Prayer

Which can bring me closer to you

Heavenly Father,
And happily serve my neighbors.
help me to bring into completion
In a special way,
what I have begun in my studies
bless those persons
Send me your Holy Spirit
who are responsible
as I read my books,
for my education:
prepare my reports,
my parents, my sponsors,
compose my essays
and my teachers.
and answer my exams
May they never grow tired
so that I may gain the gifts of
in helping me prepare
diligence and perseverance
for a better future
When all things are said and done
In Jesus name.
May I increase in the wisdom
Amen.
 GROUP PRESENTATION

Guide Questions
• What makes your topic a qualitative research?
• How will you make this topic possible?
Designing a research project related to daily life

Sources of research topics are likewise tied to real

life experiences, and research is conducted in the
research participant’s natural setting.
Include the following:
• the goals of your study
• the theoretical frameworks, the research
questions (your goals), ethics and the methods
you will use to analyse your data.
 WRITING A RESEARCH TITLE

A RESEARCH TITLE or RESEARCH PROJECT, is a product of

real world observations, dilemmas, wide reading,
selective viewing (television programs, films,
documentaries, videos, etc.) meaningful interactions with
significant others, and deep reflection.

It must be original, clear, concise or specific.

 BROAD AND SPECIFIC TOPICS

Too broad will lead you nowhere.

Examples of broad topics:

1. Lack of Self-Confidence
2. Smoking Hazard
3. Marketable Popular Garment Brand
4. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
 BROAD AND SPECIFIC TOPICS

Examples of specific topics:

1. Lack of Self-confidence in Adolescents: Root Causes,
Manifestations and Intervention
2. Health Hazards of Direct and Indirect Smoking:
Prevention and Cure
3. Marketability of a Popular Garment Brand: A Case
Study
4. HIV: Causes, Prevention, Treatment and Care
EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH TITLES OF ACTUAL STUDIES

1. Experiences of Reaction and Coping of Filipino Fathers and Mothers:

During and After a Natural Disaster
2. The Lived Experiences of Trauma and Post-traumatic Growth of Women
with History of Social Abuse.
3. Employee Commitment to Environmental Stewardship as a Component
of Corporate Social Responsibility.
4. The Meaning Behind the Journey Towards Acceptance: An
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Accounts of Parents of
Transgender Women.
5. I Am Your Father: A Qualitative Study on the Perspective of a Father
with a Homosexual Son
Lesson 4 Stating Research Questions

Research Questions
• It gives focus to the research
• Guides the decision made by the researcher

If not clearly formulated

• No Direction
• The researcher will find himself/herself with
too much data, and yet, not knowing what
to do with them.
Lesson 4 Stating Research Questions

If not clearly formulated

• No Direction
• The researcher will find himself/herself with
too much data, and yet, not knowing what
to do with them.
Typical Research Question
Neuman (2007) advances the following as typical research questions for qualitative
researcher:
1. How did the social situation originate?
2. How was the condition/situation maintained over time?
3. What are the processes by which a condition/situation changes, develops or operates?
Typical Research Question
Neuman (2007) advances the following as typical research questions for qualitative
researcher:
1. How did the social situation originate?
2. How was the condition/situation maintained over time?
3. What are the processes by which a condition/situation changes, develops or operates?
 TECHNIQUES FOR NARROWING A
TOPIC INTO A RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. EXAMINE THE LITERATURE
a) Replicate a previous research project exactly or with slight
variations.
b) Explore unexpected findings discovered in previous
research.
c) Follow suggestions an author gives for future research at the
end of an article.
d) Extend an existing explanation or theory to a new topic or
setting.
e) Challenge findings or attempt to refute a relationship
f) Specify the intervening process and consider linking
relations.
 TECHNIQUES FOR NARROWING A
TOPIC INTO A RESEARCH QUESTIONS
2. TALK OVER IDEAS WITH OTHERS
a) Ask people who are knowledgeable about the topic
b) Seek out those who hold opinions that differ from yours.
3. APPLY TO A SPECIFIC CONTEXT
a) Focus the topic on a specific historical period or time period
b) Narrow the topic to a specific society or geographic unit.
c) Consider which subgroups or categories of people/units are involved
and whether there are differences among them.
4. DEFINE THE AIM OR DESIRED OUTCOME OF THE STUDY
a) Will the research question be an exploratory, explanatory, or
descriptive study?
b) Will the study involve applied or basic research?
 Examples of Research Questions

1. On Lack of Self-confidence in Adolescents

a) What are the root causes of lack of self-confidence in adolescents?
b) What kind of behavior do adolescents who lack self-confidence
manifest?
c) What can the following groups of people do to boost up the self-
confidence of adolescents?
• The parents
• The Siblings
• The Church
• The Teacher
• The Guidance Counselors
• The Peers
 Examples of Research Questions

2. On Smoking Hazards

a) What dangers to one’s health can smoking bring about?

b) How is a non-smoker’s health affected when in the presence of people
smoking?
c) What medical interventions can address the problem of smoking?
d) What psychological interventions can address the problem of smoking?
Concrete Research Questions Congruent with Data Collections Procedures and Data

1. Understanding and Perception

Ex. Perception on the impact of low grades on a student’s self-esteem.
Methods of Data Collection:
• personal blogs or compositions and interviews
• Analytic methods are discourse analysis, conversation analysis
among others
Concrete Research Questions Congruent with Data Collections Procedures and Data

2. Practices/Accounts of Practice:
Ex. The nuptial or wedding practices of selected ethnic groups/
Methods of Data Collection:
• qualitative surveys, interviews, observations; secondary sources
like videos, pictures, newspapers, magazines
• Analytic methods can be ascertaining patterns, themes,
conversation analysis
Concrete Research Questions Congruent with Data Collections Procedures and Data

3. Influencing Factors
Ex. Factors that influence some women’s desire to be and to stay slim
Methods of Data Collection:
• interviews, directed diaries, focus group discussions, print and
broadcast media, social networks
• Analytic methods can be conversation analysis, narrative
analysis, observations.
Concrete Research Questions Congruent with Data Collections Procedures and Data

4. Construction
Ex. Accounts of parents of children with addiction problems, accounts
of single parents or of parents of special children
Methods of Data Collection:
• narrative or story completion tasks, interviews, focus group
discussions; print media, videos and directed diaries
• Analytic methods can be conversation analysis, disclosure
analysis, video analysis and analysis of news and future articles.
Concrete Research Questions Congruent with Data Collections Procedures and Data

5. Language Practice
Ex. How people construct, manage and undermine use of language in
text messages (SMS), Facebook, and the like.
Methods of Data Collection:
• Analytic methods can be disclosure analysis, interviews, analysis
of posts on social networks.
The Research Question in the Process
• Formulation of the overall question

• Formulation of specific research question

• Formulation of sensitizing concepts

• Selection of research groups with which to study the question

• Selection of appropriate designs and methods

• Evaluation and reformulation of the specific research questions

• Collection of data

• Evaluation and reformulation of the specific research questions

• Analysing the data

• Generalization and evaluation of the analyses

• Formulation of the findings