Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education – Region X

Division of Valencia City
CENTRAL BUKIDNON INSTITUTE, INC.
S.Y. 2021–2022

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 – Grade 11

Learning Modules – 1 & 2
Middle Term

_________________________ __________
Learner’s Name Strand

_________________________
Parent’s Name & Signature

Teacher:
Mr. Dominique L. Yañ ez, RN, LPT
Cellphone Number: 0917-304-3986
Email: dlyanezrnlpt@yahoo.com
Facebook Messenger: Dominique Lim Yañ ez
 Week 1: The Nature of Inquiry and
Research
Memory Text: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6, KJV

Enabling Outcomes:
Based on the curriculum guide (CG), the student should be able to:
 Share research experiences and knowledge.
 Explain the importance of research in daily life.
 Describe characteristics, processes, and ethics of research.
 Differentiate quantitative from qualitative research.
 Provide examples of research in areas of interest.

Definition
Concepts
Research (Wa-Mbaleka, 2019) is simply a scholarly activity (that means, an activity related to your education or academic
journey) that consists of addressing a specific problem through collection, analysis, and interpretation of data (or
scientific information or facts). He then added that as we define research this way, different stages can be deduced. First,
we identify the problem. We then develop a plan how to gather information (data) about how to address that problem.
After this plan is well designed, we implement it by collecting data. Once we have our data recorded and well organized,
we analyze it, interpret it, and then provide the solution to the problem we chose to solve. This last stage is usually called
drawing conclusion.

Research is like being a toddler again. You have to ask questions that will help you better understand the world around
you. Research, therefore, begins with an inquisitive mind that asks questions of interest to many people and whose
answers would contribute to human knowledge. As quoted by the same author, research according to the Oxford English
Dictionary is the study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research can be as
simple as choosing which brand of mobile phone to buy. It can also be complicated, like the Human Genome Project,
which involved scientists from different countries who mapped out all the genes of human beings to help us understand
our genetic makeup, and contributed knowledge to many other fields, especially in the medical and health sciences
(Marquez-Fong and Tigno, 2016).

Basically, conducting research is about systematically finding solutions to a specific problem that people face. it includes
generating solutions by using specific scholarly steps. The good thing is that all that steps will be discussed in the
modules. Additionally, the steps are presented in a very practical way that everyone who reads can easily follow them.
Now that we know research, let’s look at its importance

Importance of Research
From the definition we had above, we can all agree that research is quite important. The world has so many problems right
now. Each day that goes by seems to lead to a world worse than the day before. As scholars (or people who are educated),
we cannot just cross our arms and hope that problems of life like uneducated people. Research or specifically qualitative
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research emphasizes the importance of culture and context in understanding what occurs in society. As such, every
qualitative research provides a small window to a specific social phenomenon.

Qualitative methods can be used to explore substantive findings about which little is known or understand better what is
already discovered. They can be used to obtain the intricate details about phenomena such as feelings, thought processes,
and emotions that are difficult to extract or learn about through quantitative research methods. Qualitative research also
brings our own humanity into the forefront of social science research. Qualitative research tells us who we are as human
beings and how we relate to each other.

More specifically, from scholarly perspective, we do research for the following reasons:
 To solve a specific problem
 To improve the way people do things
 To test an existing theory (also known as an idea or a set of principles that explains certain things/reality)
 To discover something new that was not known before
 To learn more about a certain topic of interest
 To complete our school/program requirement

Do research because you find personal fulfillment in doing it right. Do research because you want to make this world
better than it currently is. Do research because you want to touch lives.

Characteristics, Process and Ethics of Research

Research has specific characteristics that we need to keep in mind when involved in this scholarly activity. Additionally, it
follows a specific process. Last, it is based on a specific set of ethical standards that must be observed. While different
types of research may have some variations, there are some common guidelines that we discuss in this section.

1. Research Characteristics
- For scholarly work to be called research, it must possess some specific characteristics. These characteristics
are important in deciding whether a written document is a research paper or not. Below are some
characteristics that are found in most research studies that deal with human research participants (or people
that you use to collect your data). When you read more, you may expand this list. Research must be:
o Empirical – it must be based on the experience or observation. If we observe people without planning
a specific research study, it doesn’t make our activity a research activity. The experience must be
intentionally done for the purposes of research.
o Systematic – it must follow a specific process and a specific set of guidelines and principles. These
are the guidelines we follow to collect, analyze, and interpret data. This is what makes research
scientific.
o Credible – it must make the readers believe what was found in the research study. This should not be
based on reporting lies or wrong data. It should be based on real facts that anyone who follow your
methods or steps can also find. It must have facts as found in the collected data. We cannot draw
conclusions or generalize our ideas over other people or other places without the evidence of our data.
o Focused on one specific problem – it must be focused on a specific problem because research is there
to help us solve problems. This is true about most research conducted with human beings.
o Logical – it should be based on evidence that is convincing to the readers or listeners. Part of making
a logical research is to document (or to record effectively all the steps that we take in collecting,
analyzing, and interpreting our data. Additionally, we must collect the best data that are fit to solve
the problem that we choose to research.
o Critical – it must be based on careful evaluation of the data that we collect. We should not jump to
conclusions without careful analysis of our results. We must be very careful in analyzing all the data
that we collect and make sure we interpret it correctly.

