Identifying the

Qualitative
Inquiry:

THE PROBLEM
copyright cmassengale 1
LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
The learner:
Designs a research project related to daily
life (CS_RS11-III-e-1)

Writes a research title ( CS_RS11-III-e-2)

The learner describes the justification for

conducting a research (CS_RS11-III-e-3)
I want to understand the world from your
point of view. I want to know what you
know in the way you know it. I want to
understand the meaning of your
experience, to walk in your shoe, to feel
things as you feel them, to explain things
as you explain them. Will you become my
teacher and help me understand?
James P. Spradley
THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
1. )The INITIAL STEP in the research
process.
The problem statement explains the reason
for engaging in qualitative research.
The problem statement focuses on
processes, events or phenomenon.
It is the researcher's goals or objectives of
the study.
Reiterates and explains the main idea, the
method that will be used to collect and
analyze the data.
 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
What is the phenomenon on school
bullying and the intricacies of
interpersonal relationship?
Discover:
Knowledge of complexities of human behavior.
How:
Interview among HS students to understand the
phenomenon.
Method:
Interview questions to understand the HOWS and
WHYS of bullying.
 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT

HOW DO SCHOOL BULLIES BEHAVE IN

ATTACKING A VICTIM?

HOW DO SCHOOL BULLIES EXPRESS THEIR

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS WITH THEIR
TEACHERS AND PARENTS?

Research questions should be interrogatively stated.

Normally general and open-ended
 THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
How do parents view the attributes of effective
reproductive health program?
Why do students express anxiety in learning
mathematics and how can this be remedied?
How do teachers explain lessons in Science using
various learning pedadogies?

Common Denominator:
These are research problems
Scientific Inquiry
Emperical investigations
 GENERAL APPROACHES IN STATING THE
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROBLEM
The two approaches:
INSTRUMENTALIST
focuses on what to observe.
HOW DO SCHOOL BULLIES BEHAVE IN ATTACKING A
VICTIM?
REALIST
beliefs, feelings and intentions as fallible (weak)
evidences to be used critically to test ideas about
what is going on.
HOW DO SCHOOL BULLIES EXPRESS THEIR
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS WITH THEIR
TEACHERS AND PARENTS?
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROBLEM
FEASIBILITY - adequate number of subjects, adequate
time, adequate technical experience of a topic that
CAN BE MANAGED BY THE RESEARCHER.
NOVELTY - the newness of the topic, to confirm or
refute previous findings or extend a new findings to
previous studies.
ETHICS - due respect to the participants of the
research. Minimal harm and privacy.
RELEVANCE - contribution of the investigation to
scientific knowledge.
 PROBLEM
Negative connotation but IMPORTANT INGREDIENT
to scientific investigation.

SELECTION OF TOPIC, IDENTIFYING THE

RESEARCH PROBLEM follows.

The formulation of the research problem as the

central focus of inquiry will determine the qualitative
method that will be used for data collection, analysis
and conclusion.
 QUALI OR QUANTI?
DO SUBURBAN TEACHER EARN HIGHER
SALARIES THAN URBAN TEACHERS?

HOW DO TEACHERS MANAGE AND

CONTROL BEHAVIOR OF THEIR
STUDENTS?

IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

SCHOOL SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
AND CLASS ATTENDANCE?
THREE BASIC COMPONENTS OF A GOOD
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROBLEMS

THE IDEAL SITUATION

THE MAIN PROBLEM
SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
 THE IDEAL SITUATION
History of the issue and the ideal scenario
that can exist.

TOPIC: EDUCATION
History:
Education is a noble profession.
Teachers are unsung heroes.
It is an old institution that existed even during
Biblical times where Jesus in the temple was the
first teacher known in mankind.
 THE MAIN PART
answers WHAT the problem is,WHERE it
occurs, WHY and WHEN it occurs.

TOPIC: EDUCATION
what: Reputation of teachers in executing corporal
punishment inside the classroom which are
violations of the ethics of profession.
where: Notable in public school education.
why: Lack of professional training for teachers,
absence of psychological testing and poor
rewards given among public school teachers.
 SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
The extent of the study, methodology,
justification for the selection of this
study and consequences.
TOPIC: EDUCATION
scope: survey covering public school teachers in
elementary level (find out extent of malpractice and how can
this be prevented)

justification: researcher will identify factors and

causes of corporal punishments imposedin the
classroom.
 Designing Research Related to Daily Life
Based on 5 W's and H

WHAT the problem is essential finding out what is going

wrong.
WHO references that support the presence of the problem
HOW, WHERE and WHEN - impact of the problem, like how
negative understanding impacts the problem, when the
problem lies evident.
WHY determine the cause of the problem.

