Competency: States Research Questions

CS_RS11-IIIc-e-4

1.
 ACTIVITY: Message Relay
Form groups then fall in line at the back.
First in the line will receive the message, pass
quietly the message to the next until it
reaches the last in the line. The last person in
the line will write the message in a manila
paper. Members will rotate within the group.
The most number of accurate message will be
the winner
 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

After you identified your problem which may

have come from the following sources – your
specialization, observation, intuitions, or
both. You have to settle first the problem of
selecting which problem to research on.
You may use any of the following criteria as
the basis for selecting your problem:
Technical and Personal.
 Technical Criteria Personal criteria

 Significant to chosen field/  Interest

advancement of science or  Training
specialization  Expertise
 Pioneering or novel  Financial capacity
 Originality  Time factor involved in the project.
 Arouse intellectual curiosity
 Relevance to degree
 Availability or manageability of data
 Availability of instruments
 The statement of the problem is an important
introductory material found in Chapter 1

Why do we have a research question?

Boden, et al. (20050 justify the presence of
research questions in a study:
1. Having a question focuses our analysis and forces to have
an arguments that runs through our work. This is important
because it protects us from the temptation of indulging in pure
description without trying to achieve the deeper understanding
reached by theorizing what we are doing.
2. Developing research questions delimit what the researcher is
going to do and become very focused in the study.
3. It is also kinder to readers, users and/ or beneficiaries of
your research to start with specific questions.
4. Having clearly set out questions avoids the perils of
pugilistic, or even friendly or well mentioned, questioner at
conferences or vivas who takes great delight in asking why you
have not looked at whatever their particular hobby horse is.

Research in Various Disciplines p. 36

 WAYS OF STATING YOUR RESEARCH PROBLEM

Statement of Research Objectives. Focus on a clear goal or

objective. State your precise goal. The problem should be
limited enough in scope making a definite conclusion possible.
The major statement or question may be followed by minor
statements or question. The introductory statement must be
the purpose/aim or the objectives of the study.
• Example:
The main objective of this study is to determine the causes
of insurgency in Cagayan. Furthermore, it attempts to find out
how two groups of respondents differ in their perception of the
causes of insurgency in the province.
 You will notice that this is a clearly stated sentence or two
which tell exactly what you expect to do.
2. Statement of hypothesis to be answered or tested by the research.
If the goal is specifically to test a given hypothesis then state so. In many
cases, the objective will be a more general statement than that of a
hypothesis alone.

Example:

The primary objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that there is a
relationship between salary increase and job satisfaction.
3. Statement of problem question to be answered by the research. These are sometimes called investigation questions.

Investigative questions are the specific topical questions that you must resolve in order to achieve your research objective or to test your hypothesis.

Example:
Specifically, it attempts to find answer to the following questions:
1. How do the three groups of respondents perceive the impact
of insurgency on the social life of the Cagayanos?
2. What is the perception of the three groups of respondents
regarding the impact of insurgency on business in Cagayan?
 Some Examples
Poor: How effective are homogeneous and heterogeneous groups?
Improved: What is the effect of homogeneous grouping on the
achievement in science among Grade IV pupils?

Poor: Will there be differences between the more accepted and less
accepted freshman students?
Improved: Will there be differences between the more accepted and
the less accepted and the less accepted students in terms of
personal and social adjustments?

Poor: What is the creativity level of college freshman students?

Improved: What is the creativity level of college freshman students
in this study in terms of fluency, flexibility and originality?
 THE PROBLEM SHOULD BE
STATED IN A DECLARATIVE
STATEMENT OR IN QUESTION
FORM.
 SOME MISTAKES COMMITTED IN PROBLEM FORMULATION
1.Undertaking research without reviewing the existing professional
literature on the subject.
2.Collecting data without a well-defined plan or purpose
3.Taking available data and attempting to fit meaningful research
questions to it.
4.Defining objectives in general or ambiguous terms causing
interpretations and conclusions to be arbitrary on invalid.
5.The research makes no contributions to the general body of
knowledge
6.Failure to recognize the limitations of your approach.
7.Failure to base research on a sound theoretical and/or conceptual
framework.
8.Failure to anticipate alternative rival hypothesis that would also
account for a given set of findings and which could challenge the
interpretations and conclusions reached by the investigation.
 Exercise

Create your own Statement of the Problem,

connected with your proposal research. Follow the
instructions
Criteria 2 and observe
4 the guidelines.
7 10
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with care and Limited or somewhat sufficient Sophisticated and
creativity none masterful
Mercado (2006) suggest the main criteria for
selecting a research problem:
1. Has societal, organizational, or personal
theoretical and/ or practical value
2. Doable within a timeframe
3. Has available data or information
4. Factors or variables to be studied are
observable and measureable
5. Knowledge, interest, and skill of the thesis
students and faculty members
• According to Boden (2005) a good research question
...does not invite true/false testing in the way that
hypothesis would.
… does not have the answer contained or implied within
them.
...does not invite “yes” or “no” answer. Instead, the
answer are likely to be complex and rich nuanced.
... are answerable through investigation and do not rely on
belief or faith
…facilitates a close focused investigation, helping to keep
the researcher on track.
…should be brief.
In sum, good research question are
doable and answerable. They focus
the mind, the inquiry, and the
product.