REVIEWER – PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1
knowledge.
Mariel R. Pasno
Subject Teacher
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND
STUDIES
A literature review can serve multiple purposes at
different stages of the research process. One of its
major purposes is to determine what has already
been done or studied about your topic.
This knowledge does not only prevent you from
you unintentionally duplicating another person’s
research, it also gives you a wider understanding of
your topic and which will help you identify what
has been done and what needs to be done about
your topic. Previous studies can provide the
rationale for your research hypothesis and can help
you justify the significance of your study.
The role of literature review in qualitative
researchers is not entirely defined. Some qualitative
researchers argue that reviewing the literature is
used to determine the direction of the research and
thus should be avoided at the early stages of the
research process. Others suggest that the review of
related literature is important early in the qualitative
research process because it serves the following
functions:
 The literature review demonstrates the
underlying assumptions (propositions)
behind the research questions that are
central to the research proposal.
 The literature review provides away for the
novice researcher to convince the proposal
reviewers that he or she is knowledgeable
about the related research and the
“intellectual traditions” that support the
proposed study.
 The literature review provides the researcher
with an opportunity to identify any gaps
that may exist in the body of literature and
to provide a rationale of how the proposed
study may contribute to the existing body of
 The literature review helps the researcher to
refine the research questions and embed
them in guiding hypotheses that provide
possible directions the researcher may
follow.
The following are some tips on how to select
materials for literature review:
1. The material should be relevant or related
to the topic or problem that you are studying.
2. The material should be recent as much as
possible. However, old materials that are
pioneer in the topic may sometimes be
included.
3. Gather materials from varied sources
such as previous studies, journals, books,
monographs, and even magazines.
Additionally, you may take advantage of the
information available online: however, you
must be extra careful when using online
sources. Make sure that you only use
credible Web sites.
After gathering materials for review, the next step
is writing the literature review section of the
research. One important skill that you need to learn
when writing the literature review is proper citation.
This is to avoid plagiarism in your research work.
Study the following excerpt from a literature
review:
Avilla (2009) found out that learning theories
such as constructivism, experiential learning or
learning by doing, and cognitive theory of learning
are embedded in the students’ images on chemistry.
Valderama (2006) said that drawings have been
utilized extensively by psychologists for a range of
purposes such as assessing children’s motor and
cognitive development, examining the content of
children’s drawings in relation to culture content,
and helping children deal with social and emotional
trauma such as abuse. These drawings are
considered to be the students’ images. They are
images of action. These views represent what
students say about what they do (Ryder, Leach &
Driver, 1997).
This is an example of a literature review from a
study of Avilla in 2009. Notice how it is written.
The name of the author and the year of publication
of the material cited is included in the paragraph.
This is called parenthetical citation. As you can
see above, the name of the author and the year of
publication may be written at te beginning or end of
a sentence.
There are different styles of citing information in
a literature review. The two most commonly used
are the American Psychological Association (APA)
citation style and the Modern Language Association
(MLA) citation style.
The APA style is commonly used within the
social sciences discipline. It follows the author-date
system of citation. This means that the last name of
the author and the date of publication of work must
appear in the text (e.g.; Avilla, 2009), and the
complete bibliographic information should appear
on the “Reference List” page. Note that in APA
citation style, the page number is used only if you
are directly quoting the material, or making
reference to an entire book, article or other work.
The following are the basic guidelines when
using the APA style of citation which is adapted
from Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
 Work by a Single Author: The last name of
the author and the year of publication are
placed in the text. When the name of the
author is part of the narrative, only the date
is placed in the parentheses. When both
information are in the parenthesis, the year
is separated from the surname with a
comma.
Examples:
Santos (2014) asserted that education
alleviates poverty,
… education alleviates poverty (Santos,
2014)
 Work by Two Authors: Name both
authors in the signal phrase or in the
parentheses each time you cite the work.
Use the word “and” between the authors’
names within the text and use ampersand in
the parentheses.
Examples:
Santos and Reyes (2014) explained that…
…as has been shown (Santos & Reyes,
2014)
 Work by Three to Five Authors: List all
the authors in the signal phrase or in
parentheses the first time you cite the
source. Use the word “and” between the
authors’ names within the text and use the
ampersand in the parentheses.
Examples:
David, Garcia, and Isabelo (2014)
(David, Garcia, & Isabelo, 2014)
In subsequent citations, only the first author’s
last name followed by “et al.” in the signal phrase or
in parentheses.
(David et al., 2014)
 Six or More Authors: Use the first author’s
name followed by “et al.” in the signal
phrase or in parentheses.
Examples:
David et al., (2014) argued…
(David et al., 2014)
Unknown Author: if the work does not have an
author, cite the source by its title in the signal
phrase or use the first word or two in the
parentheses. Titles of books and reports are
italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters,
and Web pages are in quotation marks.
