LESSON 2 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM DEFINITIONS OF RESEARCH

LESSON 2: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

DEFINITIONS OF RESEARCH PROBLEM A problem is (1) any significant, perplexing and challenging situation, real or artificial, the solution of which requires reflective thinking; (2) a perplexing situation after it has been translated into a question or series of questions that help determine the direction of subsequent inquiry. - Dewey

ELEMENTS OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM There are certain elements that a problem must possess before it becomes a research problem ready for investigation. The elements are as follows: Aim or purpose of the problem for investigation. This answers the question “Why? ” Why is there an investigation, inquiry or study? The subject matter or topic to be investigated. This answers the question “What? ” What is to be investigated or studied?

ELEMENTS OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM The place or locale where the research is to be conducted. This answers the question “Where? ” Where is the study to be conducted? The period of time of the study during which the data are to be gathered. This answers the question “When? ” When is the study to be carried out? Population or universe from whom the data are. This answers the question “Who? ” or “For whom? ” Who are the respondents? From whom are the data to be gathered?

ELEMENTS OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM Problem: To determine the status of teaching science in the high schools of Makati City during the school year 2010 -2011 Aim or purpose: To determine the status of Subject matter or topic: the teaching science Place or locale: in the high schools of Makati City Period or time: during the school year 2010 -2011 Population: The respondents are implied to be either the teachers or the pupils or both In formulating the title of a research inquiry, the aim is usually omitted and sometimes the population is not also included. In the above example the title is “The Teaching of Science in the High schools of Makati City During the School Year 20102011”

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC Among the guidelines or criteria are the following which may also be considered as characteristics of research problems: The research problem or topic must be chosen by the researcher himself. This is to avoid blaming others or offering excuses for any obstacle encountered. It must be within the interest of the researcher. This is to make sure that the researcher will focus his full attention on the research work.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It must be within the specialization of the researcher. This will in some way make the work easier for him because he is working on familiar grounds. Besides, this may improve his specialization, skill, and competence in his profession. It must be within the competence of the researcher to tackle. The researcher must know the method of research and other research procedures applicable to his problem and he must know how to apply them. He must have a workable understanding of his study.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It must be within the ability of the researcher to finance, otherwise he must be able to find funding for his research. Research involves not a small amount of expense and the researcher must be able to foot the bills until his study is completed. There must be a budget which he must be able to shoulder. It can be completed within a reasonable period of time unless it is a longitudinal research which takes a long time for its completion. Although research is unhurried, there must be a timetable for its completion.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It is researchable and manageable. Data are available and accessible. The researcher must be sure that the participants in his investigation possesses the needed data and that they are within his reach. So, one must not choose a problem in which the locations of the data are too far away, say foreign lands. � The data must meet the standards of accuracy, objectivity, and verifiability. The data gathered must be accurate, objective and not biased, and can be verified if there arises a need, otherwise, the results of the study will not be valid and the generalizations formulated will be faulty. �

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It is researchable and manageable. � The hypotheses formulated are testable, that is they can be accepted or rejected. Hypotheses are not proved, they are only determined as true or not. If the findings from the data do not conform to the hypotheses, the latter are rejected. If the findings conform to the hypotheses, the latter are accepted as true and valid. � Equipment and instruments for research are available and can give valid and reliable results. The construction and validation of research instruments should also be done.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It is researchable and manageable. � Answers to the specific questions (subproblems) can be found. The data to be collected must supply the necessary answers to the specific questions. Suppose the question is “How qualified are the teachers in handling science? ” The data to be gathered are the educational attainments and the fields of specialization of the teachers to be checked against the regulations of the school system.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It is significant, important, and relevant to the present time and situation, timely, and of current interest. This means that the research project must be able to make a substantial impact upon situations and people it is intended for or addressed to. It must be able to arouse the interest of the people concerned. If the study is about drug abuse, it must be able to draw attention of those engaged in the habit and those assigned to stop it. The results are practical and implementable. If the investigation is about drug addiction, are the recommendations for its eradication applicable with the expected effectiveness?

