METHODS

CHAPTER 5
 In methods, you will discuss all the things that you
will use to gather and collect information for your
study. It is included here the research design that you
will employ, the participants of your study, the
procedure that you will go through, the instruments
that will be used to acquire data, and the method on
how will you analyze your data.
 RULES for COLLECTING
DATA
1. Use multiple data collection methods when needed.
2. Use available data, but need to know:
• how the measures where defined?
• how the data were collected, cleaned and saturated?
• the extent of missing data
• how accuracy of the data was ensured
 3. If must collect original data:
• be sensitive to burden on others
• pre-test, pre-test, pre-test
• establish procedures and follow them (protocol)
• maintain accurate records of definitions and coding
• verify accuracy of coding, data input.
RESEARCH DESIGN
◦ This contains the approaches (qualitative or
quantitative) or method that you will employ in
your study.
QUALITATIVE METHOD
In qualitative approach, you can use
narrative, phenomenology, grounded
theory, ethnography, or case study.
 TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
APPROACH AND THEIR
CHARACTERISTICS
Narrative Phenomeno Grounded Ethnography Case Study
logy

Focus Explores the life of Attempts to Investigates Describes and Examines episodic
an individuals; tells understand or process, action or interprets an event in a definable
their story explain life interaction with ethnic, cultural, or framework;
experiences or a goal of developing social group develops in depth
phenomena a theory analysis single or
“grounded” in multiple cases;
observations generally explaining
“how”
Data Collection Interviews and Primarily through Interviews with 20- Interviews, Documents of the
documents interviews, 30 individuals to observations , and case, archives,
sometimes gather enough immersion into the interviews,
observation data cultural as an observations,
active participant physical artifacts

Data Analysis Stories, review o Study and describe Open, axial, and Describe and Develop a detailed
historical, content experiences, selective coding interpret findings analysis; identify
development of examine meaning used to categorize by analyzing data themes; make
themes and context, look the data and and developing assertions
for themes, classify describe the themes
implications of the
categories

Written Report Detailed picture of Report of “essence” Results in a theory, Description of the In-depth study of a
Form person’s life; often of the experience, theoretical model, cultural behavior of case that describes
a chronology or description of the or figure that a group the case, its
biography context of the represents the themes, and
experience or phenomena possible lessons
phenomena learned
 QUALITATIVE METHOD

Types of Quantitative Approach

and Characteristics
DESCRIPTIVE DESIGN • Seeks to describe the current status of a variable or
phenomenon
• Data collection is mostly observational in nature.

CORRELATIONAL DESIGN • Explores the relationship between variables using

statistical analysis
• it does not look for cause and effect and therefore, is
also mostly observational in terms of data collection.

QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN • Seeks to establish a cause-effect relationship

between two or more variables
• Control groups are identified and exposed to the
variable
• Results are compared with results from groups of not
exposed to the variable
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN • to establish cause-effect relationship among a group
of variables in a research study. Use the specific
method
• Researchers make an effort to control for all variables
except the one being manipulated ( the independent
EXAMPLE OF RESEARCH
DESIGN
The researcher will employ the qualitative-quantitative
approaches in this applied research. Research triangulation will be
utilized to elicit more reliable information/ data from. The qualitative
and quantitative data will be investigated in depth, analyzed and
described with the use of research triangulation. The research
triangulation focuses on an in-depth analysis and interpretation of
empirical data and information
 METHOD BEST WHEN

Quota Sampling You have access to a wide population,

(get only as many as you needed) including sub-groups

Proportionate Quota Sampling You know the population distribution across

(in proportion to population sub- groups, and when normal sampling may not
groups) give enough in minority groups

Non-Proportionate Quota Sampling There is likely to a wide variation in the

(minimum number from each sub- studied characteristic within minority groups
group)
SELECTIVE METHODS

Sometimes your study leads your to target

particular groups
 METHOD BEST WHEN

Purposive Sampling You are studying particular group

(based on intent)

Expert Sampling You want expert opinion

(seeking ‘experts’)

Snowball Sampling You seek similar subjects (eg. young

(ask for recommendations) drinkers)
Modal Instance Sampling When sought ‘typical’ opinion
(focus on ‘typical’ people) may get lost in a wider study,
and when you are able to
identify the ‘typical’ group

Diversity Sampling You are specifically seeking

(deliberately seeking variation) differences, eg. To identify sub-
groups or potential conflicts
ETHNOGRAPHIC
METHODS
When doing field-based observations, it is
often impossible to intrude into the lives of
people you are studying. Samples must thus be
surreptitious and may be based more on who is
available and willing to participate in any
interviews or studies.
 METHOD BEST WHEN

Selective Sampling Focus is needed in particular group,

(gut feel) location, subject, etc.