Examples:
A similar study was done of students
learning to format research papers (“Using
APA,” 2001).
Note: In case the “Anonymous” is used for
the author, treat it as the author’s name
(Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list,
use the name “Anonymous” as the author.
 Organization as an Author: If the author is
an organization or government agency,
mention the organization in the signal phrase
or in the parenthetical citation the first time
you cite the source.
Examples:
First citation: According to the National
Institute of Chemistry (2013)…
(National Institute of Chemistry
Second Citation: (NIC, 2013)
MLA Citation Style
Commonly used within the liberal arts and
humanities disciplines, the MLA format follows the
author-page method of in-text citation. Instead of
author’s surname and year of publication, this style
uses the author’s last name and the page number(s)
from which the quotation or paraphrase in the
citation was lifted, and the complete bibliographic
information appears on the “Work Cited” page. The
author’s name may appear either in the sentence
itself or in parentheses following the quotation or
paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always
appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your
sentence.
Examples:
Author’s name in text;
Palomar emphasized that (20-21)
Author’s name in parentheses:
This is given an emphasis (Palomar 20-21)
Multiple authors:
This formula (Avilla and Santos 9) proved
… to be tested (Garcia and Reyes 24)
Organization as author:
(National Institute of Chemistry, 40-42)
Writing the Review of Related Literature
Now that you have learned how to cite sources,
the next thing to learn is how to write the literature
review itself. The following are some guidelines on
how to write the review of related literature as
enumerated by Galvan (cited in Morgan- Rallis,
2014):
1. Identify the broad problem.
2. Indicate why the topic is being reviewed.
3. Distinguish between research findings and other
sources of information.
4. Indicate why certain studies are important.
5. If citing classic or landmark studies, identify it
as such. A landmark study is a pioneering study on
a certain topic. In review, it is suggested to include
this kind of study to give emphasis on the topic
being reviewed.
6. Discuss other literature reviews on your topic.
7. Avoid long lists of nonspecific references.
8. Cite separately inconsistent or varying results of
previous studies.
9. Cite all relevant references.
After you have reviewed related literature from
previous studies, you are now ready to develop a
coherent essay on related literature. Galvan (2006),
as cited in the article of Mongan-Rallis (2014),
enumerated some guidelines on developing a
coherent essay. These are some of the guidelines:
1. If your review is long, provide an overview
near the beginning of the review. The overview
provides the reader of what the author is aiming
at. This also gives a clear picture of what the
literature is all about.
2. State explicitly what will and will not be
covered in the review. There are many possible
literature and studies that might be related to
your present study. However, not all can be
included in your review. To avoid getting all
unnecessary literature, it is important to make
an outline of your topics to be covered in
writing your literature.
3. Specify your point of view. You have to be
very specific on the details and know where
you are heading to. This is important in writing
the review to avoid confusion on the part of the
reader.
4. Aim for a clear and cohesive essay that
integrates the key details of the literature and
communicates your point of view. A coherent
review of related literature reinforces and
concretizes your study.
5. Use subheadings especially in a long review.
Your review is coherent based on certain topic.
To distinguish a topic or theme from one
another, use titles or subheadings.
6. Use transitions to help trace your argument.
7. Consider reviewing studies from each
discipline separately.
8. Write a conclusion at the end of the review.
This is actually the synthesis of the review of
the related literature and addresses your
research questions.
9. Make sure that the flow of the argument is
coherent.
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Ethnography
Ethnographic research is a qualitative research
method that aims to get a holistic picture of a
specific group, society, institution or any situation.
Usually, ethnographic research studies culture of
one group by documenting the everyday
experiences of the people involved through in-depth
interviews and continuous participant observation.
The topics, voting behaviour of people in one
barangay or town, science-related practices of one
tribe in Luzon and the waste management, practices
of one school are all good examples of topics for
ethnographic research.
Ethnographic research requires three important
things: a detailed description of the group being
studied; analysis of the group in terms of themes
and constructs; and the interpretations of the
researchers to the group as to meanings, symbols,
and generalizations.
If you opt to employ ethnographic research, you
are supposed to immerse in the group to obtain a
first-hand source of information and become
participant of the study itself in order to get the
participants’ perspective. Fraenkel and Wallen
(2010) listed down some important concepts when
doing ethnographic research: culture holistic
perspective, contextualization, emic, and etic
perspective, thick description, member checking,
and non-judgmental orientation.
Culture is the sum of a group’s customs and
behaviors. It also pertains to the ideas and beliefs
that describe a specific group of individuals.
However, it is the researcher’s interpretation on the
culture of group being studied that is the primary
concern of ethnography. This interpretation is based
on the researcher’s observations and views about
the members of the group.
As an ethnographer, you are supposed to study the
holistic perspective about the culture of the group.
