Mindanao Institute

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

Mayor B. Atega St., Brgy. 10, Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte

Second Semester
Fourth Quarter- Prelim
Grade 11 Learning Handouts in Practical Research 1

Name ___________________________________________ Section: ________

Lesson 8: Planning the Data Collection Strategy

Lesson 9: Writing the Research Methodology

Lesson Objectives:
a. choose appropriate qualitative research design;
b. describes sampling procedure and sampling
c. plans data collection, data gathering instrument, and analysis procedures; and
d. presents written research methodology.

Lesson Proper:
Lesson 8: Planning the Data Collection Strategy

To successfully conduct your qualitative research, it is important to plan your data gathering. A
qualitative researcher may use observation, interview, and documentary analysis to collect necessary data.

Observation
There are research questions that can be answered through observing the actions of the
participants. For example, you may observe the attitude of a group of students toward science experiment
during an actual experiment. As a researcher, you employ four different types of observation.

1. Participant observation. Participant observation involves an intensive interaction between the

researcher and the subjects or participants. This means that as a participant observer, the researcher joins
the group he or she is studying in their environment and participate in their activities. Participant
observation can be overt or covert. Overt participant observation, as the name suggest, is a type of
participant observation wherein the identity of the researcher is known to the group being studied. This
means that prior to joining or observing the group, the researcher is likely to inform the members of the
group about his or her goal in joining the group and the purpose, scope, and length of the research.
Covert participant observation, on the other hand, is a type of participant observation wherein the
participants are not aware of the identity of the researcher nor that they are being observed for research.
This method allows a researcher to gain access to groups that would not normally allow themselves to be
studied and to obtain a richer and more detailed observations.

2. Nonparticipant observation. In a nonparticipant observation, the researcher does not participate in the
activities if the group being observed. Instead, he or she is usually seated at the sidelines observing the
action of the group. This means that the researcher is not directly involved in the situation he or she is
observing.
3. Naturalistic observation. This method, which is commonly used by psychologists and other social
science researcher, requires that the researcher observes the subjects under study in their natural settings.
In this method, the researcher simply observes and records what is really happening as they occur
naturally. This is often used in situations where conducting laboratory research is unrealistic in terms of
costs or would affect the subjects’ behavior.

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4. Simulations. In this method, the researcher, simulates or recreates a situation, environment, or system
and observers the subjects under study in the simulated environment. He or she may ask the participants
to portray a role individually or by tem. However, simulation does not guarantee that the participants’
behavior in the simulated environment would be the same in the natural environment.

Interview
Observation is usually coupled with interview. Interview is done to validate the information you
have recorded in your observation. This is considered as one of the most important data collection
strategies in qualitative research. There are four types of interview: structured, semi-structured, informal,
and retrospective.

Structured and semi-structured interviews are verbal questionnaires. In structured interviews,

the researcher has a specific set of questions designed to elicit responses from the participants while in
semi-structured interviews, the researcher prepares open-ended questions in which the participants are
free write their responses.

Informal interview is done to determine how the participants act on certain situations. This is
casual conservation and conducted without specific sequence of questions or form of questioning.
Retrospective interview is done to recall and reconstruct something that happened in the past.

Types of Interview Questions

A crucial part of the interview process is the type of questions that you will ask. Patton (1990)
identified six types of question that can be asked during interviews (cited in the book of Fraenkel and
Wallen, 2010).
1. Background questions are routine questions about the background of the participants. These questions
include the education, age, previous work and the like.
2. Knowledge questions refer to participants’ factual information. For example, asking the participants’
about school information such as school rules or activities.
3. Experience questions are focused on what the participants is doing presently or in the past. For
example, “If I were attending your practices in the gym, what experiences would I be likely to see you
having?”
4. Opininon questions are asked to elicit how the participants think on certain topics or issues. This aims
to get the participant’s values, beliefs, and attitude. For example, “What do you think about the
implementation of K-12 curriculum?”
5. Feeling questions pertain to the emotional responses of the participants on their experience(s). For
example, “How do you feel when you solve a mathematics problem?”
6. Sensory questions focus on what the respondent has seen, tasted, heard, touched, or smelled. For
example, “When you enter the room, what did you hear”?

Activity 1.
Track: Academic: ½ crosswise
You want to know the perceptions of parents on teenage pregnancy. As a researcher. You are
tasked to interview the parents. Prepare 7-10 interview questions that are well written and grammatically
correct.

Reminders during the Interview

Fraenkel and Wallen 92010) listed a set of expectations during interviews. Some of them are:
 Respect the culture of the group being studied.
 Respect the individual being interviewed. Interview should start and end at the scheduled time.
The respondents agreed to be interviewed spend their time with you so make the interview
another learning experience both for the interviewer and the interviewee.
 Act naturally.
 Develop rapport with the participant.