Theoretical Sampling Theories are emerging and focused

(testing a theory) sampling may help clarify these.

Convenience Sampling You cannot proactively seek out

(use who’s available) subjects.

Judgement Sampling You are expert and there is no

(guess a good-enough sampling) other choice.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Example of Participants of the Study:
Participants of the Study
The sample is selected from people in rural and urban areas
specifically millennials that resides in the municipality of Bauan. The researchers
are to pine for interviewing at least 50 millennials. The data collected from the
respondents was, nonetheless adequate enough to have meaningful results.
Non-probability purposive sampling was used as information-rich
participant were sought. The participants had the characteristics and knowledge
needed by the researchers. The participants would be able to provide the
researchers with the information that they desired regarding the medicinal
application of Moringa oleifera.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Example of Participants of the Study:
Participants of the Study
The target participants of the study were Grade 12 students of
Bauan Technical High School since they already had experience the whole
process of research writing when they were Grade 11. For each strand, which
acted as the strata of the entire population, the sample was chosen according
to the sampling fraction which was multiplied to the population size of every
stratum. For the ABM Strand, the participants of the study were composed of
60 students. Meanwhile, there were 27 GTAW students, 99 for the HUMSS
strand, and 64 in the STEM strand. The data was collected from the
respondents of the study was, nonetheless, adequate enough to obtain
accurate results.
INSTRUMENTS USED
According to the University of Minnesota (2019),
information you gather can come from a range of
sources. Likewise, there are a variety of techniques to
use when gathering primary data. Listen below are
some of the most common data collection
techniques
 structure, or informally
• Questions should be focused, clear, and
encourage open-ended response.
QUESTIONNAIRES and SURVEYS • Responses can be analyzed with quantitative
methods by assigning numerical values to
Likert-type scales
• Results are generally easier (that
quantitative techniques) to analyze
OBSERVATIONS • Allows for the study of the dynamics of the
situation, frequency counts of target
behaviors, or other behavior as indicated by
needs of the evaluation
FOCUS GROUP • A facilitated group interview with
individuals that have something in common
• Gathers information about combined
perspectives and opinions
• Responses are often coded into categories
and analyzed thematically.
DOCUMENTS AND • Consists of examining existing
data in the form of databases,
RECORDS meeting minutes, reports
attendance logs, financial
records, newsletters, etc.
 Other collection tools
include:
1. PARTICIPATORY METHOD
- Involve groups or communities heavily in data collection .
Example:
• community meetings
• mapping
• transect walks
COMMUNITY MEETINGS
• One of the most common participatory methods.
• Must be well organized.
• Agree on purpose
• Establish ground rules
• Who will speak
• Time allotted for speakers
• Format for question and answers
 MAPPING
• Drawing or using existing maps
• Useful tool to involve stakeholders
• Increases understanding of the community
• Generates discussions, verifies secondary sources of
information, perceived changes
TRANSECT WALKS
• Evaluator walks around community observing
people, surroundings, and resources
• Need good observations skills
• Walk a transect line through a map of a
community – line should go through all zones of
the community
2. RECORDS AND
SECONDARY DATA
Examples of sources:
 files/records
 computer data bases
 industry or government reports
 other reports or prior evaluations
 census data and household survey data
 electronic mailing lists and discussion groups
 documents (budgets, organizational charts, policies and procedures, maps, monitoring
reports)
 newspapers and television reports
USING EXISTING DATA
SETS
Key issues: validity, reliability, accuracy, responses rates, data dictionaries, and
missing data rates
Advantage/Challenge: Available Data
Advantages Often less expensive and faster than
collecting the original data again

Challenges There may be coding errors or other

problems. Data may not be exactly what is
needed. You my have difficulty getting
access. You have to verify validity and
reliability of data.
3. OBSERVATION
See what is happening;
 traffic patterns
 land use pattern
 layout of city and rural areas
 who goes to a health clinic
 quality of housing
 conditions of roads
 conditions of buildings
 Observations is helpful when:
 need direct information
 trying to understand ongoing behavior
 there is physical evidence, products, or outputs that can
be observed
 need to provide alternative when other data collection is
infeasible or inappropriate
 DEGREE OF STRUCTURE OF
OBSERVATIONS

