How to

Conceptualiz
e Research
Marie Jean N. Mendezabal, DME
Research Director
University of Saint Louis
Tuguegarao City
Learning Objectives
 Identify and conceptualize a research topic
 Formulate a research problem
 Anticipate potential ‘Who cares?’ questions
Key Phases of Research
 Research Conceptualization
 Research Execution
 Research Description
Research Conceptualization

Conceptualization, the art and practice of

discovery, is the first and the most difficult part
of research (Aurini, et. al, 2016)
Steps in Research Conceptualization

Step 1: What is the topic? The first step of any

project is to determine what you want to study.

Step 2: What is my problem? Why should anyone

care about my problem? You must then establish the
problem your research hopes to solve, including
filling in a gap or extending the literature in a new
and exciting direction.
Research Topic
The research TOPIC must be grounded on
some already known fact which is used to
introduce the topic and from which the
research problem comes from.

A. Does the topic interest you?

B. Do you know enough about your topic?
C. Is the study feasible?
Topics may arise from:

1. A concern with some social problem

2. An interest in some theme or pattern
of behavior
3. Some body of theory
4. Some personal inclination or interest
Sources to use in selecting a topic
1. Personal experience
2. Personal observation of the environment
3. Journals/Printed sources
4. On-going research projects
5. Available data sets
6. Others
In making your final choice, consider your topic’s

1. Feasibility
2. Relevance
3. Ethical Issues

9
Formulating a Research Problem

Formulating the research problem

is, in itself, a BIG problem

10
 Development of a Research Problem
• The broad general area expected to investigate. It is a broad
idea or concept from which many problems may be
Researc
h
delineated
Topic

• A situation or circumstance that requires a solution to be

Researc described, explained, or predicted. It is an unsatisfactory
h situation that wants you to confront.
Problem

Researc • A statement of intent or objective of the study

h
Purpose

• An interrogative sentence that ask a question about some

Research process, issues or phenomenon to be explored
Question
s
Narrowing the Topic
 Once a research topic has been specified and
contemplate, the researcher must then narrow it
down in order to develop a research problem.
 This is done through generating questions from
the research topic.
 List of questions can be developed from the
research topic, and then investigated in relation
to its feasibility to research.
Critical Issues facing Education Education

 Curriculum standard
 Student learning
 Technology
 Social medial
 Assessments
 School leaderships
 Teacher training
 Teaching methodology
 School environment/climate
 Intensify your
knowledge and
familiarize yourself
about what is known
on your topic
What is a literature review?

A literature review is a critical

analysis of scholarly articles or a
published body of knowledge
Functions of Literature Review
1. Ensures that you are not “reinventing the
wheel".
2. Demonstrates your knowledge of the
research problem and also the people who
laid the groundwork for your research.
3. Demonstrates your understanding of the
theoretical issues related to your research
question.
4. Indicates your ability to integrate and
synthesize, and critically evaluate existing
literature.
Functions of Literature Review
5. Convinces your reader that your proposed
research will make a significant and
substantial contribution to the literature
(i.e., resolving an important theoretical
issue or filling a major gap in the literature).
When to start a literature review

• seed of a problem
Beginnin
g

• as the research is being

conducted
Middle

• manuscript writing
End
When to do a literature review

Beginning: seed of a problem

Main purpose:
a literature review in the proposal
writing stage is needed to establish the
context and rationale for your study and
to confirm your choice of research
focus/question
When to do a literature review

Middle: as the research is being

conducted

Main purpose:
the literature review keeps you in
touch with current, relevant
research in your field, which is
published during the period of your
research;
When to do a literature review

Main purpose:
Needed when relating your findings
to that of others, and to identify their
implications for theory, practice, and
research. Perhaps, the further review
will provide better focus, than that in
your initial review.

End: writing the manuscript

Advantages of doing a literature review early on

 Shows what has and has not been

investigated in the research topic you want
to investigate.

 Since all credible research studies have a

short literature review in the introduction
you can use these to jumpstart your
literature search
Advantages of doing a literature review early
on
 Put focus on your research problem and to
refine your research objectives

 To learn how others have defined key

concepts and theories and how these are
reflected in the operational framework/
methodology of the research
Advantages of doing a literature review early
on
 To show data sources that other researches
have used.
 To let you discover how a research project
is related to the work of others.
 To train you in synthesizing secondary
information
Advantages of doing a literature review early
on
 The literature review will help you to
anticipate common problems in your
research context.

 You can use the prior experiences of others

to avoid common traps and pitfalls.
How to search for academic journal articles

Use quotation marks to keep key works together; if not some

search engines will simultaneously search for these terms
separately (e.g., you may end up with thousands of articles
containing the word ‘school’ and thousands of articles
containing the word ‘violence’ that have nothing to do with
school shootings).

Example: Search terms

Key Combination
‘Mathematics Teaching ‘Mathematics’ AND ‘Teaching and
and Learning Learning’
‘Educational technology’ ‘Education’ AND ‘Technology’
Now what? How to use the literature to
conceptualize

 First, identify key theories, terminologies,

concepts, methods, data and interpretations
presented in the literature.
 Second, identify what is not known, missing or
problematic in the literature.
 Unless you are already very well versed in the
literature, your initial review will require a lot of
time.
 A critical examination of the literature is
essential.
Literature Matrix