Practical Research

• Qualitative research is an emergent design which means that it emerges as you make ongoing decisions about what you have learned.
• Guidlines in Choosing a Topic

  • Interest in the subject matter
  • Availability of information
  • Timeliness and relevance of the topic
  • Limitations on the subject
  • Personal resources
• Interest in the subject matter 


  You are interested about the topic because you have experienced it.
• Availability of information

  
  

  It is important that when you decide on a topic, sources of information are available.
• Timeliness and relevance of the topic

  The topic you have chosen can be of significance to the community
• Limitations on the subject

  Sometimes, topic is limited to what the teacher suggests
• Personal resources

  Consider also if you can finish the research in terms of your intellectual and financial physical capabilities.
• Topics to be avoided in research

  • Controversial topics
  • Highly technical subjects
  • Hard-to-investigate subject
  • Too broad subjects
  • Too narrow subjects
  • Vague subjects
• Sources of research topics

  1. Mass media communication-television, newspaper, ads, radio, films, etc.
  2. Books, internet, journals, government publications
  3. Professional periodicals- specialized periodicals in different fields
  4. General periodicals- Reader’s Digest, Time Magazine, Women’s Magazine, etc.
  5. Previous readings
  6. Work experience
• How to narrow down a topic

  1. You can narrow down the topic by exploring and extending the explanation of a theory.
  2. Talk over ideas with people who know research.
  3. Focus on specific group.
  4. Define the aim or desired outcome of the study.
• A research study must be significant enough to make it worth your efforts as the researcher.
• Research title is the most important element of your research as it clearly expresses the problem to be explored.
• A research title capsulizes the main thought or idea of the whole research paper. It also reflects the variables under study.
• Research Title is expressed in few words possible and just enough to describe the contents and the purpose of your research.
• Research title must be informative.
• Research Title contains the what, who, where, and when.
• In qualitative research it is not necessary to complete the data on what, where, who, and when in the title.
• Qualitative research - is an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem based on building a complex holistic picture formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants and conducted in a natural setting
• Kinds of Data in a Qualitative Research

  • Participant Observation
  • Observation
  • In-depth interviewing
  • Focus Group Interviewing
  • Content Analysis
  • Narratology
  • Films
• The questions that you ask in your research will determine the data that you want to have, answer, and specify in Chapter 4
• Research questions help writers focus their research by providing a path through the research and writing process.
• A research question - is an answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue. It is the initial step in a research project. The research question is the first active step in the research project.
• A research question forms the base of where you are going, so we have to write a good research question.
• Guidelines in Formulating Research Questions

  • Establish a clear relation between the research questions and the problem or topic
  • Base your research questions on your RRL or Review of Related Literature
  • Formulate research questions that can arouse your curiosity and surprise you with your discoveries or findings
  • State your research questions in such a way that they include all dependent and independent variables referred to by the theories, principles, or concepts underlying your research work
  • Let the set of research questions or sub-problems be preceded by one question expressing the main problem of the research
  • Avoid asking research questions that are answerable with "yes" or "no" and use the "how" questions only in a quantitative research
  • Be guided by the acronym SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) in formulating the research questions
• Applying SMART, you must deal with exact answers and observable things, determine the extent or limit of the data collected, be aware of the timeframe and completion period of the study, and endeavor to have your research study arrive at a particular conclusion that is indicative of what are objective, factual, or real in this world
• Writing a Research Question

  • Specify your specific concern or issue
  • Decide what you want to know about the specific concern or issue
  • Turn what you want to know and the specific concern into a question
  • Ensure that the question is answerable
  • Check to make sure the question is not too broad or too narrow
  • This is the basic process in writing a research question. Writing a good question will result in a better research project.
• A Research Question must be:

  • Clear
  • Focused
  • Concise
  • Complex
  • Arguable
• Thesis Statement


  a main point, a main idea, or central message, and a sentence that captures your position on this idea.
• A thesis statement focuses your ideas into one or two sentences. It should present the topic of your paper and also make a comment about your position in relation to the topic. Your thesis statement should tell your reader what the paper is about and also help guide your writing and keep your argument focused.
• The scope of study in your research paper contains the explanation of what information or subject is being analyzed.
• Scope of the Study also mentions the research method used as well as the certain theories applied to the data.
• A variable refers to any characteristic that can have different values or traits that may vary across research participants. Variables are measured, controlled, and manipulated by the researcher.
• Attributes are important elements of a variable. It refers to the value assigned to a specific variable.
• Characteristics of Variables: Dependence, Mutually exclusive, and exhaustive.
• Dependence – this refers to how the variable is considered in a cause-and-effect relationship.
• Independent variables are those characteristics that are changed, manipulated, or selected by the researcher.
• Dependent variables, on the other hand, are those that change because of changes to the independent variable.
• Mutually exclusive – this means that a participant or respondent cannot possess two attributes of a variable.
• Exhaustive – this means that the researcher should consider all possible attributes of a certain variable.
• Kinds of Variables: Continuous variables, Discrete variables, and categorical varibles.