2. Research Process

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 - Different schools, colleges, universities and organizations may have different ways of conducting research.
The research process may have some variation in different places. The steps outlines below are those that are
common to most research studies. This is true about most scholarly research.
o Step 1: Identify a research topic – you must choose a topic that you are interested in. it must be
related to you, your school, your family, your community, your organization, or your country. For
instance, right now it is important to think about the climate change. That could be the major topic
you are interested in. From the topic, you need to choose a specific focus of the topic. Your specific
topic could be garbage management in your neighborhood or your school.
o Step 2: Identify a specific problem – find out what is the specific problem related to your specific
topic. For instance, you have discovered that many people in your neighborhood or in your school do
not care to use the trash cans properly. There is garbage all around, and that bothers you a lot. You
may even suspect that this practice might be getting some people sick.
o Step 3: Write down specific research questions – these questions are written in the third person to
help you guide your research. They should be usually about 3 to 5 questions. Together, they should
help you address the whole problem you plan to explore. One of the questions in our topic on garbage
management could be, “Why do students throw trash everywhere at school?” Another could be
something like “What can be done to help students manage trash better”?
o Step 4: Conduct the literature review – this simply means, you take some time to read what other
people have written about your topic. On a few pages, you need to write about what others have
written about your topic. If you want your research paper to be very scholarly, you need to use only
books and scholarly articles (that means, articles that have been published in research and
professional journals).
o Step 5: Plan your research study – you need to develop a complete plan of how you will collect and
analyze your data. Explain the different steps that you will take and the resources you will need to
collect and analyze your data.
o Step 6: Implement your research study – this means, you now get to go through all the steps that you
planned in Step 5 to collect your data.
o Step 7: Analyze your data – you now need to present the data you found. In different types of
research, this is done differently.
o Step 8: Interpret your data – you look at the big picture to try to address the research problem and the
research questions. Based on the data analysis, you now discuss what all this evidence means for your
topic.
o Step 9: Draw the conclusion – at this point, you synthesize the major lessons that you learned and the
solutions to the problem. You also make recommendations of what people should start doing as a
result of your research study. You can also make some recommendations of what research should be
done to continue the work on your topic in the future.
o Step 10: Check the quality of your research – in all the previous steps, you must have been writing
your research paper. At this point, your complete draft is done. You now have to read the whole
research paper and make sure that (a) it is well organized, (b) written in good English, (c) and that it
shows all the characteristics of research as discussed. You must make sure (d) the whole paper has
effectively addressed the research problem and research questions that you started with. Last, the
research paper must (e) provide clear answers to the problem you decided to study.
3. Research Ethics
- All research must be ethical. We must follow research ethics when we are conducting research. There is a
long list of ethical standards that we must uphold. Those below are some of the most important ones.
o Voluntary participation – you must ask people to voluntarily participate in your research study. Never
force anyone to take part in your research study. That is unethical. To make sure that they are willing
to voluntarily participate, you must (a) explain to your recruited participants what your research is
about, (b) ask them to sign a document that they are voluntarily participating (it’s called Informed
Consent Form; you will be guided how to prepare one), and (c) tell them that they have the freedom
to stop participating in your study if they wish to do so at any point of the study. They should
participate, not because of some favor you promise them but simply because they want to participate.

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 o Confidentiality – you must inform your participants that you will keep their personal information
(their school and their personal stories) secret. You must make sure never to share the private
information of your research participants with anyone else. This is an unethical practice if you share
their secret information with someone else. Keep their confidential information secret forever. For
instance, never tell anyone else the research participants’ stories that they told you never to tell. Do
not tell anyone their names. Never reveal where they live or work, unless you have permission to do
so. In the same way, if you are conducting research in a school, never use the name of that school
without permission.
o Privacy – please respect the privacy of your participants. Work with them only in the place and at the
time that fit well for them. Also, make sure that when you collect data, no one else can hear what you
are talking about with your research participants. Do not leave information collected from them on a
desk or table where other people can easily see it.
o Accuracy – you owe to your research participants an accurate representation of their data. You must
therefore be very good at recording the information that you receive. You must be well organized in
the way you keep the record of all the data you collect and all the information that is related to your
research study.
o Truth – as a researcher, you are bound to tell the truth that is relevant to your research topic. Never
misrepresent your participants or the truth that came from the data.

What does it take to be a good researcher?

Based on what we have learned so far about research, it is obvious that we must always aim to be good researchers. We
must do everything it takes to develop research skills that can make us the best researchers we can ever be. We need to
have these characteristics below to develop to become a great researchers. There are most likely many characteristics of a
good researcher. The list below is just simply a good start. A good research is:
o Curious – a good researcher is usually curious about why people do things a certain way,
why certain problems exist, and why no solution is present about different problems of life.
o Effective and efficient – a good research works in a way that will be easier and that does not
take too much time for a research study to be completed, no matter how a research study may
be.
o Creative – a good research finds different ways to deal with different issues that may slow
him/her down in his/her research process.
o Honest – a good research is interested in telling the truth, not in using lies, to complete a
study.
o Interested in improving life – a good research has interest in people (especially in qualitative
research). A good researcher understands the human suffering and is interested in addressing
the problems of humanity. He/she is therefore not bothered with the time and effort needed to
conduct and complete a research study that will truly make a difference in the lives of people.
o Meticulous – a good research pays attention to details to make sure that carelessness does not
creep in and affect negatively his/her research study.
o Systematic – a good researcher has a way to plan his/her research, implement the plan, and
make sure the plan works. If the plan does not work, a good researcher can easily come up
with a Plan B that is as almost equally good.