STRUCTURED UNSTRUCTURED SEMI-

STRUCTURED

Determine, before the Select the method depending A general idea of what to
observation, precisely what upon the situation with no pre- observe but no specific plan
will be observed before the conceived ideas or a plan on
observation what to observe
 WAYS to RECORD INFORMATION
from OBSERVATIONS
OBSERVATION GUIDE Printed form with space to record

RECORDING SHEET OR Yes/no options; tallies, rating scales

CHECKLIST

FIELD NOTES Least structured, recorded in narrative,

descriptive style
4. FOCUS GROUP
Type of qualitative research where small homogenous groups of people are brought
together to informally discuss specific topics under the guidance of a moderator.
Purpose: To identify issues and themes, not just interesting information, and not
“counts”.
Focus Groups are inappropriate when:
 language barriers are insurmountable
 evaluator has little control over the situation
 trust cannot be established
 free expression cannot ensured
 confidentiality cannot be assured
FOCUS GROUP PROCESS
PHASE ACTION
1 Opening Ice-breaker; explain purpose; ground rules; introductions
2 Warm-up Relate experience; stimulate group interaction; start with least
threatening and simplest questions

3 Main Body Move to more threatening or sensitive complex questions; elicit

deep responses; connect emergent data to complex, broad
participation

4 Closure End with closure-type questions; summarize and refine; present

theories, etc; invite final comments or insights; thank participant
5. DIARIES AND SELF-
REPORTED CHECKLIST
 Use when you want to capture information about events
in people’s daily lives
 Participants capture experiences in real-time not later in a
questionnaire
 Used to supplement other data collection
GUIDELINES for DIARIES or
JOURNALS
STEP PROCESS

1 Recruit people face to face

• encourage participation, appeal to altruism,
assure confidentiality, provide incentive

2 Provide a booklet from each participant

• cover page with clear instructions,
definitions, example
• short memory-joggers, explain terms,
comments on last page, calendar

3 Consider the time-period for collecting data

• if too long, may become burdensome or
tedious
• if too short may miss the behavior or event
 ADVANTAGES and CHALLENGES of
DIARIES and SELF-REPORTED
CHECKLISTS
ADVANTAGES • Can capture in-depth, detailed data that might be
otherwise forgotten
• Can collect data on how people use their time
• Can collect sensitive data
• Supplement interviews provide richer data

CHALLENGES •
•
Requires some literacy
May change behavior
• Require commitment and self-discipline
• Data may be incomplete
• Poor handwriting, difficult to understand phrases
6. EXPERT JUDGEMENT
 Use of experts, one-on-one or as panel
E.g., Government task forces, Advisory
groups
 Can be structured or unstructured
 Issues in selecting experts
SELECTING EXPERTS
Establish criteria for selecting experts not only on
recognition as expert but also based on:
• areas of expertise
• diverse perspectives
• diverse political views
• diverse technical expertise
 ADVANTAGES AND
CHALLENGES OF EXPERT
JUDGMENT
Advantages Fast, relatively inexpensive

Challenges • Weak for impact evaluation

• May be based mostly on
perceptions
• Value of data depends on how
credible the experts are perceived
to be
7. DELPHI TECHNIQUE
 Enables experts to engage remotely in a dialogue and reach consensus, often
about priorities
 Experts asked specific questions; often rank choices
 Responses go to a central source; are summarized and fed back to the experts
without attribution
 Experts can agree or argue with others’ comments
 Process may be iterative of experts, one-on-one or as a panel E.g.,
Government task forces, Advisory Groups
 Can be structured or unstructured
 Issues in selecting experts
 ADVANTAGES AND
CHALLENGES OF EXPERT
JUDGMENT
• Allows participants to remain anonymous
• Is inexpensive?
• Is free of social pressure, personality
ADVANTAGES influence, and individual dominance?
• Is conducive to independent thinking
• Allows sharing of information

