Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School

Rules and Regulations

Action Research Proposal
Title of Study REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS: DETERMINANTS OF GRADE 7
LEARNERS’ OBEDIENCE TO SCHOOL RULES AND
REGULATIONS
Proponent

School/ Office

Position/
Designation
Contact Number

RESEARCH ___ National

CATEGORY ___ Region
___ Schools Division
___ District
_ School
RESEARCH _ Teaching and Learning
AGENDA ___ Child Protection
CATEGORY ___ Human Resource Development
(check only one ___ Governance
main research
theme) (check up to one cross-cutting theme, if
applicable)
___ DRRM
___ Gender and Development
___ Inclusive Education
___ Others (please specify): _____________________

Rationale In this 21st century teaching realm, teachers are required to

monitor learners’ performances to discover the totality of learners

and honor their potential. Aside from teaching techniques in order to

cater the needs of the 21st century learning process aligned with the

new curriculum K to 12, teachers are challenged to innovate for

more approaches on how to motivate learners particularly those

learners who has not yet discovered their potential and undermined

for certain societal prejudices. Due to these, learners become more

passive and pessimistic towards learning and active participation.

Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
Moreover, these learners are often linked to becoming immature

and troublesome inside the classroom. These are the actual

challenges both the administrators and teachers face.

The classroom is a social group established by the students

with their different lives, feelings, cultures, values, behaviors and

habits. In an environment with so much diversity, the realization of

common goals and expectations is related to the creation of a

positive pyscho-social communication environment in the

classroom, the formation of an effective and efficient learning

environment, the fortification of positive behavior and the change of

negative behavior (Gökyer & Doğan, 2016 as cited by Denice,

Gross, & Rausch, 2015). Providing classroom discipline is an

important factor for realizing all of these (Kiptala, Okero & Kipruto,

2011; Moreno, Cervelló & Martínez Galindo, 2007 as cited by

Denice, Gross, & Rausch, 2015 as cited by Denice, Gross, &

Rausch, 2015). The aim of discipline is to create physical, emotional

and social safety, enabling the individuals who are part of the social

system to realize themselves and to protect the rights of people who

are uncooperative, aggressive or exposed from other preventing

reactions (Bear, 2005; Humphreys, 1998 as cited by Denice, Gross,

& Rausch, 2015).

For so many years, a lot of researches proved the

importance of honoring, acknowledging and simply appreciate

Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
learners in every simple good deed a learner does. Children have

an intrinsic desire to learn. Ineffective praise can stifle students'

natural curiosity and desire to learn by focusing their attention on

extrinsic rewards rather than the intrinsic rewards that come from

the task itself (Brophy, 1981 as stated by Hitz, et. al. 1989). This led

the researcher to determine the current status of learners discipline

of senior high school learners and seek to know various style of

management suited to cater their needs and introduce a new

system of motivating learners’ interest to follow the rules of the

school and avoid deviance to be rewarded as extrinsic approach as

well as to encourage to do well in their academic performance and

emulate their self-esteem gauging through sets of rubrics

collaboratively made both by the learners and the teacher. Most

students thrive in encouraging environments where they receive

specific feedback and have the opportunity to evaluate their own

behavior and work. Encouragement fosters autonomy, positive self-

esteem, a willingness to explore, and acceptance of self and others

(Hitz, et. al. 1989).

The author looks forward that the school shall develop this

kind of tool to harness learners’ development and promote harmony

in the school.
Plan of Action/ The researcher employed mixed approach of research. Mixed
Work Plan
methods research involves collecting and analyzing both
quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data includes
closed-end information that undergoes statistical analysis and
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
results in a numerical representation. Qualitative data, on the other
hand, is more subjective and open-ended. It allows for the “voice” of
the participants to be heard and interpretation of observations.

The questionnaires shall undergo test re-test in ten (10) Grade 7

learners which will be refrained to participate in the total sampling in
the conduct of the research. In this way, reliability and validity of
instrument is assured. Afterwards, questionnaires will be distributed
to all the Grade 7 learners of Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High
School. The objectives of the study shall be explained prior to its
distribution. This is important so that learners are guided
accordingly. All questions shall be entertained in order to scrutinize
credible data from the learners. The first part of the questionnaires
shall be the socio-demographic necessary in answering the required
data in the statement of the problems. The second part shall be the
levels of learners obedience in school rules and regulations as
described by its corresponding rewards and punishment. The
responses shall be statistically analyzed and compared for
significant relationship. There shall be series of interview to validate
learners answer after the survey. The researcher shall also resort in
the conduct of expert informants’ interview where the school head,
the guidance coordinator, and Grade 7 teachers and advisers shall
be asked for necessary qualitative data as needed by the research
objectives. Thematic or content analysis for possible themes shall
be utilized in analyzing the data. The data gathered shall be
interpreted generally and assure consistencies.