What difference does qualitative and quantitative research have?

Most research done using human research participants is divided into two major categories: quantitative research and
qualitative research. These two are major umbrellas under which we have many different designs. Based on your research
problem and how you wish to address that problem, you choose one of the two major approaches. There is a third option
called mixed-methods approach where you can combine both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. For the
purpose of this course, our focus is on qualitative research.

1. Definition of Quantitative Research

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 Quantitative research – is a research concept that refers to the type of research that relies heavily on numbers
more than any other way. We quantitative research to try to understand what a large number of people think about
a certain topic. For instance, we aggregate people’s opinion through a survey.

If we want to find out what hundreds or thousands of people think about the best ways to get rid of poverty; we
will most likely make a survey (questionnaire), print it, and distribute it to everyone that we want to participate in
our research study. We will then collect all the competed survey. Then we will analyze all of them together and
decide on what most people believe are the best ways to deal with poverty.

In quantitative research, we use numbers (statistics) to understand major trends, perceptions, or opinions of a
large number of people. The purpose of quantitative research is to try to generalize our findings (or results) over
a large group of people.

2. Characteristics of Quantitative Research

To get started with some common characteristics of quantitative research, please read below:
o Objectivity – in quantitative research, you must be objective. The data must be objective. This means that
you cannot just give your personal opinion on things. Everything must be based on the research
participants’ data. You must remove your bias (or preconceived ideas).
o Use of numbers – all quantitative research must primarily and mainly use numbers. It uses different ways
that help collect data that is measurable by numbers. It is based on statistical analysis. It is centered on
frequencies (or number of occurrence of a certain factors).
o Use quantitative data collection methods – in quantitative research, we must have a specific plan to
collect quantitative data. This tool (for example, a survey) is used mainly to collect numerical (or
statistical) data.
o Focus on predetermined set of concepts – you are required to focus only on one set of concepts that you
preselect to measure in your research study. These measurable concepts are called variables.

3. Definition of Qualitative Research

Since we’ve established the focus of this course in qualitative research, let’s delve into what qualitative research
focuses. It is a research type that allows the researcher to explore a complex issue that does not have clear preset
variables. It is a research approach that allows the researcher to interpret the life of people in order to understand
their problems better and deeper in order to generate solutions that are relevant to their situation.

We understand that people are all different in qualitative research. They may experience phenomena differently
than we do. So, instead of representing their life in numbers, we need to go to them, observe them in their natural
settings, and hear their personal stories. The problem is found in those experiences and the solutions to the
problem are found there too. Instead of us having to give them some preset options to choose from for their
solutions, we allow them to tell their own stories so that we can learn from them.

4. Characteristics of Qualitative Research

There are different characteristics of qualitative research. Below is just a short list for general ones. You are
encouraged to find out more from other places if you wish to spend more time with qualitative research in your
life. Qualitative research is:
o Rich – it gives you the ability to explore a problem in-depth, using multiple sources of data and multiple
perspectives on the same problem.
o Open – if something is not clear when you collect or analyze data, you can check it with more data
collection until you feel satisfied with the results.
o Subjective – it is not free from bias (or our own preconceived ideas). When we observe people or
interview them, we use our own background experiences, and preconceived ideas to lead our
understanding. Thus, we cannot present a qualitative research study that does not have some level of bias.
This fact is recognized in the field of qualitative research.
o A great approach to deal with complex issues – with qualitative research, we are not limited by a specific
number of variables, as is the case of quantitative research. We can dig as deep as we want in our
research, without as much restriction as what we usually have in quantitative research.
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 5. Similarities and Differences
Qualitative research and quantitative research have some similarities and some differences. At this level of the
academic journey, the following can be used to have a basic understanding of these similarities and differences.
You need to know that no research approach is better than another one. They simply have different purposes and
orientations. They thus complement each other to a great extent.

SIMILARITIES. Both qualitative research and quantitative research:

 Help address human problems and issues.
 Require systematic way of conducting research.
 Have specific research designs.
 Have specific research data collection and data analysis methods.
 Require a critical mind.
 Require hard work.
 Require us to plan well and be organized throughout the whole research process.

DIFFERENCES.
Quantitative Research
 Primarily about numbers.
 Focuses on predetermined variables
and measurement tools.
 Helps you generalize over a large
number of people.
 Generalization is in the hands of the
researcher.
Qualitative Research
 More about words.
 Based on complex issues explored in a
deeper and more detailed way.
 Only generalizes over the setting where
you conducted your research study or
generalize over the phenomenon that you
are researching.
 Generalization of findings is left to
readers of the research report.

 Needs a large number of research  Can be done with small number of

participants. participants.

Strengths and Weaknesses

We find strengths and weaknesses in both quantitative and qualitative research. We should never develop the idea that one
approach is better than the other. As indicated, each approach has its specific purpose and orientation. The weaknesses of
quantitative research can be complemented with qualitative research and vice versa. Below are some of the most common
strengths and weaknesses of each.

