Lesson 6: Qualitative Research Problem

Qualitative Research Problem

- Requiring you to adopt an empirical attitude toward your problem in a way that you
depend on your sensory experience, conduct experimentation, or perform scientific
method in arriving at the truth about something makes your problem, a researchable
problem.
Qualitative Research Problem
- Described as expansive, widespread, and developing, and it is focused more on processes
rather than on outcomes.
Sources of Quantitative Research Problem
1. Government agencies or any NGO
2. Your experience or interest in something
3. Previous research findings that you want to validate
4. Present political, social or economic issues in society
5. Review of related Literature
Beginning act in Research
1. Thinking of a research problem or a topic to research
2. Asking a set of specific questions or identifying sub-problems about your research
problem
Research Question (Sub questions)
- To specify the scope and the method in collecting and analysing data, give you the right
direction in your research.
- To give further definition or explanation of the research problem.
Guidelines in Formulating Quantitative Research Problem and Research Questions
1. Formulate a research problem that is researchable.
2. State your quantitative research problem clearly and concisely.
3. Focus on a general understanding of your research topic in research problem.
4. It should mirrors the importance of carrying out the research for finding answers to a
problem.
5. Let it state the variables and their relationships with one another.
6. Construct an introductory statement to present your research problem.
7. State it not in the form of yes-or-no questions, but in informative questions.
8. Express either in an interrogative or declarative manner.
Four Basic Elements of Experiments
1. Subjects or Objects
2. Subjects condition before the actual experiment
3. The treatment, intervention, or condition applied on the subject
4. The subject’s condition after the treatment

Types of Quantitative Research Questions

1. Descriptive Research Questions
- Ask questions on the kind, qualifications, and categories of the subjects or
participants.
2. Relation Questions
- Are questions about the nature and manner of connection between or among
variables.
3. Causal Questions
- Reasons behind the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable
are the focus of these types of research questions.

Approaches to Quantitative Research Questions

1. Deductive Approach
- Questions begin from hunches or predictions about the outcome of the research.
2. Inductive Approach
- Starts from smaller and simpler ideas to bigger or more complex ones.

Lesson 7: Hypotheses

Hypothesis
- A tentative explanation or an answer to a question about variables, their
relationships, and other facts involved in the research
- An inferential thinking that makes you guess something based on conclusions that
were logically drawn.
Purposes of Hypotheses
1. Guide you on which aspect of the research to focus on.
2. Provide opportunities to prove the relationship between variables.
3. Give the right direction of the research.
 4. Outline your thoughts in your manner of summarizing the results and of explaining the
conclusions.
5. Push for an empirical study to prove the existence of relationship of variables and the
effects of independent variable on dependent variable.
Categories of Hypotheses
1. Null Hypotheses (H0)
- States the absence of relationship between the independent and dependent
variables.
2. Alternative Hypotheses (H1)
- States the relationship between the independent and dependent variables and the
fact that the first affects the second one.
Types of Hypotheses
1. Theory-driven vs. Data-driven hypotheses

a. Theory-Driven
- Based on existing theory to explain the relationship of variables and the effects of
one variable on the other variables.
b. Data-Driven
- Based on findings of previous research studies.

2. Directional (one-tailed) vs. Non-directional (two-tailed) hypotheses

a. Directional
- State the relationship of two variables as well as of the nature or characteristics of
the relationship of these two variables.
b. Non-directional
- State the relationship of variables but not on the direction of the relationship.

3. Descriptive vs. Causal hypotheses

a. Descriptive
- A statement specifying the relationship between two variables due to the
influence of something.
- Non- experimental research
b. Causal
- A statement specifying the relationship between two variables due to cause-effect
relationships.
- True and Quasi Experimental Research such as correlational study.
Guidelines in Formulating Hypotheses
1. Express it in declarative sentence
2. Support it with ideas based on theories, known facts, previous studies, or your experience
and wisdom.
3. Establish a logical relationship between the hypotheses and the research problem.
4. Have it predict the nature of relationship between or among variables.
5. Ascertain the possibility of having some means of testing, analysing, and investigating
your hypotheses.
6. Avoid wordiness by using clear, exact or specific language in stating the hypotheses.