Determining factors why students follow particular disciplinary

measures shall be of aid in improving and innovating disciplinary
measures and other innovations which will build discipline among
learners. The research timeframe is from January 2019 to March
2019.
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations

Review of Children and Discipline: Investigating Secondary School

Related
Students’ Perception of Discipline through Metaphors
Literature

This is a descriptive study investigating the perception of children

about discipline through metaphors developed by them. A total of
445 students participated in the research and the data was collected
with the “Discipline Metaphors Survey (DMS)” developed by the
researchers. At the end of the study, 143 metaphors, 94 positive and
49 negative, about discipline were gathered.
The participating children mostly perceived discipline as a
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
phenomenon guiding their behavior, maintaining the order, and as
being necessary for the social life. Learning and development, self-
control, protection mechanism, planned and ordered study, as well
as
collaboration are further positive perceptions of discipline. Negative
metaphors, on the other hand, were usually power and control
oriented and the discipline committee was described as the ultimate
authority entity. Based on the students’ views, discipline was
provided through classroom rules and for misbehavior the teachers
tended to use warnings, shouting/scolding and punishment.
School rules, dress code as well as prohibited product checks at the
entrance of the school, the Discipline Committee and discipline rules
were reported as the most common practices of discipline in school.
Most of the students who thought that punishment is necessary for
discipline stated that the punishment should not involve physical
violence and that it should be reasonable. Further expectations of
the students found in the study included warning without shouting,
doing enjoyable activities to address individual differences,
informing everybody about the rules. Children’s perception about
discipline was usually affected by their teachers followed by their
family and the school administration respectively.

Examination of the Views of High School Teachers and

Students with Regard to Discipline Perception and Discipline
Problems
This research is a qualitative study comparatively examining the
views of high school teachers and students related to discipline
perception and discipline problems. The study has been realized at
a vocational school during the 2014/2015 school term. Maximum
diversity and criterion sampling methods have been followed for the
formation of the study groups with 18 teachers and 16 students. The
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
data collected through semi-structured interview forms has been
evaluated by content analysis. As a result of the study, it has been
observed that the teachers define discipline as a holistic system,
self-control and providing the necessary learning environment, while
the students define it as self-control, obeying the rules and respect.
The participating teachers, who agreed on the idea that discipline
does not mean bullying or passivizing the individuals, described
rudeness, lack of interest in the lesson and misbehavior as
disciplinary problems. According to the teachers, not fulfilling the
responsibilities and rudeness; according to the students, preventing
the course from running and not being interested in the course are
the most experienced discipline problems at their respective
schools. Pursuant to the acquired results, the students differ from
the teachers by thinking that behavior such as not obeying the
directives, using
hazardous items and harming the environment/objects are the most
common problems.
Problem 1. What are the current practices and strategies of teachers in
Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High School to assure learners
obedience toward classroom/school rules and regulations?
2. How may the profile of the respondents be described in terms of:
a. Age;
b. Gender;
c. Grade Level;
d. Family Income.
3. How may the level of obedience of learners towards school and
classroom rules and regulations be described in terms of?
a. Punishment;
b. Rewards;
4. Are there significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and the level of obedience of learners towards school
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
and classroom rules and regulations?
5. What other interventions may be used by the teachers to assure
learners obedience to the school’s existing rules and regulations?
Hypothesis There is no significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents and the level of obedience of learners towards school
and classroom rules and regulations.
Significance of Maintaining and instilling learners’ discipline is what public school
the Study
teachers are up to since Several commentaries are given that such
set backs are product of children protection programs and policies.
Most say that learners and children now are spoiled of these
policies. However, these assumptions are yet to be proven by
various researches like this. Seeking for various determinants of
students obedience will try to aid the Department of Education
innovate and cascade possible techniques in addressing cases of
disobedience among learners. Consequently, this research shall
also help counselors and school discipline lessen cases of violating
school rules and regulations through various measures students
love because of rewards or students hate because of punishments.
Classroom advisers are most favored by this research by
determining which classroom rules and regulations are best
practiced by the learners because of rewards or corresponding
punishments. By these, school administrators and advisers are
compelled to sustain and improve such reward system of child-
friendly punitive measures. If this research will determine various
reasons why learners usually violate rules, parents shall also be
benefited by the study if they will also employed various rewards
and punitive systems in school. Potentially, these learners shall be
the ones who will be honed as responsible individuals who will be
responsible adult citizens in the future.
Scope and The scope of the study is within Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High
Limitations
School, Lagare, Cabanatuan City. The school is part of District 10 of
the Division of Cabanatuan City. Total sampling will be utilized,
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
meaning, all Grade 7 learners will be subject to survey using a
questionnaire made for that purpose. At least ten (10) learners who
will subject to test re-test shall be barred to take the actual conduct
of research as a rule. The participants shall also be randomly
interviewed for validation before, during, and after the conduct of the
survey. Observation notes will be utilized.