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 Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Strengths Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses
It captures data and It is limited by the factors It helps study complex It is based on a limited
reality from a large (or variables) that a issues or problems. number of participants.
group of people at once. research can study at a
time.
It is objective. It does not put personal It is based on data from It is subjective; the
experience into natural settings; which researcher’s bias may
consideration, no matter can reflect more closely affect the data.
how important it might the reality of the
be. It is therefore based research participants.
It does not support the only on truth expressed It considers the real-life It can be cumbersome
researcher’s bias. by the majority; the people by using their because the data does
minority voice does not stories and their settings. not follow the same
count. structure as in
quantitative research.
It helps generalize over It provides multiple It can take more time
a large population. perspectives about the than quantitative
same problem from research.
multiple sources.
It helps test theories and It can be hard for people
variables statistically. who are not good with
statistics. This sometimes
leads to erroneous results.
It has well-structured
data.
It has been around
longer than qualitative
research; therefore,
many people know it
more than qualitative
research.

Types of Research Across Fields

There are several different ways to classify research across fields. For the sake of this module, we will only classify
research into library research, basic research, applied research, field research, and laboratory research.
o Library research – it is not even considered as research in some fields. It is, however, accepted as the
research that you conduct by going to the library (whether in a physical or an electronic library), read
materials on a certain topic, and systematically and critically synthesize what you read about the topic. In
the library research, you do not collect data form human participants. It is simply a synthesis of the
existing literature (that is, synthesis of what has been written so far about your topic). In most of your
subjects where you had to write a paper and submit it to your teacher, it was library research. For
example, if you want to know what has been written about the effect of smoking on our lungs, then you
will read different documents written on that topic and then write a paper on that. That paper would be a
library research paper.
o Basic research – it is sometimes called pure research. This is a research study that you conduct simply to
create new knowledge or testing previous theories. Some people believe that this is the kind of research
that you do simply for the sake of research. An example would be to conduct a research study to develop
a new theory about how the human eye works because you are not satisfied with the existing explanation.
o Applied research – this is the type of research that you should focus in this subject. It is a type of research
that focuses on solving a specific problem of human beings. It helps improve life and the way people do
their work.
o Field research – this type of research is conducted as part of a program or project implementation. For
instance, if you wish to create a school in a place where no one know how to read and write, you may
want to document all the steps for the purposes of research. At the end of the project, you will have
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 collected enough data to show how you planned, implemented, and evaluated the project, and what you
learned from it.
o Laboratory research – this type of research required you to conduct an experiment and report the
outcome of that experiment. Usually, this type of research starts by designing a specific experiment to test
something. Once you design the experiment well, you implement it carefully, following the plan that you
will have developed. In your data interpretation, you show the effect of that experiment on the people
who participated in your study.

Research is an interesting scholarly activity that everyone at school needs. It helps us solve different types of problems in
order to improve life or the way we do our work. There different types of research. However, there have specific
characteristics that help define the quality of a good research study. Everyone can be trained in research. However,
everyone must make an effort to improve his/her own research skills.

Be Active Score: ___/___

Based on your experience, identify one example of research problems across different fields of research.

Ignite
Answer the following questions:
Score: ___/___

a. Define “research” in your own words.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. List down elements that describe the importance of research.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. What are the characteristics of a good research study?

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__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. What are qualities of a good researcher?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
e. List down the different types of research.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

IFL (Integration of Faith and Learning)

Make Decisions in the Lord
Proverbs 3: 5, 6, KJV Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Our minds do not speak of
what is the Lord’s. And the Lord’s leading is simply the best choice we’ll ever make in our lives.

References:
King James Bible. (n.d.). Bible with Ellen G. White Comments

Marquez-Fong, S.E.R. and Tigno C.R. (2016). Practical research 1. Quezon City: Vibal Group, Inc.

Wa-Mbaleka, S. (2019). Qualitative research for senior high school teacher’s manual. Silang, Cavite: Oikos
Biblios Publishing House

Week 2: Qualitative Research and Its

Importance in Daily Life
Memory Text: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but honour of kings is to search out a matter.”
Proverbs 25:2, KJV

Enabling Outcomes:
Based on the curriculum guide (CG), the student should be able to:
 Describe characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and kinds of qualitative research.
 Illustrate the importance of qualitative research across fields.
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 Concepts
Qualitative research (QLR) is a type of research that focuses on “how people interpret their experiences, how they
construct their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences
(Merriam, 2009, p. 5). Basically, we conduct QLR when we are interested in people’s lived experiences of a specific
phenomenon. The phenomenon could be academic success, global warming, economic problems, poverty, disease,
wedding, child delivery, death, friendship, stress, and many more.

Generally, how important is QLR?

