Mindanao Institute

United Church of Christ in the Philippines

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

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

Name ___________________________________________ Section: ________

Lesson 10: Data Collection Strategies

Lesson 11: Interpreting Data
Lesson 12: Writing the Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Lesson 13: Writing the Research Report: From Introduction to References

Lesson Objectives:
a. collect data through observation and interviews;
b. infer and explain patterns and themes from data;
c. relate the findings with pertinent literature;
d. draw conclusions from patterns and themes;
e. formulate recommendations based on conclusions; and
f. list references

Lesson Proper:
Lesson 10: Data Collection Strategies
After completing your research proposal, you are now ready to collect data for your study. As
you have learned in the previous unit, the common methods of gathering or collecting data for a
qualitative research are observation, interviews, and focus group discussions.

Observation
Some research questions can be best answered by seeing for yourself what is happening or how
things look. For example, if you want to find out how students behave in a particular subject, it would be
best to go to their classroom and observe them in the actual lecture to get more reliable data.
Observation is a qualitative data collection technique in which a researcher observes the
participants. The technique has four types, namely, participant observation, nonparticipant observation,
naturalistic observation, and simulation.
In a participant observation, the researcher assumes two roles-observer and participant. The
researcher participates as much as possible in the daily life of the subjects while also carefully observing
everything he or she can about it. This gives the researcher the opportunity researcher does not participate
in the activities being observed but rather, he or she “sits on the sidelines” and watches the subjects. The
naturalistic observation technique involves study thing that cannot be manipulated in a laboratory due to
ethical constraints. Simulations allow the researcher to observe what is happening in certain kinds of
situations, including those that occur infrequently, by creating the desired situation.
Observation entails the systematic noting and recording of events, behaviors, and artifacts
(objects) in the social setting chosen for study. This helps ensure accurate, complete, and honest
description. The observational record is frequently referred to as field notes. Field notes are simple,
detailed notes of the researcher while conducting observations in the field. This is the written account of
what the researcher has seen, experienced, felt, or thought during the actual observation.
Field notes can be reflective or descriptive. Descriptive field notes describe the actual setting of
the study (which may include the appearance of the people, their mannerisms, and gestures during an
event being observed) and the accounts of actual events (what happened, where and when it happened,

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who are involved). On the other hand, reflective field notes refer to the researcher’s thoughts on what he
or she has observed during the observation period. The reflective field notes detail the researcher’s
reflections on his observations.

Interview
Another common method of data collection in a qualitative research is the use of interview. By
definition, an interview is a conversation between two or more people where the interviewer asks
questions to gather specific information from the interviewee. While you may think that interviewing is a
standard part of journalism and media reporting as you can see on news reports, interviewing is also one
of the most convenient and primary methods of gathering data in a qualitative research.
In the previous unit, you learned the different types of interview that you can use in gathering
data fir a qualitative research: structured, semi-structured, informal, and retrospective.

Structured Interview
In a structured interview, the researcher prepares a specific set of questions and reads the
questions exactly to individuals to establish an understanding of their ideas on a topic. This would be
appropriate to use when interviews require that the participant should give a response to each ordered
question, which are shorter in nature. The questions in a structured interview are like those in a job
interview, where the employer asks the same set of questions for consistency. Because the questions are
routinely asked, a larger number of participants are typically in these studies.

According to Denzin and Lincoln (2011), there are five guidelines to keep in mind when using
the structured interview method:
 Stay consistent with the introduction of the study, sequence of questions, and wording of
the questions.
 Do not let another person answer for the participant or offer his or her opinion about the
question.
 Do not suggest an answer or agree or disagree with an answer. You do not want to give
the respondent any idea of your personal views on the topic.
 Do not interpret the meaning of a question. If the participant does not understand the
question, you should repeat the question and ask him or her to give the best response or
choose to skip the question.
 Do not improvise, such as adding answer categories or making word changes.