This means that you are expected to observe the
everyday activities of the participants and
understand how and why they do things. This is the
reason why ethnographers should spend time with
the participants and participate in their activities.
Contextualization of data means putting into a
larger perspective what is seen, heard, and
observed. There are two important perspective in
doing ethnographic research: emic perspective and
etic perspective.
Emic perspective means insider’s perspective of
reality while perspectives etic perspective is the
external objective on reality. Ethnographers usually
look at the data on these two perspectives. This is
done in order to have a thorough analysis and rich
interpretation of data.
Thick description involves describing what the
researcher has seen, heard, and observed in details
and including quotations directly from the
participants in writing the final report. As an
ethnographer, you are also expected to have a non-
judgmental orientation. This means that you should
refrain from making value judgments about
unfamiliar practices. Though in ethnography, you
cannot be completely neutral.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethnography
The following are some of the advantages and
disadvantages of ethnographical research.
Advantages Disadvantages
More comprehensive Dependent on the
researcher’s observations
and interpretations
Gain deeper and richer Observer bias is difficult
understanding of one’s to eliminate
behaviour in a natural
setting
Suited in studying Close supervision is
group behaviour over needed
time
Historical Research
Whatever events happened in the past can be
studied and traced back. This can be done by
conducting historical research. As defined by
Fraenkel and Wallen (2010), historical research is a
systematic collection and evaluation of data, to
describe, explain, and understand events that
occurred in the past.
 Historical research is conducted to become
aware of what happened in the past in order to come
up with the best decision in the present. For
instance, you may be interested to conduct a
research on the highlights of previous curriculum in
order to find out why the present curriculum is
revised. Moreover, historical research is also
performed to test relationships, trends, and patterns.
In turn, this will help you in predicting relationships
or trends. Here are some of the exa mples of
research questions that might led to conduct
historical research:
 What has been the role of government in
promoting quality education?
 What inter-school competitions were won by
the students in your school since its
establishment?
 What science activities were performed
inside the classroom in the last decade?
 your research, for example, varsity players in your
Advantages and Disadvantages of Historical
Research
The following are some of the advantages and
disadvantages of historical research:
Advantages Disadvantages
Permits investigation Threats to internal validity
of topics and is quite impossible to
questions control
Can study evidence Limitation of sample of
from the past documents and
instrumentation process
Can use wider range Sampling cannot be
of evidence ensured
Provides alternative Probable bias in the data
and richer source of collection and analysis
information
Case Study
Another type of qualitative research method is case
study. Case study is a documented study on a
particular person, group, institution, or event. The
case study is done to analyse constructs or themes.
Usually, these constructs or themes lead to the
identification of variable which is important for the
discussion of your study.
Case study can be used if you want to focus on
one particular issue (e.g. teenage pregnancy). You
can study someone you probably know who
experienced the case or a group of minority in your
school. Case study is also applicable to business.
Like for instance, you want to study what makes a
brand credible. You may focus on one company that
is considered credible and study the factors that
contribute to its credibility.
One advantage of case study is that you are only
focused on one person or group. This means that
you can have an in-depth investigation and your
attention is concentrated on your study. However,
limitation of case study is difficult of getting the
cooperation of the person or the group that you are
investigating.
Respondents of the Study
Purposive sampling is used when participants are
grouped according to a set of criteria specified in
school, or working students. Croswell (2005) listed
nine types of purposive sampling (cited in Fraenkel
and Wallen, 2010):
1. A typical sample is the typical representative of
that being studied such as a class of grade 9
students.
2. A critical sample is considered to be exceptional
or unusual such as group of high achievers despite
physical disabilities.
3. A homogenous sample is considered if all the
members of the sample have a common
characteristics or trait such as a group of singers.
4. A theoretical sample is considered in helping the
researcher to understand a new concept or theory
such as choosing a group of student leaders in
assessing student leadership.
5. An extreme case is considered if all the members
of the group do not fit with the general pattern or
display extreme characteristics such as group of
high school students who achieve high grades
despite poor social environment.
6. An opportunistic sample is chosen during the
study to take advantage of new conditions or
circumstances that have arisen such as group of
grade 7 students who are the first to be involved in
the implementation of K-12 curriculum.
7. A confirming sample is obtained to validate
initial findings such as a follow-up interview of a
group of teachers to verify the frequent absenteeism
of students.
8. A maximal variation sample is selected to
represent a wide perspectives or
characteristics such as group of players who possess
a wide variety of behaviour on the new policy of
sports competition.
9. A snowball sample is selected as the need arises
during the conduct of research such as a group of
school heads is needed because they were
recommended during the interviews of school
principal.
Research Instrument
Observation
There are research questions that can be answered
through observing the actions of the participants.
For example, you may observe the attitude of a
group of students toward science experiment during
an actual experiment. As a researcher, you employ
four different types of observation.