The world is quick evolving. It is becoming more and more complex. Many research tools that used to be effective in
solving problems are no longer capable of helping us understand complex problems. For that purpose, we need QLR.
QLR is important in five different ways. This section discusses those only five major ones based on Lichtman (2013),
although there are many more from different experts.
o QLR helps explore problems in depth.
In QLR, we talk to people and observe them to try to understand them well. When they tell us something, we can
quickly assess the truth about what they say by observing their facial expression and body language. We can ask
them questions from different perspectives to be able to understand more fully the problem and recommend
relevant solutions. Given that many problems are too complex today, we need to analyze a problem very carefully
and in a very detailed way before we can propose good solutions. Otherwise, solutions that we propose may not
work.
o QLR is useful when statistics are not able to solve the problem.
Before, whenever people talked about research, people’s mind would go to statistics or numbers. With QLR
today, we can do research without using statistics. In fact, many problems that we deal with today cannot be
solved fully by simply using statistics. For example, statistics cannot help us understand fully the pain that people
go through when a student becomes a teen mother, or a student gets bullied, or goes to school without eating, or
live on the street. For such problems, we need to talk to the people who have experienced such painful life events
to understand well the problem and come up with adequate and more sustainable solutions.
o QLR helps solve complex problems.
The world we are living in now has become too complex. Every year that goes by, the world becomes more
complex. This is reinforced by scientific and technological advance, globalization, climate change, and worldwide
population growth. Whatever you decide to conduct research on is interconnected with something else. So, to
address many issues today, QLR offers an opportunity to look at the complexity of the problem, without being
limited statistical formulae.

o QLR allows the researcher to ask follow-up questions.

When you conduct a survey research, you usually have a set of multiple-choice questions. Everyone is required to
select only among the options that the researcher pre-planned. In QLR, you can ask pre-planned questions and
follow them up with other questions based on the answers of the research participants. This flexibility helps the
researcher to learn many things that he/she may have not thought about during the research planning phase. QLR
allows you to instantly elaborate on the answers of the research participants and understand deeper what you are
trying to learn from them. Asking follow-up questions is known in QLR as probing.
o QLR helps understand people’s emotions and experiences better.
With QLR, we are able to talk to people, hear their joys and their pains, see how they behave in natural settings,
and ask them why they behave like that. We can see things as they happen so that we can explore their emotions.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of QLR?

Just like what we find in other types of research, QLR has both strengths and weaknesses (Silverman, 2016; Taylor,
Bogdan, & DeVault, 2016). In this section, we discuss both. We will only enumerate a few, since we cannot discuss all of
them here.

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 1. Five Major Strengths of Qualitative Research
o It allows researchers to observe people in their natural setting. You can conduct QLR in a classroom,
community, office, home, hospital, bank, mall, marketplace, on the farm, in the church or the mosque.
o It helps address issues from a holistic perspective. With QLR, we can explore a complex problem, try to
understand and solve it more fully.
o It allows the researchers to collect data from different sources (Creswell, 2013; Creswell & Poth, 2016).
In qualitative research, we usually use to collect data from interviews, observations, documents, pictures,
videos, and many other sources that we find relevant to our study.
o It gives a voice to the research participants. QLR is personal. We hear people’s stories, their lived
experiences, and what they mean to those individuals. As you talk to people, you give them an
opportunity to make their voice and issues heard. QLR is thus a tool for empowerment.
o It gives more satisfaction than quantitative research. QLR deals directly with human experience. As
people share their stories with you in your research project, you feel the need to represent their stories and
their experiences faithfully in your report. You feel satisfied by the work you do because it is personal,
not impersonal.
2. Five Major Weaknesses of Qualitative Research
o It can take quite some time. If you are not trained well in QLR, it can certainly take a lot of time to try to
make sense out of the different types of data that you collect. As we indicated above, we use a variety of
data in QLR. Data come from interviews, observations, documents, among many others. So, trying to
make sense out of all this has the tendency to take more time. However, in another module, we will be
talking about ways to make things simpler so that you can save time.
o It is complex. We said that QLR deals with complex problems. Therefore, conducting QLR can be
complex, especially if we don’t plan well and manage well our data. With proper planning and skills, we
can reduce the complexity. This module provides many practical strategies to make things happen.
o It has no formula to follow. For people who are used to statistics in research, they find this fact difficult.
With quantitative research, you can just summarize your findings in numbers. But in QLR, it your job to
come up with the answers, results, findings, and summaries of the answers from a variety of data. You
have to rely heavily on your mental capacity to make sense out of different data. Don’t worry, this
module will teach you how to do that.
o It requires more patience. Because of the complexity of QLR, you may need a little more patience to start
with. Once you are already deep in you QLR study, you will enjoy it so much that you will no longer be
discouraged. Simply follow the step-by-step guidelines provided in this module to help you.
o It is focused on a local problem. When some people do research, they want to generalize what they find to
the whole country or the whole world. So, people like these do not like QLR because it is primarily (but
not solely) focused on local settings. The truth is that it is important to worry about the whole world.
However, it is even more important to care about local problems because those are the ones that affect us
the most or more directly. One of the many good things about QLR is that, even if it is conducted for
local needs, readers in other countries can read your report and decide for themselves if it applies to them.
If it does, then they can apply your findings to their own specific setting.

How important is qualitative research in daily life?

It is possible that you used to be afraid of the word “research”. What if you were told that it is part of our daily life? That’s
right! QLR is part of our daily life. And that’s what makes it quite interesting because, in QLR, you use some of the skills
that you use on a daily basis. Below are some of the ways you can use QLR in your daily life.
o Talking. Every day we talk. We are expected to talk clearly and stay relevant to the topic being discussed. In
QLR, we learn how to do this better. We simply build on these skills that you already have.
o Listening. Today, fewer and fewer people are seriously listening to what other people say. QLR helps us to
improve our listening skills so that we can understand better what is communicated to us and ask further questions
to explore aspects of a given topic or issue.
o Showing courtesy. Courtesy is one of the expected moral and professional values. This is something that’s
expected from us every day. In QLR, we learn how to be courteous in the way we approach our research
participants, the way we talk to them, observe them, and the way we report their stories.