Semi-structured Interview
In a semi-structured interview, the researcher sets the outline for the topics covered and prepares
mostly open-ended questions such that the responses of the interviewee determine the direction of the
interview. This is the most commonly used type of interview in qualitative researches. The semi-
structured interview guide provides a clear set of instructions for interviewers and can provide reliable,
comparable qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews are often preceded by observation and informal
and unstructured interviewing in order to allow researchers to develop a keen understanding the topic of
interest necessary for developing relevant and meaningful semi-structured questions.

Informal Interview
Informal interviews are less formal than structured or semi-structured interviews. They resemble
casual conversation as they do not involve any specific type of sequence of questions or any particular
form of questioning. The primary intent of an informal interview is to find out what people think and how
the views of one individual compare with those of another. In the first glance, it is easy to conduct, but in
reality, informal interviews are the most difficult of all. Here, researchers often need to make some
sensitive decisions as the interview progresses.

Whatever the type of interviewing method a researcher chooses, he or she is expected to:

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  Respect the culture of the group being studied.
 Respect the individual being interviewed.
 Be natural.
 Develop an appropriate rapport with the participant.
 Ask the same question in different ways during the interview.
 Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer or statement when there is some doubt about the
completeness of a remark.
 Vary who controls the flow of communication.
 Avoid leading questions.

As a reminder when collecting data, it is important to respect confidentiality of your participants. A

researcher is expected to not disclose any personal information especially sensitive data to anyone.
He or she is also expected to write information based on his or her observation and interview with full
honesty and integrity and not to plagiarize just to have data.

Focus Group Discussion

This is another method of collecting qualitative data. Focus group discussion is a free-flowing
discussion with a small group of six to ten people in order to generate different ideas and opinions on
certain issues moderated by a skilled facilitator. A focus group is not a debate or a session that
resolves conflict or a problem; instead, it is an opportunity to gain insights from the participants on
certain topics.
The focus group is participated by the “experts” on the topic to be discussed. In selecting the
participants of the focus group, the following are some of the criteria:
1. Age – Do you think grade 9 students should be included in a group of college students? Usually,
members of a focus group are in the same age bracket.
2. Gender – Do you think male and female participants get comfortable with each other in a focus
group?
3. Power – If your focus group includes a teacher and students, do you think the students could
express freely their thoughts? Usually, in a focus group, the participants are in the same rank or
authority like a group of principals or a group of grade 8 students. This is done to make each member
of the focus group feel comfortable with each other.

An important component of the focus group discussion is the set of questions asked by the
facilitator. The number of questions can be 8 to 10. These questions are short but direct to the point,
focused, open-ended, and non-threatening. There are three types of focus group questions:
engagement. Exploration, and exit.
Engagement questions introduce the participants to the topic and set the tone for the discussion.
Exploration questions get the insights of the participants on the topic. These questions also probe
some of the issues given by the participants. Most of the questions here begin asking why and how.
Exit questions are given to make sure everything is covered up and nothing is missed in the
discussion.

Below is an example of questions in a focus group discussion.

Questions for Focus Group on Computer Gaming

Engagement Questions
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1. What is your favorite computer game?
2. How often do you play?
Lesson 11: Interpreting Data
One of the most important aspects of any research is the data analysis. In qualitative researches
such as ethnography, case studies, and historical researchers, many techniques can be used to analyze
data. Some of these techniques are looking for patterns or themes, identifying key events, preparing for
visual representations, and statistics (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2010).

1. Patterns - this is actually the utmost concern of a qualitative research- to look for patterns, themes, or
constructs. You can generate concepts or constructs by comparing and contrasting the data collected and
sorting out until you can be able to find patterns and dividing them into themes.
To look for the patterns in the data that you have collected, it is important to sort out common
themes transcribed in the interview or to code common responses in the observation you have made.
Patterns and themes can be obtained if a particular construct is being repeated in interview or being
observed or in using metaphors and analogies. Recognizing patterns can help in drawing phenomena or in
predicting trends. Let’s take a look at this example:

A research is conducted to investigate the migration of medical doctors in public hospitals to

private hospitals. Based on the interviews that you conducted around 15 doctors, many of them cited the
following reasons: better pay, good working conditions, career growth, and flexible time.

This is derived from the interviews or observations conducted. It is important to transcribe the
interview and summarize all the responses of the participants. From there, you can identify trends,
patterns, or themes.

