THE EXPERIENCES OF SENIOR HIGH GRADUATES IN RESEARCH

WRITING: A QUEST FOR ‘PERFECTION’ AND THE ‘CRITICAL’

A Research Paper

Presented to

The Faculty of the Senior High School

MANGATAREM NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Pogonlomboy, Mangatarem, Pangasinan

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject in

RESEARCH 1

SY 2018-2019

Patricia Barbara A. Fernandez Jessica C. Munar

Bea Normita Caldona John Michael Panuelos

Charles Bryan Fontanilla Marie Claudine Ambrae M. Baylon

Estela Ashley C. Fernandez Neil Raymond P. Bueno

Eunice Faith Bueno Jaeron J. Tamayo

March 2019
 CHAPTER 1

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Research is considered as one of the high-impact educational practices in which

the vital skills and attitude for lifelong learners can be cultivated through inquiry (Kuh,

2008). This activity can be a transforming experience in shaping lives as it introduces

students to the joy of discovery and makes the process of learning an active rather than a

passive one (Erickson, 2001). Being a social activity, students need to gain a full

understanding of this genre of writing as a social practice and be able to engage in and

appropriate it for the achievement of their goals in their community (Tardy, 2009).

Doing a research study is no easy feat. There are a lot of research challenges a

student will have to face—from choosing a topic, finding study participants, to staying

sane throughout the process, and every step in between (Getsch, 2010). Thus, in order to

produce a cogent, logical and reflective piece of work, students must first deal with the

critical aspects that surround the research making process (Hardy&Ramjeet, 2005).

Background of the Study

According to government figures from the Philippine Development Plan on

Education (2017), the number of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines is

ten times more than its neighboring countries. However, the Philippines’ lackluster

performance in producing innovators, researchers (81 researchers per million population

versus 205 in Indonesia and 115 in Vietnam), and knowledge producers (28 out of 777
journals or 3.6 percent are listed under Thomson Reuters, Scopus, or both) indicates that

the country has lagged behind many of its ASEAN neighbors in producing researchers,

innovators, and solution providers needed to effectively function in the country’s

economy. In response to this situation, the President signed the Balik Scientist Program

into law under Republic Act 110351 which mandates the Department of Science of

Technology (DOST) to invite Filipino scientists to fill in the gaps in scientific and

technological expertise in the country through grant-in-aid (GIA) research.

TheDepartment of Education (DepEd) responded to the same issue through theintegration

of research subjects in the K to 12 curriculum, namely Practical Research 1 and 2.

Since the incorporation of these subjects in the program, Senior High School

students are required to pass a research output as stated in the curriculum guide of

Practical Research 1, under the learning competencies. In doing so, students encounter

many difficulties (Dy, 2008) in writing using the English language (Strauss, 2012);

writing introductions (Stapa, Maazum, & Aziz, 2014); framing research questions;

conducting the literature review; data collection; data analysis; and oral defense (Demb &

Funk, 1999).

Success in writing highly depends on the ability in academic writing. The students

need to have a good ability in academic writing to produce a research article which

reflects logical thinking and scientific arguments (Glew, Challa, & Gopalan, 2014). In

academic writing, the students have to be able to integrate, synthesize, and extend ideas

which require higher-level construction skills (Lavelle & Bushrow, 2007). Particularly, in

writing research articles, they need to develop each move of writing well to present ideas,

arguments, and the research results clearly (Noortyani, 2016).

 The pressure of having to create an exceptional research output pose anxiety,

stress, and massive effects on the academic emotions of the students (Pekrun et al., 2013).

Thus,support from teachers, parents, and peers are essential for the emotional well-being

of the students conducting research (Kaakinen et al., 2017).

The researchers have always been fascinated with how research studies contribute

to the expanding world of knowledge and how they are able to give solutions to problems

in the community and in a much larger scale, the world. In this study however, it is the

researchers’ primary goal to switch the viewpoints by understanding how students and

their abilities and weaknesses affect the creation of their research works (Glew, Challa,

&Gopalan, 2014) for little is known about what inspires students to be involved in their

research process and stay persistent when facing challenges (Vekkaila, Pyhalto, & Lanka,

2013) especially now that most of the students express their repugnance towards

research.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study will be to investigate the students’ experiences in

creating their research studies.

Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the students’ background in research in Junior High School?

2. What are the students’ experiences in making their research studies?
3. What are the students' difficulties and challenges in conducting their research

studies?
4. How do they deal with the difficulties and challenges in conducting their research

studies?
5. How does the creation of research outputs affect the students’:
a. Mental health
 b. Physical health
c. Personal time for leisure and entertainment
d. Family and social relationship
e. Academic performance in other subjects
6. How do the factors below affect the students’research study?
a. Financial Needs
b. Strand/Track
c. Leader – Member Relationship
d. Writing ability
e. Proximity of houses
7. What are the students' motivation in making and completing their research outputs?

Significance of the Study

This study will benefit the students, teachers, parents, and the teaching profession

by giving them knowledge about the students' experiences in writingresearch studies.

To the Students, who are the center of this investigation, will provide vast

information about their experiences with making research outputs; how they manage to

deal with the pressure they are experiencing while conducting it; and acknowledge the

circumstances around them. Through these evidences, the students will be able to

recognize and confront the challenges in doing research in an efficient and productive

method. They will have a clear and meaningful understanding about every situation they

would encounter during the investigation. It will help the students to believe that the tasks

in research are possible with consistent hard work and determination. This study will also

give assistance to the students who soon will be engaging in doing research studies for

them to be knowledgeable about the possible obstacles they may encounter.

To the Teachers, whom this data will be given to, this study will allow them to

further understand what their students are experiencing in conducting research studies.

With this, they would be able to create, conceptualize, and improve their teaching and

guiding techniques according to the experiences and needs of their students, which may
also help them in the future in handling new sets of students who will also embark in

doing research.

To the Parents, who are the students’ first supporters in all aspects, the results of

this investigation will make them have a better way of conducting good parenting as they

would be able to understand the hardships and struggles of their children in doing the

activity. This will also allow them to recognize their roles in their children’s school

activities and participate as a member in their child’s familial support group.

To the Teaching Profession, this will aid policy makers to understand the entire

process of research in the viewpoint of the students. With this, they would be able to

formulate alterations and improvements in the curriculum that would help the students

prepare as a prelude to the research making process proper. This should also allow them

to create strategic plans in the curriculum and provide appealing incentives to young

researchers; to reduce their aversion towards the research subject; and to improve the

current state of research in the Philippines which currently is a problem that the country

recognizes and starts to give solution to.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This investigation will be conducted to determine the students’ experience in

writing research studies in Mangatarem National High School. The aspects that the

researchers will be looking into will be the students’ experiences in writing research

studies; the difficulties and challenges that the students have encountered during the

writing process; the ways they responded to the difficulties and challenges; and their

motivation for finishing the study.

 The participants of the study will be Senior High School graduates who finished

their secondary education in 2018 and were enrolled in the Academic track. in Grades 11

and 12.

This study will be conducted from June 2018 to March 2019.

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