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 o Reading and writing. In our daily life, we do read and write; whether it is something on social media, the class
textbooks, novels, or religious materials. QLR helps us develop better our reading and writing skills. We get to
learn to understand the underlying message in our reading. We also learn how to present our ideas properly in our
writing. Once developed, these skills can be utilized in many various environments, not just in QLR.
o Taking pictures. Taking pictures is so much part of our lives today. We can use this skill in conducting QLR.
QLR can also help us in developing photo-taking skills. We learn to take pictures for much deeper purpose than
just for fun.
o Taking and watching videos. Videos today have become way too fast. A number of movies present a shallow
message. Some actually promote values that we wouldn’t want to see in our respective communities such as
violence, smoking, immorality, lies, rudeness, and different criminal activities. From QLR, we can learn to see
behind the scenes of the videos that we watch. We can also use a video-camera to collect data.

How is qualitative research across different fields of inquiry?

QLR started in the fields of sociology and anthropology (Merriam, 2009). Today, QLR has expanded in many different
fields. Below are some fields where QLR can be utilized. For each field, an example of research topic is given.
o Anthropology: exploring how the heavy migrations of people is affecting their own cultural practices, their
identity, and their beliefs.
o Economics: understanding how people view the value of free donations in addressing poverty.
o Education: the opinions of parents, teachers, and students about teaching in students’ mother tongue as opposed to
teaching in English.
o Engineering: talking to poor people who are recipients of a new invention such as renewable energy, and finding
out how that practically affects different aspects for their life.
o Hotel and restaurant management: observing how the hotel or restaurant staff treat different people from different
race, religion, social status, and age and how that affects the customers and the reputations of the business.
o Law: talking to victims of drug usage and observing how that affects security in a certain city.
o Medicine: talking to cancer survivors and then comparing and contrasting their stories from those who followed
chemotherapy and those who used alternative medicine.
o Political science: addressing human rights issues and corruption as seen in a certain government.
o Religion: exploring the role that religion plays in people’s lives after they decide to move to another
denomination, or analyzing some strange religious practices of a specific religious group.
o Sociology: observing how children from different social status interact with their classmates, their teachers, their
parents, and how they eventually perform in their academic life, their personal life, and their professional life.
As seen above, QLR can be used in several fields. All the examples given above can easily be source of QLR. You simply
need to be creative to choose a QLR topic.

Brief overview of some qualitative research designs

QLR is a broad umbrella and which we find several designs. A design is a set of research data collection, analysis, and
interpretation methods to carry on a research study. Before you conduct your study, you need to choose one of the QLR
designs. Each depends on the main purpose of the study. Although there are probably dozens of QLR designs (Creswell,
2013), let’s briefly outline 5 major ones that are practical for beginning qualitative researchers. Once you choose the one
that fits your study, you are highly encouraged to read more about that design. For each design, we have proposed some
textbooks that you can read to learn more about it.
o Case study. Case study is one of the most commonly used QLR designs. You use case study if you want to
understand one or few institutions, processes, individuals, or phenomena in depth. For instance, if you want to
learn about the process of getting in a university admission, you could use a case study. If you wish to know what
makes a hospital famous, you could study that hospital by interviewing doctors, patients, staff, and observing
them in that hospital. If a town has too many teen mothers or many children who don’t go to school, you can use
case study to understand the problem and propose solutions to that community. For you to know more, you can
read cast study books by some of learning experts (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Merriam, 2009; Merriam & Tisdell,
2015; Yin, 2014).
o Ethnography. It is used to describe the culture of a people, a community, an organization, or a country. Whenever
you wish to understand cultural values and practices of a group, your best design is ethnography. You can learn
more about ethnography from the experts (Adams, Jones, & Ellis, 2015; Fetterman, 2010; LeCompte & Schensul,

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 2010; Sangasubana, 2011; Wolcott, 2008). Usually, ethnographic research studies take a long time because it
takes quite some to learn thoroughly the culture of people. However, if you want to use ethnography in your
subject, you simply use the mini-ethnography, which requires a lot less time.
o Phenomenology. This design originated in philosophy. It can be carried out from at least two different
perspectives. Some people simply use it to describe the intense lived experiences of people. For instance, if you
want to do research on the experience of giving birth for the first time, the experience of facing death threat, the
experience of being robbed or preparing for a board exam, the experience of going to jail for the first time, or the
experience of living in an orphanage, phenomenology would be a good choice for you. Form the first perspective,
your job as a researcher is simply to describe the phenomenon in the way people lived it. When you become an
advanced researcher, you can now take phenomenology to a much deeper level, where you try to understand the
deeper meaning of such intense experiences. This second type of phenomenology is not at the level of new
researchers. It is something you can do when you are at the university level. You can learn more details from the
experts and from some example of a phenomenological study (Kafle, 2011; Shosha, 2012; Van Manen, 2014; Wa-
Mbaleka & Ryszewski, 2012).
o Action research. Action research is used when you have a specific problem in your field of expertise that you
want to understand, generate solutions for, test those solutions to improve the way you do things, and then create
guidelines on how to implement those solutions. You have to document the whole process. The end result must be
an improved way of doing things in your work. For instance, a teacher can conduct an action research study to
improve his/her own teaching practice. More learning from experts can help you apply this practical design
(McNiff, 2014; Mertler, 2014; Sagor, 2011).
o Content analysis. This design can be used if you have some documents that you want to explore to understand a
certain problem. For instance, you can decide to use newspapers to understand the type of content that is
commonly published in a community. You could also decide to consider how a municipal hall organizes its files
for future reference and how this affects the daily work of that municipality. You could decide to look at different
posters and magazines of a school to understand how religion or moral values are promoted there. You can learn
more about content analysis as QLR design from Thayer, Evans, McBride, Queen, and Spyridakis (2007).