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It requires original, critical and reflective thinking to solve it. To be able to apply these, the research project must be novel, new or original. The study is considered novel and new if it has not yet been studied before and the data are gathered from new and original sources. However, the study may be a replication, that is, the study has already been conducted in another place, not in the place where it is intended to be studied again. The purpose of study replications is to determine if conditions in one place are also true in other places so that generalizations of wider application can be formulated.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It can be delimited to suit the resources of the researcher but big or large enough to be able to give significant, valid and reliable results and generalizations. The area and population may be reduced to such an extent that the generalizations can be considered true and useful. It must contribute to national development goals for the improvement of the quality of human life. This is the ultimate aim of research, to improve the quality of human life. Research must improve or show to improve unsatisfactory conditions.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It must contribute to the fund of human knowledge. All the facts and knowledge that we have are mostly the products of research. Any study to be conducted must add a new bit of knowledge to what we already have. It must show or pave the way for the solution of the problem or problems intended to be solved. Usually, after an inquiry has been conducted, recommendations are made for the solution of problems discovered which, if implement, can solve the problems.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC It must not undermine the moral and spiritual values of the people. It must not advocate the promotion of antisocial values such as drug addiction, cruelty, hatred, divisiveness, multiple sex mating etc. As much as possible it must advocate the promotion of divine values and those admirable human values such as love, peace, goodwill, etc. It must not advocate any change in the present order of things by means of violence but by peaceful means. It must not advocate subversion, revolution, or the like to wrest control of the government or change the form of government. If there is a needed change, it must be made by any means but the means must be peaceful and legitimate.

GUIDELINES IN THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM OR TOPIC There must be a return of some kind to the researcher. � Monetary. � Advancement of position, promotion. � Improved specialization, competence and skill in professional work specially if the research subject is related to profession. � Enhance prestige and reputation � Satisfaction of intellectual curiosity and interest, and being bale to discover truth. There must be a consideration of the hazards involved, either physical, social or legal.

THE TITLE The thesis writer should be guided by the following in the formulation of his title. These are also the characteristics of the title. Generally, the title is formulated before the start of the research work. It may be revised and refined later if there is a need. The title must contain the subject matter of the study, the locale, population and the period when the data were gathered or will be gathered. It must be broad enough to include all aspects of the subject matter studied or to be studied. Hence, the title indicates what is expected to be found inside thesis report.

THE TITLE It must be as brief and concise as possible. Avoid using the terms “An Analysis of, ” “A Study of, ” “An Investigation of, ” and the like. All these things are understood to have been done or to be done when a research is conducted. If the title contains more than one line it must be written like an inverted pyramid, all words in capital letters. THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF MAKATI CITY AS PERCIEVED BY THE SCIENCE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR 2010 -2011 THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF MAKATI CITY

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Guidelines in formulating the general problem and the specific subproblems or specific questions. The general statement of the problem and the specific subproblems or questions should be formulated first before conducting the research. It is customary to state specific subproblems in the interrogative form. Hence, subproblems are called specific questions. Each specific question must be clear and unequivocal, that is, it has only one meaning. It must not have dual meanings. Each specific question must be based upon known facts and phenomena. Besides, data from such known facts and phenomena must be accessible to make the specific question researchable.

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Answers to each specific question can be interpreted apart from the answers to other specific questions. Answers to each specific questions must contribute to the development of the whole research problem or topic. Summing up the answers to all the specific questions will give a complete development of the entire study. The number of specific questions should be enough to cover the development of the whole research problem or study. Before writing down the specific questions, determine first the different aspects of the research problem to be studied and then for each aspect make one specific question with subquestions if there is a need.

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Generally, there should be a general statement of the problem and then this should be broken up into as many subproblems or specific questions as necessary. � The study was conducted to investigate all aspects of the teaching of science in the high schools of Makati City during the school year 2010 -2011 as perceived by the science teachers and students. Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following questions: � How qualified are the teachers handling science in the high schools of Makati City? � How effective are the methods and strategies used by the teachers in teaching science? � How adequate are the instructional as well as the non-instructional facilities for the teaching of science?