What drives teachers in public elementary schools to

commit corporal punishment, to arrive at some
intervention schemes towards a more congenial teacher-
student relationship?
 Designing Research Related to Daily Life
“ soul of the inquiry”
OPERATIONALIZATION - the act of laying
down some indicators used to give the
exactness of definition of variables and the
type of measurements used.
ANSWERS:
What will you do?
Will the question withstand Scientific Inquiry?
How the questions will be pursued?
 Research problem mut be CLEARLY ARTICULATED!

ex.)WHAT IS A SCHOOL BULLY?

too general and too ambigous

it means different things to different people.
it does not specify a problem
it lacks clarity and specificity may lead to ambigous findings

ex.)WHAT ARE THE REASONS WHY THERE IS A

SCHOOL BULLY?

clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable

 CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROBLEMS
The problem should not be too general or too
specific.
The problem should be amenable to change as data
are collected and analyzed.
The problem should no be biased with restricted
assumptions or desired findings.
The problem should be written in “how” and “what”
forms to focus on describing a phenomena.
The problem should include a central question as
well as the participants and the site.
Steps in development of research problem
Selection of the research topic - interesting topics,
some are familiar, others are perplexing.
Contemplating the ideas
Narrowing a topic
Reviewing the related literature identification of what
is known and what is not known about the research.
Allowing the establishment of theoretical framework
and planning of research methodology.
Writing the statement of the research problem.
“What are the burn-out experiences of elementary
teachers?”
 QUALITATIVE VARIABLE
The labeling of concepts without alluding to any relationship with other
variables.
If a VARIABLE varies by QUALITY, ATTRIBUTES and
CHARACTERISTICS, it is called QUALITATIVE VARIABLE.VARIABLE

Scale of measurement for QUALITATIVE VARIABLE:

VARIABLE UNORDERED
OR NOMINAL
example: Gender (MALE or FEMALE)
Marital Status (SINGLE, MARRIED, DIVORCED,
WIDOWED)
Employment Status (UNEMPLOYED, EMPLOYED,
RETIRED)
NO CATEGORY IS GREATER OR SMALLER THAN ANY OF THE
CATEGORIES.
MALE OR FEMALE: labels for gender, they do not indicate any order of
priority but just labels.
 COMPLEX PHENOMENA BROKEN DOWN TO
MANAGEABLE PIECES FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING
PHENOMENON: SCHOOL BULLY
EXAMPLES OF VARIABLES: VIOLENCE AND COERCION, POWER
PLAY, BARKADA INFLUENCE

PHENOMENON: CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS

EXAMPLES OF VARIABLES: TYPES OF VIOLENCE, DANGERS AND
THREATS OF CRIME IN THE CITY, REASONS OF
CRIMINALITY

PHENOMENON: POOR PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN COLLEGE

EXAMS
EXAMPLES OF VARIABLES: FAMILY PROBLEMS AND PRIORITY,
ADDICTION TO GADGETS, LEARNING HABITS AND
ASPIRATIONS.
GIVE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH A GOOD,
CREATIVE TITLE
The TITLE is a very concise statement of what the reader
will find in the paper, identifying the MAJOR
VARIABLES of the study.

“School Coercers Strikes Again - How

to Pull Away from A Bully”
Juan dela Cruz
Matayog National High School

unique form
written in caps and lower cases (CLC)
inverted pyramid structure
GIVE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH A GOOD,
CREATIVE TITLE
Image Strategy of the School or
Reputation Repair Quotient
does not sufficiently describe a research
broad field of inquiry

Image Restoration Strategies of The

School in Building Its Reputation
more accurately describe and express the
thrust of the research
 PHRASES SUCH AS....
An investigation......
A study.....
An analysis......
An evaluation......

must avoided because the whole activity is

already understood as an inquiry therefore
just stating the obvious.
 Long Titles Waste of Time....
Case on the Implementation Phases of
the Campaign Against Pork Barrel to
Combat Corruption - Perspective of
Selected Barangay Residents in Metro
Manila
poor title

Perspectives on “Daang Matuwid” -

Straight to Crooked Path?
better
 Long Titles Waste of Time....

