PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 Lecture:

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Qualitative Research

Chapter 3: Identifying the Inquiry and Stating the Problem

Subject Matter of the Inquiry or Research

You begin your research work with a problem; that is, having a problem or topic to work on. A topic is researchable if the
knowledge and information about it are supported by the evidence that is observable, factual and logical.

Guidelines in Choosing a Research Topic

1. Interest in the subject matter
2. Availability of information
3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic
4.Limitations on the subject
5. Personal resources

Research Topics to be AVOIDED

1. Controversial topics- topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, which may tend to be biased or prejudicial.
2. Highly technical subjects- topics that require an advances study, technical knowledge, and vast experiences.
3. Hard-to-investigate subjects- a subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it.
4. Too broad subjects – topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving an in-depth analysis of the subject matter.
5. Too narrow subjects- subjects that are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or reading for
information about these is necessary.
6. Vague subjects- topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. Example: titles beginning
with indefinite adjectives such as, “several, many, some”; Several Comments on the RH Law, Some Remarkable Traits of a
Filipino

Developing the Research Title

– Identify the main ideas behind your research topic and how these are related to one another. Try to form a possible title
using these main ideas. For example, if your research topic is about vegetarians and the motivation behind their decision
to become so, your main ideas are vegetarians and their motivation.
– Completing the sentence “My study is about…” can also aid you in thinking of a research title as it asks you to capture the
essence of your research in one sentence. Examples of these are:
“My study is about how community leaders in Barangay Cinco, Quezon City
developed leadership skills.”

“My study is about how my school connects and garners supports from its
alumni.”

“My study is about how DTI employees perceive the Performance-Based

Incentive System.”
– Mention several features of your research such as its purpose, approach and methods.
– Creswell (2014) advised to create the research title as brief as possible and to avoid “unnecessary words”. For example,
avoid using “An Approach to …” or “A Study of …”
– You may develop a single title or a a two-part title. The following are examples of two-part titles:
“Reading Castaneda: A Prologue to the Social Sciences”
“Policing the Lying Patient: Surveillance and Self-Regulation in
Consultations with Adolescent Diabetics”
– The first part is a snappy phrase intended to catch attention while the second part describes the actual study. A
two-part title can also give readers an idea of the context, temporal scope, main theory, approach or
methodology of the research.
 Additional context: “Lessons from running an Enterprise: case Studies of Four
Filipino-Chinese Families”
 Temporal scope of the research: “A Comparison: Human Rights under the
Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino III Administrations”

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Qualitative Research

 Main approach used: “The Feminist Approach: Therapy of Battered

Wives”

Introduction of the Research

– Sets the stage for the entire study.
– It sets up a backdrop for the research topic
– Locates the study within the existing literature on the topic or field of study
– Presents its purpose and significance.
– Several key sections are usually included in the introduction chapter of a research paper. These are the
following:
 Background of the Study
 Purpose of the Study
 Research Questions
 Significance of the Study
 Scope and Delimitation

Background of the Study

– Sets the tone of the research
– Introduces the research topic, the history behind it and current understanding about it
– Offers the brief description of other research done on the topic, what other authors say about it and what was
discovered about it
– Highlight that in spite of these existing research, there is still an aspect about the issue that has not been
investigated. You may cite and present some reasons why this particular research topic should be looked into.
– Even though, the background of the study is only a few pages long, it is crucial part of the paper as it is where
you explain why this particular research is worth pursuing.
– Creswell (2014) proposes an approach to writing this section of the paper. He calls it the “deficiencies model: as
is tries to “build on gaps existing in the literature.” It parts include:
 The research topic
• According to Creswell (2014), the first sentence of the study has two purposes: (1) get the interests
of the readers and (2) state the research topic. He also suggested for the first sentence to have a
“narrative hook” to entice readers to keep on reading.
 Studies that have tackled the problem
• After stating the problem, discuss existing research about the topic. Summarize and introduce
some relevant studies and present their key ideas and findings in the background of the study.
Presenting these existing literatures in the beginning situates the proposed study in the broader
literature on the topic and shows how the research contributes to it.
 Deficiencies in the studies
– After presenting a summary of the existing literature about the research topic, it is crucial to identify
their “deficiencies”. These deficiencies could be areas overlooked by other researchers,
perspectives of underrepresented groups, methodological shortcomings and potential implications
of the studies.

Purpose of the Study

– Often at the latter part of the background of the study section.
– In some thesis and dissertations, the purpose of the study is presented in a separate section.

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– It is usually written as a statement which “establishes the intent of the entire research study”.
– Creswell (2014) emphasized that the statement has to be “clear, specific and informative” and has to capture
what the research intends to do.
Research Questions
– Serve as guide posts in research
– The research topic, general issue, challenge, knowledge gap or concern that is wish to address in the
investigation, as well as the purpose of the study, are concretized in the research questions.
– Focus on the research inquiry
– The basis for data gathering instruments and the queries that need to be address all throughout the research.

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Qualitative Research

Significance of the Study

– Requires the researcher to describe the implication of the research to several audiences to assert its
importance and potential benefits to be gained from reading and using the study
– There are several questions that may reflect on when writing this portion. These include the following:
 Who may possibly profit from your research?
 What crucial information can you bring?
 What knowledge might they be interested in that they could get from your research?
 What possible impact can your research have on the existing body of knowledge about the topic?
 What practical implications does your research have?
 Will your research bring forth recommendations to policy and decision-making?
 Will your research have impact on practice?

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

– Sets boundaries and parameters the problem inquiry and narrows down the scope of the inquiry.
– Scope – is the domain of your research what is in the domain, and what is not.
– Limitation – associated with qualitative study as related to validity and reliability.
– Delimitation – refers to boundaries of the research study, arising from the researchers decisions of what to
exclude.
– In this section, describe the parameters of the research. These pertain to the following:
 Topical focus of the study
 Research participants
 Research population traits: sex, race, socioeconomic status, profession, etc.
 Sample size of the research
 Research site
 Time frame of the research
 Methodological limitations

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Qualitative Research

5 Prepared By: Kassandra Kay K. De Roxas, MMT