2. Key Events – these are specific and prominent events or phenomena that occurred in a certain group. If
your study is aiming to describe and analyze a culture of a group, key events that occur in a group you are
studying can provide the necessary information. This can also provide an understanding of the group and
can help you to relate the culture of the group to others. Examples of these key events are a fire in a
school building, a new teaching method in an all-boys school, or the use of computers in a math
classroom. Let’s say for instance, you are investigating the cause of fear of a certain group of students
when performing a science experiment involving with fire. The result of investigation show that this
group of students witnessed a fire in their previous school. So, performing a science experiment helped
the researcher to trace back the cause of their fear.

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3. Visual Representation – this is a very useful tool in presenting and understanding the results in a
qualitative research. This better presents any system, patterns, interaction, or relationships that could be
generated from the data. Visual representation can be done in the form of maps, graphic organizers,
organizational charts, matrices and flowcharts.

4. Statistics – the use of numbers in a qualitative research is not the primary data that you can get.
However, there are some responses or data in which statistics is needed such as percentage and frequency.
This is useful if you want a summary of the frequency of the responses. Inferential statistics is not
expected to be used in qualitative research. This is because most of the data in qualitative research results
from observations and interviews. Let’s take a look on how statistics was used in the following example
of 15 doctors who were interviewed.

Cause of Migration from Number of Interviewees who Percentage of Interviewees

public to private hospitals cited the reason who cited the reason
Better pay 15 100
Good working conditions 12 80
Career growth 14 93
Flexible time 13 87

Looking at the given example, only frequency and percentage are used to present the profile of the
responses made from the interview.

Writing the Conceptual Framework

Once you are done with the data analysis, the next step is for you to form your conceptual
framework. Conceptual framework is a network of themes or constructs which shows its interrelations
among these themes. In a qualitative research, conceptual framework can be written before data analysis
as part of the literature review, or at the end of data analysis to emphasize the patterns that you have
found in your study. Unlike in a quantitative research, conceptual framework must be developed at the
start of the data collection process for it provides the direction of the study.

Writing Report on Data and Analyzed

After you have done your data analysis, the next step is writing the results and discussions. To
write this chapter, you need to go back to your statement of the research problems. The manner of writing
the results and its corresponding discussions is anchored on the order of the statement of the problems.
You have to ensure that every problem has corresponding results and discussions. To reinforce your
discussions, you may include supporting literature.

Lesson 12: Writing the Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

After analyzing data, the next step in the research writing process is to write the summary of
findings, conclusions, and recommendations. This is another important part of the research paper as this
section provides the important findings of the study (i.e., gives answers to the research problems), the
generalizations in the form of conclusions, and the recommendations above the study. This is usually the
chapter 5 in research reports.

Summary of Findings
The summary of findings section presents the important findings of the research. For clarity of
presentation, the findings may be written according to the order of presentation of the specific research
problems. The findings need not be explained nor elaborated. They should be stated as concise as
possible. Below is an example of a summary of findings.

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The findings of the study are as follows:
1. The science concepts and practices were divided into three areas, namely: livelihood, food and healing. The
practices if the Iraya tribe in these areas are culturally rich. The key informants deeply understand the
processes in every aspect of their practices.
2. The Iraya tribe members have their own concepts of science in their practices. However, these science
concepts need to be refined to match the standard scientific concepts.
3. There was a match between the science concepts observed in the practices and the standard scientific
concepts. Some of these are proper nourishment matched to biomolecules; seasonal changes matched to
season in the Philippines; and land preparation and composting were matched to top soil.
4. These are some of the guiding principles or inputs to localized curriculum for the Iraya tribe: learning is an
active process in which the learner uses sensory input and construct meanings out of it; learning is a social
activity; and learning is contextual.

Source: Tuscano. K.L. Science concepts and practices of the Iraya Tribe. Unpublished Master’s Thesis.
Philippine Normal University, Manila. 2015.

