Research 10

• Roles and Responsibilities Present in Research

  • Student-Researchers
  • Adult Sponsors
  • Qualified Scientist
  • Designated Supervisor
• Student-Researchers

  • Conceptualizes for his/her research topic
  • Prepares & writes: Research plan, ISEF Forms, Posters for display in science fairs, Research paper
  • Seeks guidance from adult sponsor and qualified scientist
  • Conducts: Experiment, Data analysis
  • Personally presents research during science fairs and answers questions
• Adult Sponsors


  • Usually the Coach or the Research Adviser
  • Should have a solid background in the research topic
  • Evaluates risks of the project of the student
  • Ensures safety and health of the student
  • Reviews student's Research Plan
  • Reminds (ONLY) students of the things s/he needs to prepare and perform
  • Should always be available for student consultation
  • Edits (eg. grammar and language) research paper, abstract, and posters of the students
  • Makes sure the student is emotionally and mentally ready for oral presentation & defense
• Qualified Scientist


  • Should have a doctoral degree or master's degree with equivalent experience in the field of study of the student
  • May still be the adult sponsor if s/he meets the above qualifications
  • Needed for research that include high risks
  • May or may not come from the Regulated Research Institution (RRI) where experimentation is to be conducted
• Designated Supervisor


  • Sees the overall conduct of the experiment
  • Can still be the Adult-Sponsor
• Research Plan


  • Serves as the guide and "preliminary blueprint" in the conduct of a research
  • It must be reviewed properly by the adult-sponsor and (if any) the qualified scientist
  • Risks and special procedures needed for the conduct of the experiment must be assessed
  • Upon finishing a draft of the research plan, the students must sit with the adult sponsor, the qualified scientist and even the parents to discuss their research plan
  • Improvements, simplifications, and corrections can then be made by the students upon the advice of the adults
  • Only then when the student and all the adults agree can the research plan be approved and the research process proceeds
• Parts of the Research Plan

  • Tentative title of the proposed research
  • Name(s) of the researcher(s)
  • Proposed start & end date
  • Rationale - It explains why the research is important and explains any societal impact of your research
  • Problem being addressed - Statement of the problem
  • Goals / Expected Outcomes / Hypothesis - States the final output of the research
  • Description in detail of methods and Procedures
  • Procedure - Detailed steps to be taken in the whole research
  • Risk and Safety - Discusses the risks that may be involved in the whole research
  • Data Analysis - Represents how data gathered from the whole research are to be analyzed
  • Bibliography - Include at least five (5) major references (books, science journal or credible internet sites)
• Data Logbook


  • Serves as the "official transcript" of the activities related to the research
  • Should be written in a record book and not in a springed notebook
  • Entries should be written using only a non-erasable pen
  • Number each page; write a straight line from top to bottom of the page for those without entries
  • Minimize erasures; erasures should be crossed-out once with a signature affixed
  • It is advisable that entries are to be written daily
  • For days with no research-related activity, "none" can be written
  • Staple research-related documents that were acquired during the day
  • Entries can be paragraphs or bullets of narrations of the activities, tables and figures for data, etc.; make sure they are readable; quantitative data must have units
• Photo Documentation


  • Serves as the "ultimate evidence" of research-related activities
  • Pictures should be taken in ALL research-related activities; the more pictures, the better
  • Save UNEDITED pictures in folders by date; prepare a back-up copy online
  • It is also advisable to prepare CD containing selected pictures (usually the best ones) for each research-related activity
  • It must be labeled with the research title and name of students
  • This CD will come handy during science fairs when judges ask for photo-documentations
• IMRAD-C


  • It is concise and journal ready
  • Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and, Discussion, Conclusion
  • Shorter than the chapter format
  • Commonly and widely used by researchers nowadays
• Parts of the IMRAD-C

