that may occur are reasonable in relation to the
benefits that are anticipated.
 Equitable selection – the proposed research does not
discriminate among individuals in the population
 Protection of vulnerable individuals – children,
pregnant women, children, prisoners, mentally
disabled or economically disadvantaged persons, etc.
 Informed consent – researchers must provide
complete information about all aspects of the
proposed study that might be of interest or concern to
a potential participant and this must be presented in a
form that the participant can easily understand.
 Participants have the right to withdraw from the study
at anytime without penalty
 Informed consent must be appropriately documented
 Monitoring of the data being collected to ensure the
safety of participants
 Privacy and confidentiality – ensuring that any and all
information obtained during a study is not released to
outside individuals where it might have embarrassing
or damaging consequences.
Detect problems and improve:
 Is education during the American period better than
toda y?
 How to the students fell about the new HEKASI and
MAKABABYAN curriculum?
 Teachers are more morally upright today under the
present DepEd Secretary
 Students are more assertive today that ten years ago.