MODULE 1: NATURE AND INQUIRY

OF RESEARCH
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Describe the characteristics, strengths,
weaknesses, and kinds of quantitative research.
2. Illustrate the importance of quantitative
research across fields.
3. Differentiate the kinds of variables and their
uses.
RESEARCH
DEFINED
 Research comes the middle French word
recherche, which means “the act of
searching closely”.
 The word “research” is a combination of
the prefix re-, which means “again”, and
the word search, which means “to look
for”.
 Research is the process of looking for
information once again.
RESEARCH AND SCIENCE
 Research is a process of gathering data to prove a
claim, test existing hypotheses, and find answer and
solutions on pressing problems at hand. It generates
knowledge that aims to describe, explain, and
predict events.
 Science is conceptualized as a procedural and
systematic approach in gaining new knowledge by
making thorough observations and using controlled
and precise methods. A research done scientifically
is more accurate, reliable, and valid.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN RESEARCH
 In conducting research, scientific procedures must be
applied to obtain reliable and accurate information.
ELEMENTS:
1. Empirical approach
2. Observation
3. Question
4. Hypotheses
5. Experiments
6. Analyses
7. Conclusion
8. Replication
EMPIRICAL APPROACH
Knowledge is gained through
direct observation and
experimentation.
Only those data derived from
scientific procedures are considered
factual.
OBSERVATION
Your awareness of your environment
constitutes your ideas.
To increase the veracity of the
information you gained from
observation, you have to measure it
carefully using an appropriate
instrument.
QUESTION
 Knowledge comes from inquiries that are
answerable.
 Questions must be answered through
scientific investigation and must generate
tangible proof.
 A question is unanswerable when it is
deemed impossible for realistic exploration,
no matter how intriguing it may be.
HYPOTHESES
An educated guess, or hypothesis,
is an attempt to explain a
phenomena.
It helps you formulate a
prediction.
It must be testable for analysis
and interpretation.
EXPERIMENTS
The given hypothesis should assure
testability in a crafted condition for the
accuracy and reliability of results.
The process of experimentation itself is
a proof of scientific procedures.
And so, the findings are considered
truthful.
ANALYSES
 For findings to be reliable, the data gathered are
subjected for analysis through statistical
methods.
 The statistical treatment to be employed
depends on the design of the study, types of
data, and given questions.
 You have to use statistics because it presents
numerical evidence of the degree in which the
results are considered valid and reliable.
CONCLUSION
 Answers to the problem raised by the
researcher at the start of the study.
 The process of making inferences involves
concrete data to rule out opinions.
 A conclusion must be objective and supported
by meticulous analysis of data.
 You should avoid adding more to what is
literally available.
REPLICATION
 This means doing the same study once again to
a different set of participants to test the
soundness of the obtained results.
 Conducting the study for the several times will
pave the way for additional and essential
purposes: Establishment of reliability of
findings, Discovery of new knowledge, and
Ascertainment of the generalizability of
results.
GOALS AND IMPORTANCE OF
RESEARCH
 Goals of Research
1. Description
2. Prediction
3. Understanding/Explanation
 Importance of Research

1. Knowledge is established.
2. Perceptions are corrected.
3. Phenomena are validated.
4. Present solutions are tested for effectivity.
5. Problems are solve.