QLR plays an important role in research in general. QLR skills can be improved to help us even in our daily life. QLR has
several strengths but also some weaknesses. It is used in many different fields. It has many different designs. This module
has simply given us some good basis of what QLR is all about. Developing QLR skills can certainly help, not only in
research in general, but also in our academic and personal life.

Please remember the following for future research writing assignments:

o Each paragraph asked should be at least five sentences. Each paragraph must start with the main idea and all the
rest of the sentences in that paragraph must elaborate on that main idea.
o Make sure to establish what you are referring in the research study. Remember to use the third person in
referring (e.g. the researchers, the participants).
o Use the appropriate verb tenses in writing your research study. An on-going research study should be in future
tense form of the verb (e.g. the research will be conducted at, the locale of the study will be…). When the
procedures are done and the results are in, the research study should be in the past tense form of the verb
(e.g. the participants had…).
o All DRAFTS must preferably be typed on the computer and double-spaced with a font-size of 12, font-style of
arial, and margin sizes as follows: the top, right, and bottom sides is 1-inch, and the left side is 1.5-inches.
o In printing, use as many bond paper as you can with an A4-size.

Be Active and Ignite

1. Answer the following questions individually.
Score: ___/___

a. What is the advantage of QLR over quantitative research?

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 __________________________________________________________________________________________________
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b. What type of problems are dealt with by QLR?
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__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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__________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. What type of data makes QLR significant?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
d. What QLR design seems more relevant on your research topic?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
e. Explain the role of emotions in QLR.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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2. Find your name in the table below. This is the list of your research team. With your team, complete the table by following
these steps:
a. Create a group chat for your members in Facebook Messenger. Add your research instructor in the group chat as well.
This is to create ease of communication with all members and the instructor. TEAMS ARE FIXED!
b. With your group, propose a field of study (for examples, refer to the internet and the Concept section in the module
entitled “How is qualitative research across different fields of inquiry?”) and a research topic (for examples, you may
search the internet or other books) from that field. Both MUST be related to your strand.
c. Propose the most appropriate QLR design (for examples, refer to the internet and the Concept section in the
module entitled “Brief overview of some qualitative research designs”) for EACH topic proposed.
d. Answer only the row that corresponds to your team. If your name is NOT in the list, contact your teacher in Facebook
Messenger or via mobile number immediately.
Group # Groups of 4-5 Members Only Proposed Proposed Research Topics Appropriate QLR
(UNCHANGEABLE GROUPS!) Field of Corresponding the Proposed Design for each possible
Study Research Field topic
ABM 1 Araneta, Mark Lester R. 1
Esmeralda, Maria Sandara P. 2
Llanos, Lee Claire L. 3
Viña, Juliana Marie L. 4
ABM 2 Bontuyan, Rhyza A. 1
Castaño, Clayton Earl C. 2
Daling, Vic Jason 3
Olano, Samantha Blessy C. 4

ABM 3 Balucan, Joan C. 1

Gaje, Gwyneth C. 2
Gealon, Benjaniel Andrey G. 3
Sumbilon, Zamyla Dawn F. 4
ABM 4 Ardales, Catherine A. 1
De Leon, Kerth Jhon O. 2
Regalado, Brett L. 3
Sacala, Marilou Rachel S. 4
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 Group # Groups of 4-5 Members Only Proposed Proposed Research Topics Appropriate QLR
(UNCHANGEABLE GROUPS!) Field of Corresponding the Proposed Design for each possible
Study Research Field topic
ABM 5 Areola, Rhea Mae Jane C. 1
Dela Cruz, Roan Nicole A. 2
Madriaga, James P. 3
Tagarda, Xhilgie Mae I. 4
ABM 6 Boten, Kleint O. 1
Laspiñas, Zwaxane Glimp N. 2
Oronan, Angelique Dianne V. 3
Rañola, Jay S. 4
GA 1 Cañete, Zyrus G. 1
Dela Cruz, Novemdel L. 2
Japay, Clent Jay 3
Marata, Jezebelle B. 4
Zarcilla, Ian Zenrex B.
GA 2 Espartero, Samantha Nicolle V. 1
Labajo, Raynell Jun O. 2
Labitad, Cliff John B. 3
Momo, Kent Rafael M. 4
Revecho, Elijah
GA 3 Bonalos, Jokhen P. 1
Cuba, Judith V. 2
Prayon, Reginald V. 3
Olajay, Christian F. 4
GA 4 Doverte, Kurt Josh A. 1
Galorport, Ag Ace A. 2
Guines, Paul Andrei R. 3
Permacio, Charles Vincent A. 4
GA 5 Baculpo, Fene Joe C. 1
Gelicame, Rizille N. 2
Mabale, Lean Road P. 3
Ofqueria, Joshua B. 4
GA 6 Agbayani, Reinhart A. 1
Cahatol, Joshua Andrei D. 2
Daugan, Kern Jhon L. 3
Sibug, Christopher B. 4
HUMSS 1 Amang, Gwendolyn M. 1
Balcurza, Kassandra 2
De Asis, Elvie Joy B. 3
Hermo, Deschery E. 4
HUMSS 2 Carillo, Jassie R. 1
Elemon, Shanell B. 2
Lumbrino, Sandara C. 3
Tayone, Jane Katrina A. 4
HUMSS 3 Ariola, Abby-gaile T. 1
Pepito, Alexander Glenn J. 2
Serra, J Steven A. 3
Villarino, Ladee Mariane C. 4

