THE NATURE OF

INQUIRY AND
RESEARCH
PREPARED BY:
MR. NOMER LAURESTO DUMLAO
 WHAT IS RESEARCH?
 (DEFINITION)
the word research can be split into two words: re, a prefix which means “again”,
and search, which means to look for something.
 research means to look for something again.
 to look or to search for new ideas
 improve certain processes
 create something useful out
 explaining a series of observation
 systematic and organized process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing and
interpreting data to find the answer or queries
 NATURE OF RESEARCH
 Research is an organized way of finding new
ideas from existing knowledge with the help
of useful tools that will lead us to discover
new and useful concepts in order to improve
the quality of life.
 THE IMPORTACE OF RESEARCH
 Through research, ideas have been developed , most of
our major problems are resolved.
 Our needs were satisfied
 Our demands were met.
 Research ideas can create technologies that help us live
comfortably and easily.
 AIMS OF RESEARCH
Main goal is to
improve the quality of
life
 AIMS OF RESEARCH
 Verification of existing knowledge
 - Research aims to verify or prove the
truthfulness of existing theories or
knowledge.
 This may lead to the development of new
ideas, strengthen current knowledge.
 AIMS OF RESEARCH
 Acquisition of new knowledge
 - Research can bring new ideas
regarding the theory or even create a
new theory.
 AIMS OF RESEARCH
 Application of new knowledge
 - Once a new knowledge has been
proven, the researchers next move is to
utilize that’s new knowledge into
something useful to humankind.
 AIMS OF RESEARCH
 Advancement of the researchers expertise
 - As researchers conduct more studies, their
knowledge on a particular field widens. They
gain and learn a lot from every experience they
encounter. They become experts of a particular
field from which their study focuses on.
 FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH
 Exploration
 - When the purpose of a research is to provide a foundation for future studies,
it is called exploratory research. it seeks to find more information about a
topic and broader perspective or additional knowledge to what is currently
known. A research may explore a new topic of interest or explore new angles
of theory. Exploring new topics may lead to the discovery of unexpected
things, ideas, or phenomena.
 A researcher may also explore on other perspectives or other processes aside
from what is currently known, like exploring a better process or finding new
ways to deal a particular process.
 FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH
 Description
- The aim of descriptive research is to give additional information on
newly discovered ideas which were results of explorations.
- Descriptive research files in the details and the gaps regarding a
particular idea to expand understanding.
- Here, much more information is needed to be supplied in order to
answer the what and how questions instead of formulating unsure
explanations.
 FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH
 Explanation
 - once the newly discovered idea was described in detail, it is
imperative that we understand why it came into existence and
connect these ideas to know the cause and effect.
 Explanatory research looks on how things are connected
together and how things interact.
 This type of research aims to explain relationships existing
between variables.
 Characteristics of research
 Realistic
 - the results of an investigation should be
based on actual data which was gathered by
the researcher himself.
 The data to be presented should be valid
evidence of ones investigations
.
 Characteristics of research
 Logical
 - research should follow valid procedures and principles.
There are proper and logical approach to find out the answers
to a particular research questions.
 If these procedures will not be followed correctly, the
outcome of the research might be affected and might produce
unreliable and invalid result
 C haracteristics of research
 Cyclical
 - one of the characteristics of research is that it is cyclical. It starts
with a problem and ends with another problem.
 As soon as the researcher answers his questions, there could be other
questions that may arise as a result of answering the previous
research questions.
 Thus, research is not expected to end when the research questions
has already been answered. Therefore, research is a cycles
 Characteristics of research
 Analytical
 - before stating the conclusions, the researcher
must make sure that all acceptable procedure in
data gathering have ben employed correctly.
Proper analysis of the data should be done before
making final conclusions.
 Characteristics of research
 Objective
 - objectivity is defined as the lack of bias or prejudice.
Conclusion should be drawn based on the accuracy of the
empirical data that supports the study.
 One should not make any alterations to the data to favour his
own hypothesis or any other biases out of respect for any
personality, or organization.
 Characteristics of research
 Critical
 - a researcher should exhibit careful and precise judgment.
He/she gathered.
 In using statistics, he/she has to establish a certain
confidence level to be precise in his/her interpretations
whether the results are significant or not. Established
theories about particular behavior can also be used as bases
to explain and analyze observations in qualitative research.
 Characteristics of research
 Replicable
 - this means that a research should b written in such
a way that other researchers can perform the same
study having the same results as the original
researcher. Tis is to verify the validity and
consistency of the results of the research if
performed in the same conditions as the original
research.
 Types of research
 Basic or pyre research
 - if the researcher aims is to come up with a new
knowledge or contribute to the existing body of
knowledge.
 - in this type of research, an explanation about existing
idea or theory is being done or a new idea or theory is
introduced.
 Types of research
 Applied research
 - if the aim of the researcher is to find
applications for the theories or create
a product employing the existing
idea,
 Qualitative versus quantitative research
 Qualitative research
 - the qualitative research deals with the characteristics
observed from the subjects and uses minimal to no
statistical .
 Quantitative research
 - focuses on the analysis and interpretation of the raw
numerical data gathered.
Comparison between qualitative and quantitative research
Qualitative research Quantitative research

Objective/purpose Understand underlying reasons Express data in terms of numerical values as

Gain insights in the prevailing trends gathered from the samples.
Interpretative and contextualized Draw exact ideas from sample population.
hypotheses Hypotheses may emerge as the study Hypotheses are specifically stated as the outset and
progresses tested.
sample Comes in small numbers. The respondents Comes in large numbers. The respondents are
(usually referred as subjects) are identified selected to represent the population of interest
using nonprobability sampling. using probability sampling.

