Lesson 10: Designing a research project related to daily life

Designing a research is similar to making a house, car, bag, dress, cake, etc. which needs appropriate materials and necessary process or steps to follow. Then, you have to consider whether what you intend to make or invent has significance to you as a person. Otherwise, your efforts will not be put to use.

In designing your qualitative research, you have to consider whether the topic you have chosen is relevant to you as a learner, as a constituent in your barangay, and as a citizen of this country.

Therefore, the first question you should answer is, “What is the issue, phenomenon or problem in my school, at home, and in the community that needs my special attention by conducting a research?”

Examples:

1. In School

Based on observation, what are the issues and problems I encounter inside the classroom? Is it the lesson, teachers, learners’ attitude and hindrances to graduation?

2. At Home

Considering my life on a daily basis, what are the things that bother me at home?

3. In the Community

What are the usual complaints of my neighbor regarding ordinances, practices and activities in the barangay? Or, what are the situations in my community that need to be improved?

Once you have decided on area where you can focus on, you need to remember the design of the qualitative research you will venture into.

Design of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is an emergent design which means that it emerges as you make ongoing decisions about what you have learned.

As a design, qualitative research requires researcher’s decision-making like how to gather data, from where and whom to collect, when to gather, and for how long is the process will be.

To have a holistic picture of qualitative research project, you have to remember that in deciding on a topic, you have to consider the kind and the field it belongs, as well as its relevance to your daily life.

Subject Matter of the Inquiry of Research

You begin your research work with a problem; that is, having a problem or topic to work on. Mulling over a topic for your research work drives you to perform HOTS or higher-order thinking strategies of inferential, critical, integrative, and creative thinking in finalizing your mind on one topic among several choices.

A topic is researchable if the knowledge and information about it are supported by evidence that is observable, factual, and logical. Here are some pointers you have to keep in mind in selecting a research topic (Babbie 2013):

Guidelines in Choosing a Research Topic

1. Interest in the subject matter

Your interest in a topic may be caused by your rich background knowledge about it and by its novelty; meaning, its unfamiliarity to you. Being curious about a subject, like a conundrum or a puzzle, makes you determined to unravel the mystery or intriguing thing behind it. Your real interest in a subject pushes you to research, investigate, or inquire about it with full motivation, enthusiasm, and energy.

2. Availability of information

Collecting a lot of information as evidence to support your claims about your subject matter from varied forms of literature like books, journals, and newspapers, among others, is a part and parcel of any research work. Hence, in choosing a research topic, visit your library to check the availability of reading materials on your chosen topic. Included in your investigation of the availability of reading materials are questions on how updated and authoritative the materials are.

Let these questions linger as you tour the library: What are the copyright dates of the materials? How old or new are they? How expert or qualified the writers are in coming out with such kind of reading materials about your topic?

3. Timeliness and relevance of the topic

The topic is relevant if it yields results that are instrumental in societal improvement. It is timely if it is related to the present. For instance, unless it is a pure or historical research, a research on the ins and outs of people’s revolutionary acts will prosper more if it tackles the contemporary revolutionary actions rather than those in the ancient time.

4. Limitations on the subject

This makes you link your choosing with course requirements. For example, to make you complete the requirements, your teacher instructs you to submit a paper that will apply the key principles you learned in business, psychology, education, and so on. In this case, you have no freedom to choose your topic based on your interest, but has to decide on one topic to finish your course.

5. Personal resources

Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your research abilities in terms of your financial standing, health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities, and time allotment to enable you to complete your research.

Imagine yourself pouring much time and effort into its initial stage, only to find out later that you are unable to complete it because of your failure to raise the amount needed for questionnaire printing and interview trips. (Barbour 2014)

Research Topics to be Avoided

1. Controversial topics. These are topics that depend greatly on the writer’s opinion, which may tend to be biased or prejudicial. Facts cannot support topics like these.

2. Highly technical subjects. For a beginner, researching on topics that require an advanced study, technical knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task.

3. Hard-to-investigate subjects. A subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it and if such materials are not up-to-date.

4. Too broad subjects. Topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving a concentrated or an in-depth analysis of the subject matter of the paper. The remedy to this is to narrow or limit the topic to a smaller one.

5. Too narrow subjects. These subjects are so limited or specific that an extensive or thorough searching or reading for information about these is necessary.

6. Vague subjects. Choosing topics like these will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. For instance, titles beginning with indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., as in “Some Remarkable Traits of a Filipino” or “ Several People’s Comments on the RH Law,” are vague enough to decrease the readers’ interests and curiosity.

Sources of Research Topics

This time, you already have ideas on some factors that affect your process of choosing a researchable topic. It is also necessary for you to know where a good research topic may come from. Knowing some sources of probable research topics could hasten your choosing; thereby, freeing you from a prolonged time of pondering over a problem of knowing which problem is good for you to research on.

The following can help you generate ideas about a good research topic. (Silverman 2013)

1.     Mass media communication – press (newspapers, ads, TV, radio, films, etc.)

2.     Books, Internet, peer-reviewed journals, government publications

3.     Professional periodicals like College English Language Teaching Forum, English Forum, The Economist, Academia, Business Circle, Law Review, etc.

4.     General periodicals such as Readers’ Digest, Women’s Magazine, Panorama Magazine, Time Magazine, World Mission Magazine, etc.

5.     Previous reading assignments in your other subjects

6.     Work experience – clues to a researchable topic from full-time or part-time jobs, OJT (on-the-job training) experience, fieldwork, etc.

The Research Problem 

In starting with a research project, the researcher must have a clear problem in mind. Basically, a research problem refers to a statement that promptly suggests for conducting an investigation.

Moreover, a research problem to be designed must deal with some concerns in a particular field that may need an improvement or a solution. The researcher must also observe gaps in existing scholarly literature, theories, and practices in order to come up with a good and relevant research problem.

This designed problem then will serve as a guide to know what kind of research study will be most suitable to address the perceived concern. 

Sources of Research Problem 

There is a need for a socially relevant problem when the researcher will attempt to conduct a study. Hence, it is said that identifying and designing a research problem is quite a challenging task. 

Familiarity with the potential sources, meanwhile, may help the researcher to come up with a good research problem. As cited from Sacred Heart University Library (2020), four (4) varied sources can be considered. These are as follows: 

1.     Theory. Existing social philosophies and generalizations which the researcher is familiar with may be of a great help to design a research problem. The researcher may observe if there is a gap between theory and practice. Difference between what is said by the elders and what the youngsters see and observe may be a potential source of a problem. 

2.     Practitioners. Consultation with the people who have direct experiences in a field of interest may provide the researcher an idea of what relevant problem he/she may investigate. Practitioners such as teachers, social workers, health care providers, etc. are considered to be a good source of problem since they are directly experiencing difficulties and challenges which are needed to be addressed. 

3.     Personal experience. Daily experiences can provide the researcher an idea of what problem that needs a solution. Observation on what is happening in the community may allow him/her to see the common concerns of people or institutions which may be subjected for investigation.  

4.     Relevant literature. An extensive and thorough review of literature and studies relevant to the problem interest of the researcher may enable him/her to come up with a potential study. Through reviewing other available researches, the researcher may be able to determine gaps in knowledge and to subject them for replication. Thus, a good research problem will be ensured.