1. Participant observation. Participant observation
involves an intensive interaction between the
researcher and the subjects or participants. This
means that as a participant observer, the researcher
joins the group he or she is studying in their
environment and participate in their activities.
Participant observation can be overt or covert. Overt
participant observation, as the name suggests, is a
type of participant observation wherein the identity
of the researcher is known to group being studied.
This means that prior to joining or observing the
group, the researcher is likely to inform the
members of the group about his or her goal in
joining the group and the purpose, scope, and length
of research. Covert participant observation, on the
other hand, is a type of participant observation
wherein the participants are not aware of the
identity of the researcher nor that they are being
observed for research. This method allows a
researcher to gain access to groups that would not
normally allow them to be studied and to obtain
richer and more detailed observations.
2. Nonparticipant observation. In a
nonparticipant observation, the researcher does not
participate in the activities of the group being
observed. Instead, he or she is usually seated at the
side lines observing the action of the group. This
means that the researcher is not involved in the
situation he or she is observing.
3. Naturalistic Observation. This method, which is
commonly used by psychologists and other social
science researchers, requires that the researcher
observes the subjects under study in their natural
settings. In this method, the researcher simply
observes and records what is really happening as
they occur naturally. This is often used in situations
where conducting laboratory research is unrealistic
in terms of costs or would affect the subjects’
behavior.
4. Simulations. In this method, the researcher,
simulates or recreates a situation, environment, or
system and observes the subjects under study in the
simulated environment. He or she may ask the
participants to portray a role individually or by
team. However, simulation does not guarantee that
the participants’ behaviour in the simulated
environment would be the same in natural
environment.
Interview
Observation is usually coupled with interview.
Interview is done to validate the information you
have recorded in your observation. This is
considered as one of the most important data
collection strategies in qualitative research. There
are four types of interview: structured, semi-
structured, informal, and retrospective.
Structured and semi- structured interviews are
verbal questionnaires. In structured interviews, the
researcher has a specific set of questions designed
to elicit responses from the participants while in
semi-structured interviews, the researcher prepares
open- ended questions in which the participants are
free to write their responses.
Types of Interview Questions
A crucial part of the interview process is the type of
questions that you will ask. Patton (1990) identified
six types of question that can be asked during
interviews (cited in the book of Fraenkel and
Wallen, 2010):
1. Background questions are routine questions about
the background of the participants. These questions
include the education, age, previous work and the
like.
2. Knowledge questions refer to participants’ factual
information. For example, asking the participants’
about school information such as rules or activities.
3. Experience questions are focused on what the
participant is doing presently or in the past. For
example, “If were attending your practices in the
gym, what experiences would I be likely to see you
having?”
4. Opinion questions are asked to elicit how the
participants think on certain topics or issues. This
aims to get the participant’s values, beliefs, and
attitude. For example, “What do you think about the
implementation of K-12 curriculum?”
5. Feeling questions pertain to the emotional
responses of the participants on their experience(s).
For example, “ How do you feel when you solve a
mathematics problem?”
6. Sensory questions focus on what the respondent
has seen, tasted, heard, touched, or smelled. For
example, “When you enter the room, what did you
hear?”
Reminders during the interview
Fraenkel and Wallen (2010) listed a set of
expectations during interviews. Some of them are:
 Respect the culture of group being studied
 Respect the individual interviewed.
Interview should start and end at the
scheduled time. The respondents agreed to
be interviewed spend their time with you so
make the interview another learning
experience both for the interviewer and the
interviewee.
 Act naturally.
 Develop the same question in different
ways. This is to ensure the understanding of
the interviewee on what has been said.
 Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer
when there is some doubt.
 Vary who controls the flow of
communication.
 Avoid leading questions like “You really
want that?” instead ask, “What did you
really want to do?”
 Do not ask dichotomous questions or
questions which are answerable by yes or no
like “Did you really aim to be a
valedictorian?”
 Ask questions only one at a time.
 Do not interrupt when the interviewee is
talking.
Focus Group Discussion
Aside from one-on-one interviews, you can also
interview a small group of people to elicit data on a
certain topic. This technique is called focus group
discussion.
In focus group discussion, you ask a small group of
people what they think about certain topic or issue.
They are seated together and can hear what the
others have to say on the issue. This kind of
interview can provide multiple perspectives at a
time.
Documentary Analysis
The last technique that you can use to collect data
in a qualitative research is documentary or content
analysis. Fraenkel and Wallen (2010) defined
content analysis as a technique to study human
behaviour indirectly by analysing documents. These
documents may include books, journals, magazines,
art works, songs, pictures, and others. Through
these, you can analyse the people’s beliefs, attitude,
ideas, and values. In content analysis, you need to
code or categorize what you have gathered from the
available documents. This will help you obtain
common themes or constructs for analysis.