  • Introduction: it should be written in 2-4 paragraphs with no subsection. It should have (a) Background of the Study, (b) Statement of the Problem, (c) Objective, (d) Limitation & (e) Significance
  • Materials and Methods: Subsections can be used (usually 1 short paragraph per subsection). It should provide enough details so that others can repeat the experiments following the methods written in the research paper; however, conciseness should be maintained. It should include the significant steps such as gathering of materials, preparing of set-ups, tests and experimentations, data analysis , etc.; the materials used for each step must also be included. Official title of international/established procedures or tests used in the experiments can be written instead of describing its detailed steps; however, modifications for these international/established procedures or tests must be indicated. Tests and procedures conducted by a regulated research institution do not need to be described in detail; however, details should be elaborated in tests and procedures personally designed and performed by the students. Include photographs, lay-outs, schematic diagrams or drawings especially for inventions and new products.
  • Results: It includes all data gathered from the experiments which can be presented through tables, graphs, figures, etc. Appropriate data presentation must be observed. (eg. table vs.graph, bar graph vs. line graph)- Tables, graphs, figures, etc. should EACH have their respective captions. Each table, graph, figure, etc may be accompanied with short descriptions on the trends derived from data analysis conducted. Subsections may be used especially if multiple distinct tests were conducted. No discussions should be presented in this part of the research paper; more than 90% of this part shows only tables, graphs,figures, etc.
  • Discussions: This part of the research paper should be treated as the "soul"of the research paper and not just as an accessory part- Most of the related literatures are integrated in this part and not in the Introduction. Subsections can also be used especially if multiple distinct tests were conducted. This part of the research paper usually answers the following questions: What are the implications of the results and trends derived from data analysis conducted? What are and how did these factors cause such results and trends? What are the other related research that agree with such results and trends? What are established scientific knowledge that can explain or justify such results and trends? What are other related research and/or scientific knowledge that contradict such results and trends? What are the possible causes of these contradictions? What are and how did these possible errors affect such results and trends?
  • Conclusions: It summarizes the results of the research. Usually two to three sentences with no subsections. It should not generalize and should present only conclusion based on the results and trends discussed. Eventually, it should answer the objectives presented in the introduction. It should mention a practical application.
  • Recommendations: It presents what else can be done to improve the research, to widen the knowledge about this research topic, and other variables that can be tested in relation to the research (other researchers of the same interest will usually read this part to conceptualize their own research topic)- Usually a short paragraph with no subsections
  • Acknowledgement: It includes a FORMAL AND DIRECT message of thanks to the people who contributed SIGNIFICANTLY to the research. It usually includes the names of the adult-sponsor, qualified scientist, regulated research institute, and sponsors if there are any. Do not dare to include any flowery words and unnecessary names. Usually a short paragraph with no subsections
  • References / Bibliography: It includes all books, journals, credible websites and all other resources that were used as reference- Citation style must be consistent; usual citation formats include APA Style, MLA Style, Chicago Manual of Style
• Abstract


  • Should be written AFTER the whole research paper was written but NOT BEFORE the deadline of submission for the research paper. It must include short background of the study, objectives of the study, materials and methods, Results, conclusion and significance.
  • DO NOT INCLUDE (1) acknowledgments (2) details of the procedures conducted by the adult-sponsor, qualified scientist or adult-supervisor at RRI (give highlights to those conducted by the students)
  • Do not copy and paste the different parts of the research paper to make the abstract. Abstract is not a patchwork of these parts of the research paper but an overview of the research itself.
• Research Title


  • Science fair is not a competition of who has the longest, most jargonized, ear-banging, eye- blinding title. Instead of sounding smart, those kinds of titles may just annoy or irritate the audience.
  • Titles should be written simply but at the same time catchy and interesting
  • Title, just by a reading or two, must already give ideas to the audience what the research is all about
• ISEF Forms to be Signed Pre-Empirical