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  Ask the same question in different ways. This is to ensure the understanding of the interviewee on
what has been said.
 Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer when there is some doubt.
 Vary who controls the flow of communication.
 Avoid leading questions like “You really want that?” instead ask, “What did you really want to
do?”
 Do not ask dichotomous questions or questions which are answerable by yes or no like “Did you
really aim to be a valedictorian?”
 Ask questions only one at a time.
 Do not interrupt when the interviewee is talking.

Focus Group Discussion

Aside from one-on-one interviews, you can also interview a small group of people to elicit data
on a certain topic. This technique is called focus group discussion.
In a focus group discussion, you ask a small group of people what they think about certain topic
or issue. They are seated together and can hear what the others have to say on the issue. This kind of
interview can provide multiple perspectives at a time.

Documentary Analysis
The last technique that you can use to collect data in a qualitative research is documentary or
content analysis. Fraenkel and Wallen (2010) defined content analysis as a technique to study human
behavior indirectly by analyzing documents. These documents may include books, journals, magazines,
art works, pictures, and others. Through these, you can analyze the people’s beliefs, attitude, ideas, and
values. In content analysis, you need to code or categorize what you have gathered from the available
documents. This will help you obtain common themes or constructs for analysis.

Planning the Actual Gathering Data

Planning the actual data gathering ensures a more efficient and organized collection of data. This
involves preparing a schedule of activities. For this purpose, a Grantt chart may be used. A Grantt chart is
a plan of activities in the duration of your research. Below is an example of a Grantt chart.

Activities Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4

Develop of instruments
Data gathering through
observation
Data gathering through
interview
Documentary analysis

Lesson 9: Writing the Research Methodology

The research methodology discusses the steps and procedures that you will use in conducting
your research. This includes explaining the type of research technique you will adopt in the study, how
you will get the data to for study, whom or where you will get the data from, and how you will analyze
the data that you will gather.

The following are the components of the section on research methods:

1. Research Design. This section describes the specific research approach you will use in the study. This
can be ethnography, case study, historical, phenomenological, and the like. The research design is
dependent on the purpose of the study and the set of specific research questions you have formulated.
2. Research Locale. This section describes the setting or location of your study. The specific description
of the setting is very important in a qualitative research since the setting or context may have an affect or
impact on the behavior of the respondents.

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3. Sample or the Respondents. This section describes the respondents of the study. The description may
include the demographic profile of the respondents such as age, educational background, occupation, and
other information that may be relevant in understanding the (behavior of the) respondents.
4. Research Instruments. This section outlines the instruments you will use in the study such as
interview questions, interview protocols, observation guide, survey form, focus group discussion
questions, and others.
5. Data Collection Procedure. This section describes the specific steps you will undergo in order to
collect the data for your study. In some types of research, particularly ethnographic and case studies, the
specific date (and sometimes, exact time) of doing the steps (i.e., observing the participants) are
important. The instruments used to record data (e.g., pen and paper, audio and/or video recorder) may
also be mentioned.
6. Data Analysis Procedure. This section describes how will analyze the data you will gather.

These three chapters comprise your research proposal. Let’s recall each chapter.
Chapter 1 – The Problem and Its Setting. This chapter presents the problem of your study. You
can also find here the significance, scope and delimitation, and some terms that need to be defined in your
study.
Chapter 2 – Review of Related Literature. This chapter discusses the literature and studies
related to your present study which forms the theoretical and conceptual basis of your research.
Chapter 3 – Methods. This chapter presents the qualitative research approach that you will use,
including the sample and the strategy for collecting and analyzing data.

After writing the research proposal, you are now ready to present this to your research adviser.
Oral Presentation of the Proposal
After you have written your research proposal, the next phase of your work is to present orally
your research proposal to a panel of experts. The panel is usually composed of three to five members who
are experts in the discipline.

The following guidelines are recommended before and during the research proposal.
1. Always consult with your research adviser. Your adviser will not only help you improve the content of
your research proposal; he or she may also give you suggestions on how to defend your paper.
2. Study your proposal carefully. Expect questions that may be asked by the panel about your paper and
prepare to answer each.
3. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your proposal in bullet form. Focus the content of your
presentation on the research problem and the methods you will use to answer the specific research
questions.
4. Usually, the allotted time for the presentation of the proposal is 10 to 15 minutes to give more time for
questions. Thus, summarize your proposal in a few slides.
5. During the question and answer, refrain from arguing with the panel of experts. Consider their
comments and feedbacks as suggestions to improve your study.
6. Record the suggestions of the panel. This will help you in revising/finalizing your proposal. You can
ask someone to write down the suggestions of the panel for you.
7. Be confident. The defense is not meant to “grill” you but to help you improve and finalize the direction
of your research study.
8. Follow the dress code. The proposal defense is often a formal activity; thus, schools set certain dress
codes during such occasion. Be sure you know this before the schedule of your defense.