HUMSS 4 Bongabong, Harold L. 1

Gonzales, Kian Mark D. 2
Ricarte, Davie Kate G. 3
Sumobol, Rosalyn P. 4
HUMSS 5 Albopera, Jaspher 1
Balmocina, Joanna Clarisse J. 2
Denalo, Eliseo Jr. W. 3
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 Group # Groups of 4-5 Members Only Proposed Proposed Research Topics Appropriate QLR
(UNCHANGEABLE GROUPS!) Field of Corresponding the Proposed Design for each possible
Study Research Field topic
Espiritu, Kristen Aina C. 4
HUMSS 6 Alia, Cherry Lou R. 1
Cahilog, Sarah Jane R. 2
Dura, Saniboy L. 3
4
STEM 1 Barion, Tee Jay E. 1
Maramara, Chinnie M. 2
Resultan, Jhuliessa L. 3
San Juan, Bernadeth P. 4
Serra, Charlz A.
STEM 2 Bandiola, Hancel Ken B. 1
Catubay, Kenneth L. 2
Demerin, Rich Ceilo B. 3
Lingcopines, Mel Jolli Ann A. 4
Jimenez, Xyvyl Dhyn L.
STEM 3 Baslot, Chrysla Andsel Faye O. 1
Concon, Arleah Juliana S. 2
Daayata, Brent Jaydee A. 3
Lomongo, Jann Lester V. 4
Pepito, Karl Uriel A.
STEM 4 Blancaflor, Marie Greeco C. 1
Hermo, Lheyvourn May A. 2
Ipulan, Princess Jeany Fe M. 3
Masculino, Shem M. 4
Lepiten, Fernce Jan Rod C.
STEM 5 Beltran, Christine P. 1
Bornales, Rhaj Arjay B. 2
De Asis, Julie Earl L. 3
Elona, Karylle Chyska G. 4
Ladrillo, Kyrie Jhon B.
STEM 6 Adaya, Bobby Kent G. 1
Bamba, Lunus Slash L. 2
Cabagsican, Ralph S. 3
Masculino, Mishezebel M. 4
Mulleon, Alyzza Mariela K.
STEM 7 Bandi, Julien Ann A. 1
Dalid, Qen Julianna Pearl M. 2
Kindon, Irica Feb R. 3
Salado, Honey Belle D. 4
Soriano, Sofia Nadine B.
STEM 8 Bulahan, Carl Anthon T. 1
Caalaman, Jenny May G. 2
Cayetano, Meja P. 3
Pasco, Jonridfield D. 4
Salvan, Neil U.
STEM 9 Cababasada, Schear Josh 1
Daluniag, Sophia Marlette V. 2
Permacio, Jan Yuri B. 3
Romero, Jahzara Kaethe 4
Vallena, Dave Francis M.
STEM 10 Cafe, Janee Darleen S. 1
Gabucan, Jea Mae B. 2
Malicay, Renzel Justine T. 3
Pechora, Kate Nicole S. 4
Rañada, Paul Vincent
STEM 11 Barnido, Charry Metch E. 1

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 Group # Groups of 4-5 Members Only Proposed Proposed Research Topics Appropriate QLR
(UNCHANGEABLE GROUPS!) Field of Corresponding the Proposed Design for each possible
Study Research Field topic
Mandin, Sylph Eleanor A. 2
Petalcorin, Ruane Jay O. 3
Remo, Real Joy 4
Templado, Mi Edelweiss C.
STEM 12 Entima, Jeric Glenn M. 1
Dubria, Vea A. 2
Dumlao, Chandy B. 3
Tradio, Zhen Franci T. 4

IFL (Integration of Faith and Learning)

Researching: An Honor To Kings
As kings, or men, in this earth, it is our honor to seek the glory of God in concealed things such
as problems and issues of daily life. Proverbs 25:2, KJV It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the
honour of kings is to search out a matter.

References:
King James Bible. (n.d.). Bible with Ellen G. White Comment

Marquez-Fong, S.E.R. and Tigno, C.R. (2016). Practical research 1. Quezon City: Vibal Group, Inc.

Wa-Mbaleka, S. (2019). Qualitative research for senior high school teacher’s manual. Silang, Cavite: Oikos
Biblios Publishing House

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