Anime and Phenomenon on Violence of

Young Filipino Males Playing Computer
Games in Internet Cafe's in the City
of Manila
poor title

Phenomenology on Aggressive Behaviour

of Computer Games
better
 PROBLEM
FORMULATION
BEGINNING: SELECTION OF GENERAL TOPIC

FULL MATURITY: BACKGROUND LITERATURE

ETHNOGRAPHIC,
HISTORICAL, LEGAL CHOICE OF METHODOLOGY
DOCUMENTS
 QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
inductive reasoning

problems are stated

problems are
before data collection
reformulated several
times after data
collection (flexible)

reformulation reflects an
emergent design, allows
to build findings from
data by analyzing and
presenting data
 Reasons for Conducting Qualitative Research
Rationale: TO EXPLORE and/or DESCRIBE, not EXPLAIN a
phenomenon.
The QUESTION must explain what you AIM TO EXPLORE and
DESCRIBE.
INQUIRY is not to PROVE any HYPOTHESIS.

EXAMPLE: interest in What are the views of parents on learning

exploring how the parents art for their children ages 3 and up to
pacify their shock in the catastrophe?
of young children (problem)
understand their
children's learning APPROACHES: ETHNOGRAPHY (immersing yourself
in one specific culture or group of people to
learning in arts conduct interview and observations)
environment after a PHENOMENOLOGY (exploring the participant's
shock from Yolanda subjective interpretations)
ACTION RESEARCH (researcher is part of what is
disaster that devastated being studied, such as teacher researching in her
Leyte. (general topic) own classroom)
 WHY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
For a better understanding of the phenomenon which mere
statistics (Quantitative approach) cannot provide.

Comprehensive approach through thickness and depth of

data.

For a broader perspective about the phenomenon coming

from a participants of the study in their insiders view of
their social world.

For far reaching approach into lives of people without

biases and prejudices and veering away from pre-
judgemental statements.
 Ideal methods for data gathering...
participant observation, direct observation,
interview and document review.
Some methods may work better with some
approaches

OBSERVATION
for PHENOMENOLOGY
(immersion)

IN DEPTH INTERVIEW
for ETHNOGRAPHIC
(focused)
 WRITING A QUALITATIVE PAPER

School Coercers Strike

title of the research

“School Coercers Strikes Again - How to Pull Away

From a Bully” name of researcher

Juan dela Cruz

Matayog National High School

school
 WRITING A QUALITATIVE PAPER

Abstract - first document

a brief paragraph
less than one page
long double spaced
summary of a research

Introduction - highlights some literature review

(found in other research journals)

References - appendices of tables or graphs

Scope and Limitations
Scope and Limitations
 Limitation and Delimitations
LIMITATIONS - ELEMENTS over which
researcher has no control.
DELIMITATIONS - ELEMENTS the researchers
can control.
example: setting respondents based on
demographic characteristics.
GENDER and AGE
Scope and Limitations of the
Study/Delimitations of the Study
marking or prescribing the limits or bounderies,
what is not part of the study.
SUBJECT: EDUCATION (a research on extra curricular activities of
high school students)
ARGUMENT:
ARGUMENT Create an school policy
on encouraging the students to joining
school organizations

BENEFITS:
BENEFITS Positive
contributions to improve
academic performance
BENEFITS:
BENEFITS Training ang
expertice beyond classroom
inacquired.
BENEFITS:
BENEFITS Producing more
active and useful students.

Significance of the study: ENHANCEMENT OF QUALITY EDUCATION and PROMOTION OF

MOTIVATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEARNING as one of the significant contributions of this research.
 The researcher focuses on how the society will benefit
from the study.
“The study in this area is essential......”
“The research is significant to.....”
(then go with your ideas to justify them)

point out how your study is going to help solve the existing
problems, the possible outcomes which depict a favorable
outcome.
The value or importance of the research is where the
significant contributions of the study are itemized, a
strong confirmation to justify the research.
 PHRASES EXPRESSING THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Researchers may find the findings useful as...
This study will encourage them to...
This will also serve as basis in the study of...
This study will contribute to...
This study will provide...
This study can help boost the....
Through this study, the students will become
aware of...
The results of this study will provide some
insights and information on how they...