School head, school guidance counsellor or coordinator and Grade

7 teachers shall also serve as informant in obtaining qualitative
data. Their responses shall be instrumental in satisfying the
objectives of the research.
Research Design The study shall adopt descriptive (descriptive-correlational) design.
This method is appropriate for obtaining factual and attitudinal
information. This study seeks to obtain descriptive and self-reported
information from teachers, students, school counselors and
principals. A correlational study is a type of research design where a
researcher seeks to understand what kind of relationships naturally
occurring variables have with one another. In simple terms,
correlational research seeks to figure out if two or more variables
are related and, if so, in what way. These designs are applicable in a
mixed method approach of research.

Respondents There will be two sets of respondents in mixed method:

1. The Grade 7 learners who will be the ones where quantitative
data will be gathered through research questionnaire and a
little bit qualitative through random interviews; and
2. The expert informants who will be the source of qualitative
data.
Sampling Total sampling and purposive sampling shall be the sampling
Method
techniques to be utilized, respectively.

Total population sampling is a type of purposive sampling technique

Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
that involves examining the entire population (i.e., the total

population) that have a particular set of characteristics (e.g., specific

attributes/traits, experience, knowledge, skills, exposure to an event,

etc.).

Purposive sampling is also common in qualitative research.

Particular individuals are chosen with characteristics relevant to the

study who are thought will be most informative. Purposive

sampling also may be used to produce maximum variation within a

sample. (Anderson, 2018).

Statistical Tool Simple percentage, frequency count and weighted mean shall be
used to describe the profile of the respondents.
The specific statistical test could either be the parametric Pearson
Product-Moment Correlation or the non-parametric Spearman’s Rho
test in order to determine relationship between two variables as in
the profile of the respondents and the level of obedience of the
learners as to rewards and punishments.
Proposed If the research determines various techniques which may be
Innovation/
efficient in maintaining learners’ discipline (whether for rewards or
Strategies/
Intervention punishment), the same shall be improved and cascaded within the
district or division. This will also suggest new classroom programs if
proven that learners obey more because of rewards or positive
reinforcement.
Data Collection The questionnaires shall undergo test re-test in ten (10) Grade 7
Procedure
learners which will be refrained to participate in the total sampling in
the conduct of the research. In this way, reliability and validity of
instrument is assured. Afterwards, questionnaires will be distributed
to all the Grade 7 learners of Cesar E. Vergara Memorial High
School. The objectives of the study shall be explained prior to its
distribution. This is important so that learners are guided
accordingly. All questions shall be entertained in order to scrutinize
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations

credible data from the learners. The first part of the questionnaires
shall be the socio-demographic necessary in answering the required
data in the statement of the problems. The second part shall be the
levels of learners obedience in school rules and regulations as
described by its corresponding rewards and punishment. The
responses shall be statistically analyzed and compared for
significant relationship. There shall be series of interview to validate
learners answer after the survey. The researcher shall also resort in
the conduct of expert informants’ interview where the school head,
the guidance coordinator, and Grade 7 teachers and advisers shall
be asked for necessary qualitative data as needed by the research
objectives. Thematic or content analysis for possible themes shall
be utilized in analyzing the data. The data gathered shall be
interpreted generally and assure consistencies.
Rewards and Punishments: Determinants of Grade 7 Learners’ Obedience to School
Rules and Regulations
References
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