• May not be representative

• Has tendency to eliminate extreme positions
CHALLENGES •
•
Requires skill in written communication
Requires time and participant commitment
The qualities of a good research instrument are:
1. Validity
2. Reliability
3. Usability
VALIDITY
Validity means the degree to which an
instrument measures what it intends to
measure. The validity of a measuring
instrument refers to has to do with its
soundness, what the test or questionnaire
measures its effectiveness how could it be
applied.
 TYPES OF VALIDITY
The extent to which the content or topic of the
test is truly representative of the content of the
CONTENT VALIDITY course. It involves, essentially, the systematic
examination of the research instrument
content to determine whether it covers a
representative sample of the behavior domain
to be measured.
Degree to which the test agrees or correlates
with a criterion set up as an acceptable
CRITERION VALIDITY measure. The criterion is always available at the
time of testing. It is applicable to tests
employed for the diagnosis existing status
rather than for the prediction of future
outcome
RELIABILITY
Reliability means the extent to which a "test is
dependable, self-consistent and stable" (Merriam,
2019). In other words, the test agrees with itself. It is
concerned with the consistency of responses from
moment to moment.
Even if a person a takes the same test twice, the test
yields the same results. However, a reliable test may
not always be valid.
USABILITY
Practicality also known as usability means the
degree to which the research instrument can be
satisfactorily used by teachers, researchers,
supervisors and school managers without undue
expenditure of time, money and effort. In other
words, usability means practicability.
 Example of Instruments Used:
Instrument Used

The researchers used questionnaires and semi-structured interview. To determine the personal
experiences in research writing, semi-structured interview was conducted with key persons to
answer the questions of the study. The interview questions gave answers to be able to meet the
desired objective of the study.
Also, a standardized questionnaire was also used to gather informations and data from the
respondents which was made by Asogwa, Wombo, & Ugwuoke (2014). Pilot testing and
Cronbach alpha reliability test were performed in their questionnaire in order to determine the
reliability of the questionnaire, as well as the internal consistency of the items included. The
survey questionnaire was modified and developed by the researchers based on the need of the
current study. The first part of the questionnaire was composed of items that would determine
the demographic profile of the respondents of the study such as name, which was optional,
gender, and strand. The questionnaire entitled "Challenges and Coping Strategies
Questionnaire" had a four-point response scale options of strongly agree (SA), agree (A),
disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD) with a corresponding value of 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively
on the second part.
 It is consists of:
Instrument used in gathering data.
If the questionnaire is standardized, mention the
source/author.
Enumerate the parts of the questionnaire.
RESEARCH PROCEDURE
Research procedure contains informations about the steps that you had taken for your
paper. This also includes ethical considerations used for the study.
Example of Research Procedure:
Research Procedures
The researcher will seek the approval of the proposal from the Graduate School and
the President for the conduct of the study. The instrument will also be presented and
validated by a group of experts before it was administered to selected respondents. The
researcher will personally administer the instrument and explained in simpler terms the
items in the instrument. To further validate the data gathered, the researcher will
conduct an interview with the respondents. She will also gather related information from
the Balagtas Barangay Hall documents and from the internet sources. Data collected
will be encoded and tabulated, interpreted and analyzed.
DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis sections contains all necessary informations on how the data will
be treated.
1. Discourse Analysis – approaches to analyze written, vocal, or sign language
use, or any significant semiotic event.
2. Content Analysis – a method for studying documents and communication
artifacts, which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio, or video.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Example of Data Analysis:
Data Analysis
The gathered outcomes through meeting was translated in exactly the same words by
the utilized of talk examination which brought out to encoded the information for words.
It concentrated in transit in which the respondents draw on contrasting interpretive about
the investigation relying upon their understanding of the unique situation. This procedure
distinguished the setting from the different interviewees endeavoured a coordinating of
one to the next and touched base at a comprehension of the capacity from the
perspective of the respondents.
In quantitative approach, you may use statistical treatments such as percentage,
weighted mean, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), etc.,depending on the need of the
study.
 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Data Analysis
Weighted mean will be used to treat data with respect to the respondents' level of
agreement on their perception as to the effects/ impact of business industries in Balagtas
Independent sample T-test will be utilized to test if there is a significant difference on the
responses between the workers of business establishments and the community residents
This will be utilized to determine the significant difference on the perception of two groups of
respondents as to the impact of business establishments in Balagtas to the community. The
null hypothesis will be tested using 0.05 level of significance.
To improve instruments on the perception of the impact of ecotourism, Cronbach Alpha was
used to test reliability (Cronbach Alpha). Likert scale will be used where scores will be
interpreted using the following values:
3.50 - 4.00 - Strongly Agree
2.50 - 3.49 - Agree
1.50 - 2.49 – Disagree