Data collection Unstructured (free in form) Structured procedures

Data analysis Data is analyzed inductively. Data is analyzed deductively.

Minimal to no statistical test. Implores use of statistical tests.
outcome Inclusive and needs further study before Findings are conclusive, usually descriptive in
recommending a course of action. nature, and are used to recommend a final course of
action.
generalization Findings are particularly in depth about Findings are generalizable to all situations.
certain phenomena.
 The research process
 Identifying research problem
 - research problems may be in the form of questions which the researcher aims
to answer at the end of the research activity.
 - a research problem is the heart of a good qualitative research. It serves as the
researchers guide throughout the research process and the focus of all research
activities.
 - in the process of identifying research problems, literature review is very
important because we need to gather as many background information as we
can. These readings can help identify topics from where our questions will
come from so that they will be relevant and worth researching.
 The research process
 Formulating hypotheses and designing your study
 - the key to success in research is to construct a good design on how
to collect data.
 The following questions may guide you to construct an appropriate
design for your study.
 1. from whom will your data come from?
 2. where are you going to collect your data?
 3. when or until when do your plan to gather your data?
 4. how are you going to facilitate the whole research activity .
 The research process
 formulating hypotheses and designing your study
 - before designing and deciding on the steps on how to gather data, tentative
answer to research problems should be formulated first. these are called
hypotheses.
 hypotheses
 - guide the researcher toward answering the research problems
 the aim of the researcher is to fid out if the hypotheses he/she has formulated is
correct or not. this is where careful planning and designing of the research
comes in. researchers should bear in mind that the data gathering procedures
they plan . to employ are appropriate to test whether the hypotheses are true or
not.
 The research process
 Data collection
 - After designing and carefully planning the methods to be done in
the study, the researcher may now proceed to data collection.
 Data collection
 - Is the process of gathering information by means of a defined
method, in order to support your hypotheses, data could be anything
that is used to represent facts and values or anything that may
represent a characteristics of something that is being measured.
 The research process
 analysis of data and testing hypotheses
 - data gathered should be organized for easy data analysis
 data analysis is the process of examining data for its
conformity to the presented hypotheses. if the data that has
been gathered suggests truthfulness of the hypotheses, then
hypotheses will be accepted. otherwise, the hypotheses will
be rejected.
 THE RESEARCH PROCESS
 Interpreting data
 - based on the results and analysis of data, conclusions may
now be drawn out. This may lead to evaluation of a particular
theory or testing the hypothesis based on the accounts of
your subjects.
 The purposeful identification of the subjects of a study
allows you to paint the picture from the perspective of the
locality of which your study is conducted.
 In qualitative research, there is a need for the researcher to
 The research process
 Reporting results
 - reporting or communicating the results of the study is essential for
the public to know. With this, the results of research became
beneficial to those stakeholders who might be using the findings of
the study in the near future.
 - since research is cyclical, there might be another question or
problem that may arise after the first set of questions has been
answered. Stating new research questions will then bring us to
undergo the whole research process again and start another research
activity.
 Characteristics of a successful researcher
 Research oriented
 - a researcher is research oriented if he is curious and wants
to find out the intricacies of things.
 Once he has a question, he always want to investigate in
order to find answer to his queries.
 He is fond of reading research journals to find out the
different trends in research.
 He finds joy in discovering and learning new things.
 Characteristics of a successful researcher
 Efficient
 - being efficient is when you use properly your time,
effort, and cost for an intend purpose.
 Researchers make sure that they budget their time,
effort and resources wisely to accomplish their task in
proper time.
 In short statement, efficiency is doing things right.
 Characteristics of a successful researcher

 Scientific
 - a researcher does not readily accept
conclusions
 He follows the scientific method in
finding out answers to their queries..
 Characteristics of a successful researcher

 Effective
 - being effective means doing the right things.
 Errors cannot be avoided but can be foreseen.
 A proper protocol has to be developed for these
errors to be minimized.
 Characteristics of a successful researcher

 Active
 - a researcher always responds to the challenges of the
modern world.
 He makes it sure that he is involved in all research
endeavor he and his team is up to.
 He consistently participates in all research activities
relevant to his expertise.
Characteristics of a successful researcher

 Resourceful
 One of the good researcher qualities is being resourceful. Even if the resources are
limited, he can still make use of the available materials to compensate for the things he
needs.
 He is not stopped by lack of materias but do his own improvision to make sure that he is
not hampered to do his