  • FORM 1 Adult Sponsor
  • FORM 1A Student Checklist
  • FORM 1B Approval Form
  • FORM 2 Qualified Scientist
  • FORM 3 Risk Assessment
  • FORM 4 Human Participants
  • Human-Informed Consent
  • FORM 5A Vertebrate Animal
  • FORM 6A Hazardous B. Agents
  • FORM 6B Tissue Form
• Required Attachments


  • Institutional Review Board: Approval
  • IACUC (For animals)
  • Institutional Biosafety Committee
  • Scientific Review Committee
• ISEF Forms to be Signed Post-Empirical

  • FORM 1C RRI
  • FORM 5B Vertebrate Animal
  • FORM 7 Continuation
  • ABSTRACT FORM
• Referencing


  Rules or guidelines that a publisher observes to ensure clear and consistent presentation of written materials in academic writing
• Parts of referencing


  • In-text citation
  • Reference list
• In-text citation


  1. Directly indicate in your passage the sources of the information you have used

  2. Demonstrates support for your ideas, arguments and views
• Reference list


  Shows the complete details of everything you cited and appears in an alphabetical list on a separate page, at the end of your material/work in a page known as references
• How to reference


  • One or two authors
  • Three or more authors
  • Up to 20 or more authors
  • Group as authors
  • Similar information referred to by more than one author
  • Citing a secondary source
  • Direct quotation
  • Internet sources with no author and date
  • Internet sources (organization/corporate author)
  • Electronic book (e-book)
  • Journal articles
  • Contributors other than authors
• When using in-text citations, you need to directly indicate in your passage the sources of the information you have used
• The reference list shows the complete details of everything you cited and appears in an alphabetical list on a separate page, at the end of your material/work in a page known as references
• For one or two authors, the citation includes the surname of the author, then the year of publication. If there are two authors, ampersand (&) symbol must be used to separate them
• For three or more authors, the surname of the first author is stated followed by et al. (short for the Latin term "et alia," meaning "and others"), then the year of publication
• For up to 20 or more authors, the surnames and initials for up to 20 authors should be provided in the reference list. But if a source is authored by more than 20 authors, only the first 19 authors and the last author are included. In between the 19th and last author, place an ellipses to indicate that names are omitted
• For group as authors, the name of the group (could be an agency, association, or organization) is written in full for the first citation and is abbreviated thereafter
• For similar information referred to by more than one author, the citations are placed in alphabetical order and separated by semicolons
• For citing a secondary source, the work that is mentioned in the article that one is reading is called the primary source, and the article you are reading is called the secondary source
• For direct quotation, include the author's last name, year of publication and page number/s where the quote appears
• For internet sources with no author and date, the title of the article replaces the author's name. For articles with no indicated day of publication, write n.d. (no date)
• For internet sources with organization/corporate author, the in-text citation is the same as group citation, and the reference list is the same as the printed material
• For electronic book (e-book), the reference list is almost the same as printed material, but needs to provide the digital object identifier (DOI), and if not available, the homepage URL of the site
• For journal articles, the reference list must include the authors' names, date published, title of the article, title of the journal, volume no., issue number, page numbers, and digital object identifier (DOI)
• For contributors other than authors, such as picture, video, podcast, film and audio, the contributors appear in the author position, and their role is added in parentheses after their name
• The new APA guidelines on inclusive and bias-free language recommend using singular "they" or "their" as a gender-neutral pronoun, using descriptive phrases instead of adjectives as nouns to label groups of people, and giving specific characteristics rather than broad categories
• The new APA paper format has more font choices, no more running head, and updated heading styles
• The APA table format has table number in bold above the table, brief title in italics and title case below the table number, no vertical lines, and clear, concise labels
• The APA figure format has figure number in bold above the figure, brief title in italics and title case under the figure number, and any relevant notes below the figure
• Animal research guidelines


  Prepared by the National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) to provide ethical guidelines for researchers and other people who are considering experiments on animals