FD 501: Basic Research

Performance Task # 1: Steps in the Research Process

Direction: Identify the specific steps in the research process where each of the following
activities are undertaken based on the discussion given in PPT-Lesson 1.

1. Mothers in a community are invited to attend a film showing on the harmful effects
of intestinal parasites like ascaris and hookworm. This is done to encourage them to
submit stool specimens of their preschoolers, for a survey on the prevalence of
parasitism among this age group in their community.
REFERENCE:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4025342/

ANSWER:

Identify the Problem

The harmful effects of intestinal parasites like ascaris and hookworm to preschoolers.

Data Gathering

Knowledge about intestinal parasites will be assessed using a structured questionnaire

administered to randomly selected mothers while data on intestinal parasitic infection
will be obtained by microscopically
analyzing stool samples provided by the study participants.

Formulation of Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis: Parasitism is not prevalent in preschoolers in the said community.

Test
The research design will be a community-based cross-sectional study to investigate the
awareness of mothers in the community regarding intestinal parasites and to determine
prevalence of parasitism in the community.

Analysis

Data will be entered in Excel and SPSS software will be used for analysis. The
prevalence of parasitic infections will be reported as a percentage. The level of
community member knowledge will be also expressed as a percentage in each category
from the questionnaire.

Formulation of Conclusion

Assumption:
Intestinal parasitic infection is highly prevalent in preschoolers in the community. In
addition, the knowledge of community members about harmful intestinal parasites are
less.

2. An Academic Dean consults with his Academic Unit Heads the challenges in the new
normal teaching-learning process, the potential problems to be encountered in teaching
and learning, and the overall feasibility of flexible learning which he is interested in
pursuing.

REFERENCE: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.678692/ full

ANSWER:

Identify the Problem

Challenges faced in the new normal teaching-learning process, the potential problems
to be encountered in teaching and learning, and overall feasibility of flexible learning.

Formulation of Hypothesis

Teachers and students faced significant challenges and problems during the sudden
change of teaching-learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Or

Null Hypothesis:

There is no significant difference in academic outcomes with the shift of on-campus

teaching-learning process to flexible teaching-learning process.
Test

The study will employ quantitative and qualitative research design to determine the
challenges encountered by the teacher and learners.

Data Gathering and Analysis

In this study, the surveys will take the form of a questionnaire, and thus the data
gathered will be statistically analyzed to test the research hypotheses.

Formulation of Conclusion

In this research, the impact of flexible learning on teaching and learning during the
COVID-19 pandemic was analyzed.

Educational institutions need to migrate to flexible teaching and learning modality by

recalibrating the curriculum, capacitating the faculty, and upgrading the infrastructure.

Various teaching strategies should be revisited and design a course content appropriate
to the needs of the students during online learning.

3. A nurse requests a statistician to compute the sample size needed to conduct a study
on the incidence of COVID-19 cases in the hospital where she works.

REFERENCE:
https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-020-01081-0

ANSWER:

Identitying the Problem

Incidence of COVID-19 cases in the hospital the nurse works at.

Formulation of Hypothesis

An appropriate levels of sample pooling is significant to get decent estimates of

incidence of COVID-19 cases in the hospital.

Test
Estimates of the true prevalence of COVID-19 in a population can be made by random
sampling and pooling of RT-PCR tests.

Data Gathering and Analysis

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases divided by population size is used as a

coarse measurement for the burden of disease in a population.

However, this fraction depends heavily on the sampling intensity and the various test
criteria used in different jurisdictions, and many sources indicate that a large fraction of
cases tend to go undetected.

Formulation of Conclusion

Sample pooling should be considered in COVID-19 prevalence estimation efforts.