Practical Research I

MODULE 2: Designing Research Project

Research Problem Versus Research Question 3. What are the effects of engaging in playing mobile
Research problem drives you to think a topic that legends in terms of social and academic attitudes?
you can investigate or focus on. For you to do it, a 4. What are the interventions that need to be maintained,
researcher must gather relevant ideas and information or formulated and implemented to respond on this issue.
spend time getting background knowledge about the
problem that triggered off your research topic to discover Guiding Principles for Formulating Research
its relation to what the world, particularly the experts, Questions
professionals and learned people know about the topic. • Be guided with the acronym “SMART” (Specific,
Research problems enable you to generate a set Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound)
of research questions which serves as guideposts of your • Base your research questions in your RRLs.
study and specifically and scientifically narrows your study. • State your research questions in such a way that they
The following shows you the link among the following: include all dependent and independent variables referred
research problem, research topic, research question and to by the theories, principles, or concepts underlying your
the construction of one general questions and specific research work.
questions or a research paper. • Establish a specific connection between the research
questions and the problem or topic.
Example 1: • Avoid asking the research questions that are answerable
Research Problem: The need to have an alternative mode by yes or no.
of education in this • Develop research questions in such a way that can
time of COVID 19 Pandemic. arouse your curiosity and surprise you with your
Research Topic: Education sector in the midst of COVID discoveries or findings
19 Pandemic • Research questions should be preceded by one question
General Question: What is the adoptable alternative mode expressing the main problem of the research.
of education from
one of the countries in Southeast Asia? Scope and Delimitations in Qualitative Research
Specific Questions: The scope of the study refers to the parameters
1. What is Virtual Education Delivery (VED) as an under which the study will be operating. The problem you
alternative mode of seek to resolve will fit within certain parameters.
education in Thailand? The limitations are matters and occurrences that
2. What are the factors influencing effective emerge in a research study which are out of researcher’s
implementation of Virtual control. They limit the extensity to which a study can go,
Education Delivery in Thailand? and sometimes influence the result and conclusions that
3. How political economy is being applied to solve the can be get. Your study might have access to only certain
current problem on education in Thailand? people in an organization, certain document, and certain
4. How could a Virtual Education Delivery serve as a Model data. These are what we call limitations.
to be adapted The delimitations of the study are those
in the Philippine educational system in this time of characteristics that emerge from limitations in the scope of
Pandemic? the paper (boundaries) and by conscious exclusionary and
inclusionary decisions made during the development of the
Example 2: study. Unlike limitations, delimitations result from narrow
Research Problem: Mobile Legend Dependency. and particular choices of a researcher. Among these are
Research Topic: Mobile Legend among Youth the choice of objectives and questions, variable of interest,
General Question: What are the causes and effect of the choice of theoretical dimensions that were adopted, the
playing Mobile Legends to learners’ social and academic paradigm, methodology and choice of participants.
attitudes?
Specific Questions: Example:
1. What are the reasons why students engage in playing The study dealing with reasons of students dropping out
mobile legends? from school makes use of the Case study design. The
2. What are the ways by which students engage in playing respondents of the study are the drop-out students from
mobile legends? Candon City Division both Senior High School and Junior
High School. The study was conducted from the month of Writing Statement of the Problem
December 2016 until the second semester of March 2017. Pre-test:
Students who refused to be interviewed are not considered Directions: Read the statements carefully. Write T if the
participants of the study. statement is True
and F if the statement if False. Write your answer on your
Significance of the Study answer
Kinds of Beneficiaries sheet.
• Primary- beneficiaries, who are critical to either the __________1. Formulate your question not only based
success of the project or in moving the project forward, for from the main problem but also within the focus of your
example project partners (short term) research title.
• Secondary – beneficiaries are not serious to the project __________2. Ask research questions that are
but in order to gain impact in the medium term it would be answerable with “yes” or no” and use the “how” questions
valuable if they were aware of any progress. only in a quantitative research.
• Tertiary – beneficiaries who are not included in the project ___________3. Let the set of research questions or sub-
but have the potential for more long-term effects, i.e., problems be preceded by one question expressing the
utilizing the outputs from the secondary users (like main problem of the research.
practical products). ___________4. Formulate research questions that can
arouse your curiosity and surprise you with discoveries or
findings. This is true for research questions asked about a
Activity 1. The Art of Questioning! problem that was never investigated upon. the study.
Direction: Supply the missing data to complete the table ___________5. Your research method should be less
below. important to you than your research question. What you
are studying should be more important than how you are
1. Research Problem: studying it.
Low performance of students because of the use of social ___________6. The statement of the problem is
media traditionally written in the interrogative form. The modern
Research Topic: formulation of this is in descriptive form.
______________________________________________ ____________7. Let the set of research questions or
General Question: sub-problems be preceded by many questions expressing
______________________________________________ the main problem of the research.
Specific Questions: ___________8. The other part of the statement of the
______________________________________________ problem is the particular or specific questions, which are
______________________________________________ detailed questions that the study will give solution to.
______________________________________________ ____________9. Convincing solutions to research
problems or answers to research questions stem from
2. Research Problem: their alignment with what the world already knows or what
______________________________________________ previous research studies have already discovered about
Research Topic: the research problem or topic.
Skills of Students in Conducting Research ___________10. One of the two main parts of the
General Question: statement is the general or main question of the study,
______________________________________________ which means the main problem of the study.
Specific Questions:
______________________________________________ Guidelines in Formulating Statement of the Problem
______________________________________________ • Formulate research questions that can arouse your
______________________________________________ curiosity and surprise you with discoveries or findings.
• Establish a clear relation between the research questions
and the problem or topic.
• Base your research questions on your RRL because
existing published works help you get good background
knowledge of the research problem and help you gauge
the people’s current understanding or unfamiliarity about
the topic, as well as the extent of their knowledge and
interest in it. Convincing solutions to research problems or
answers to research questions stem from their alignment
with what the world already knows or what previous
research studies have already discovered about the
research problem or topic.
• Be guided with the acronym SMART (specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and 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.
• 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.
• Formulate your question not only based from the main
problem but also within the focus of your research title

Reference:
Saldo, W. F. (2021). MODULE 2: Designing Research Project. City of San Fernando, La Union, Ph: La Union Schools Division, Region I.