The Most Basic Things to Review and Remember about Research that I Learned from my Professor

The Most Basic Things to Review and Remember about Research that I Learned from my Professor

Research is analogous to cooking a meal according to my educational research professor. There is no perfect formula in doing it because it involves designing. However, there are standard processes to follow. You have to know the basic ingredients that you have to use. The ingredients are the research  materials that you gathered. The basket for the materials that you gathered is your matrix where you segment your information, whether it belongs to the recommendation part or the argument part. The library is your grocery store. When you go to the grocery store, you can’t buy everything. You have to prioritize what you need.

There are two ways to write your research paper:

1. Reporting your research through a journal
2. Reporting your research through a thesis

The Standard Format for the Journal is:

I – ntroduction

M- ethodology

R-esults

D-iscussion

This format however, may vary according to publication.

The Standard Format for a Thesis (5 Chapters)

1 – Introduction

2 – Related Literature and Related Studies

3 – Methodology

4- Findings and Analysis

5- Summary/Conclusion/Recommendations

Words to remember or the exclusive languages for qualitative and quantitative research:

Use Creswell (2009):

Explain or examine for quantitative

Explore for qualitative

Participant for qualitative

Respondents for quantitative

Constructs for qualitative study and Variable for Quantitative Study

Sample and Sampling Procedure is included separately only in quantitative as well as research instrument or tool. They are part of participant of the study in qualitative research.

Quantitative includes:

1. Experimental – the typical research method is survey but some are descriptive; testing an idea; dependent against independent variable; used when establishing cause and effect, testing theories, comparing two or more groups
2. Correlational – uses survey also and Pearson and Spearman as statistical tool (Example, the relationship between the role of poverty to the rate of teen pregnancy).
3. Causal-comparative study – exploration of effects. Ex post facto – after the fact, retro or prospective (What happened? What could happen? uses survey as well, ANCOVA (Analysis of Covariance)

Qualitative includes:

1. Phenomenological – about the things we can’t observe such as the psychological process in the mind of a person, lived experiences, the way of thinking or the mind of the person
2. Grounded Theory – sociological issue/phenomenon (dynamics of people) what happens in the society
3. Case Study – contemporary issues
4. Ethnographic – Anthropological
5. Narrative/Historical – personal account s of people about their experiences

Theoretical Framework –  This is your lens or your means of looking at things in your study. It is your logical explanation of things. Your study should be grounded in particular theories which of course, should be tailored fit to your circumstance. You have to study an idea religiously and see if it fits your study. It is the summary of your lit review. A theory consists of concepts, generalization, assumption, and hypothesis according to my professor, a definition which according to this website: https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1562 is by (Hoy & Miskel, 2013).

Conceptual framework – It’s combining the concepts that you have learned in your theories.  (Theory A à A1, A2, A3 Theory B à B1, B2, B3

Review of Related Literature (RRL) – This part is the justification of your topic. It reflects your state of knowledge. This includes what’s in and what’s out. You have to do the RRL part to provide evidence that educators and researchers need your study.

You have three different types of sources for your RRL:

1. General References
2. Primary Sources – these are publications which are peer reviewed.
3. Secondary Sources – here, authors describe the work of others. The relevant secondary sources are handbooks, encyclopedia, review of educational research, etc.

When you do your research for your review of related literature, you have to select relevant primary sources and jot down notes for the important points that you gather. For related studies, you have to take note of the problem, hypothesis, procedures, findings and conclusion.

When you write your RRL do not give your personal opinion, instead, interpret what you have to interpret and back it up with an author. Do not do compilation of authors but make the authors argue. Justify their argument.

Types of RRL

1. Thematic – by topic
2. Chronological – by publication date

After the RRL, write your definition of Terms.

1. Technical definition – general definition or definition known to the world
2. Operational definition – how you used the term (specific function) in your research.

Hypothesis

Null form is stated negatively.

No hypothesis in qualitative research because it’s more on assumption.

Methodology

Research Design

You have to choose the research design for your study. For quantitative, you have experimental (uses survey as a tool but some are descriptive), correlational (survey), causal-comparative (survey) and for qualitative, you have phenomenology, case-study, ethnographic, grounded theory, narrative/historical.

After writing the research design, you have to describe and justify why the design you are using is good or relevant to your study.

Participant of the Study

You have to mention the participants (qualitative)/respondents (quantitative)

Then, Sample and Sampling Procedure (Only for quantitative study and not for qualitative)

How do you explain the concept of Sampling?

Take the analogy of cooking, when you cook an entire part of Sinigang (Filipino sour stew), you don’t have to eat the entire Sinigang, you just have to get some sample to taste the dish. In research for instance, you don’t need to find every woman who has this demographic. You just have to get a considerable amount of sample.

Then, write the Research Instrument/Tool (only for quantitative and not for qualitative). The example is survey questionnaire.

Next is Data Gathering Procedure. This a schematic presentation of how you are going to gather your data.

Then write your Data Analysis Procedure. This is where you state your lens or theory.

Doing a logical framework can help you visualize and clarify the above-mentioned steps.

Example:

Table 1.  Logical Framework

Research Questions (RQ)	Data	Source	Tool	Data Analysis	Expected Output	Justification
1.
2.
3.

Reference:

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Los Angeles: Sage.