THE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM � How adequate are the forms of supervisory assistance extended to the teachers relative to the teaching of science? � Is there any significant difference between the perceptions of the teachers relative to the teaching of science? � What problems are being encountered by the teachers of science? � What suggestions are offered by the teachers and students to improve the teaching of science? � What are the implications of the findings to the teaching of science?

ASSUMPTIONS An assumption is a self-evident truth which is based upon a known fact or phenomena. Oftentimes, especially in descriptive and historical researches, assumptions are not explicitly expressed but left implicit, that is, they are unwritten. Generally, every specific questions is implicitly based upon an assumption. If there is no assumption, expressed or implicit, there can be no specific question.

ASSUMPTIONS Specific question: How qualified are the teachers handing science? Implicit assumption: There are certain qualifications that one should possess before he can teach science. Specific question: How adequate are the facilities that a school should acquire before it can offer science as a subject? Implicit assumption: There are certain required facilities that a school should acquire before it can offer science as a subject. Specific question: How effective are the methods used in the teaching of science? Implicit assumption: There are certain methods that are effective in the teaching of science.

ASSUMPTIONS You cannot assume the value of your study. Such an argument should have been made under the section, significance of the study. You cannot assume the reliability of the instruments you propose to use in your research. Such a rationale and defense should be made under methodology. You cannot assume the validity of the basic data. Validity is established under methodology. You cannot assume that your population is typical. This point is to be made under methodology. An assumption is not tested, neither is it defended nor argued.

HYPOTHESES A hypothesis is a tentative conclusion or answer to a specific question raised at the beginning of the investigation. It is an educated guess about the answer to a specific question. There are two forms of hypotheses. Operational form is stated in the affirmative Null form is stated in the negative. The operational form states that there is a difference between two phenomena while the null form states that there is no difference between the two phenomena. In other words the null form expresses equality between two phenomena. This is more commonly used.

HYPOTHESES Guidelines in the formulation of explicit hypotheses: In experimental investigations, hypotheses have to be explicit, they have to be expressed. They have to be expressed also in comparative and correlational studies. In descriptive and historical investigations, hypotheses are seldom expressed if not entirely absent. The subproblems or specific questions raised before the start of the investigation and stated under the statement of the problem serve as the hypotheses. The specific questions serve as the hypotheses. Whit this fact, its is logical to presume that all studies in research have hypotheses and for that matter all theses and dissertations have their own respective hypotheses. Consequently, no research is conducted without any hypotheses at all.

HYPOTHESES Guidelines in the formulation of explicit hypotheses: Hypotheses are usually stated in the null form because testing a null hypothesis is easier than a hypothesis in the operational form. Testing a hypothesis simply means gathering data to answer it. Hypotheses are formulated from the specific questions upon which they are based. Question: Is there any significant difference between the perceptions of teachers and those of the students concerning the different aspects in the teaching of science? Operational Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the perceptions of the teachers and those of the students concerning the different aspects in the teaching of science. Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the perceptions of the teachers and those of the students concerning the different aspects in the teaching of science.

HYPOTHESES Question: Is there a significant difference between the effectiveness of the inductive method and that of the deductive method in the teaching of science? Operational Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the effectiveness of the inductive method and that of the deductive method in the teaching of science Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the effectiveness of the inductive method and that of the deductive method in the teaching of science

HYPOTHESES Purposes, functions and importance of hypotheses or specific questions: They help the researcher in designing his study: what methods, research instruments, sampling design, and statistical treatments to use, what data to gather, etc. They serve as bases for determining assumptions They serve as bases for determining the relevance of data. They serve as bases for the explanation or discussion about the data gathered. They help or guide the research in consolidating his findings and in formulating his conclusions. Generally, findings and conclusions are answers to the hypotheses or specific questions raised at the start of the investigation.

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