Drawing Conclusions
Conclusions are inferences, deductions, abstractions, implications, interpretations, general
statements, and/or generalizations based upon the findings. This definition implies that no conclusions
should be made that are not based upon the findings.
The conclusions should appropriately answer the specific questions raised at the beginning
of the investigation in the order they are given under the statement of the problem. The study becomes
almost mneaningless if the questions raised are not properly answered by the conclusions.

Below is an example of a conclusions:

The blind street musician has a very interesting life. His singing in the train station is done with pride and
worth. His music and singing give him social bonding, inspired others, self-belongingness, transcends power to
influence other people. Hence, the blind street musician is a social person capable of interacting to his family,
friends and the community giving begging a new meaning.
Source: Avilla, R. On music and meanings: An ethnographical account of a blind street musician. Unpublished
research article. University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. 2012.

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 Writing the Recommendations
This is written after conclusions have been drawn. To do this, you can start writing the
recommendations from those variables you studied. Moreover, you can also suggest other methods and
variables for those who want to do a similar study. The number of recommendations is usually aligned to
the number of conclusions that you have drawn.

Below is an example of some recommendations in a research undertaking:

The following are hereby recommended:

1. The science concepts and practices may serve as inputs in developing the localized curriculum for the Iraya tribe.
2. The science concepts and practices of the Iraya tribe may be improved through the conduct of training, non-formal
or formal orientation.
3. Further research about the culture, practices and integration of indigenous knowledge to education may be
conducted involving other ethnic groups.
Source: Tuscano, K.L. .Science concepts and practices of the Iraya Tribe. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Philippine
Normal University, Manila. 2015.

In writing the recommendations, you can refer to the following:

 The number of recommendations usually depends on the number of drawn conclusions.
 You may include in the recommendations other variables that you did not use in your study for
future research.
 Other methods or approaches that you did not employ in your study may also be included in the
recommendations.

Lesson 13: Writing the Research Report: From Introduction to References

You are done writing the summary, conclusions, and recommendations. The next step is to
write the references. This section lists down all the references that you have used and consulted such as
books, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, bound copies of any research paper and online articles.
This is to give the appropriate recognition and acknowledgment to the works of other people.

If you recall in Lesson 6, you have learned the APA and MLA systems of citing literature.
Likewise, in listing your references, you might as well follow the APA or MLA formats which list the
references alphabetically. Below is an example of listing the references using the APA format:

Anderson, B. R. (1990). Pupil’s conceptions of matter and its transformation (age 12-16). Studies in
Science Education, 18, 53-85.

Akbas, A. & Kan, A. (2007). Affective factors that influence chemistry achievement (Motivation and
Anxiety) and the power of these factors to predict chemistry Achievement-II. Retrieved from
http://www.tused.org/internet/tused/archive/V4i1/text/tusedv4i1s2.pdf for student achievement 9.
April 18, 2008

Now that you are done writing the references, you can now start completing your paper
from the Introduction to References. In writing your research report, you may consider the following:
 Use words that are easily understood. Technical terms used should be defined
conceptually or operationally.
 Make a thorough and comprehensive discussion of your report. Never deviate from
the variables studied.
 Consistency and cohesiveness of the ideas should be observed at all times.

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  Make your discussion direct to the point.
Writing the research report also includes the table of contents, list of tables, list of figures,
and the appendices. The appendices are other supporting documents used in the research such as research
instruments, sample filled-up questionnaire accomplished by the respondents, and permission letters.
These appendices are placed at the end of the research paper.
After completing the research paper and a thorough review of your research adviser, the last
part of the entire research process is the presentation of your research. The oral presentation of research is
usually done infront of a panel of experts. This is done to improve your research through the comments
and suggestions given by the experts. You may refer to the following guidelines when conducting your
oral presentation:

 Study your research paper. A well-studied research report implies that you know very well what
you have done in your research. The panel of expert will know if you did not study your report.
 Prepare a PowerPoint presentation. You should include only the important details in the
presentation such as a brief background of the study, problems, methods used, results,
conclusions, and recommendations. Avoid too much animation. Make your presentation simple.
 After the presentation, expect that there will be questions from the experts.
 Be courteous and tactful in answering the questions given by the panel of experts.
 Dress properly. Ask your adviser for the dress code required in your school.