Capsule Concept Paper/Proposal Template

CAPSULE CONCEPT PAPER/PROPOSAL

(adapted from the Faculty of Education, University of the Philippines Open University)

This is a coherent essay of not more than 2,500 words that demonstrates the applicant’s capability
to pursue original research in the field of Social Studies Education based on accurate understanding of
the research techniques and concepts appropriate to the study. The capsule proposal should be written
in English and is satisfactory in its technical presentation and structure.
I. Title/Topic
This Local Legislators’ awareness and adoption of Parliamentary Procedure in the
should be performance of legislative functions in the 5th District of Camarines Sur
within the field
of study (i.e.
Social Studies
Education),
feasible, and
makes a
distinct
contribution to
the field of
sdy.
II. Context
and Barangay governance plays a vital role in the empowerment of the local government
Rationale units in the country. This is linked with the leader’s accountability, fairness, and
transparency in the execise of duties and functions as a servant in his community
This (Boysillo, 2016).
should
present a brief In our barangays today, we are strengthening the elected officials and capacitating
background of them because we realize and understand the indispensability of popular support to
the study. democratic government. Increased attention is being directed to the lowest sector of
the government to develop among the people confidence in their capacity to achieve
objectives in their best interest.

With the fast-paced development in the country as well as in the rest of the world, the
need to strengthen the concept of Parliamentary Procedure is a necessity (De Leon,
2011). An indispensable activity of the government’s branches is decision making via
the conduct of meetings. It is through meetings that social, political and economic
problems are tackled and resolved and the principles of democracy which is the rule of
the majority and the protection of the minority rights extending to the indigenous groups,
women and other marginalized sectors is manifested. However, residing in the
legislature is the function to make laws where the conduct of meetings becomes a
routine (Fitzpatrich, 2010).

Erickson (2012) states, “How well legislature executes power depends upon the
processes and procedures it follows.” Without parliamentary procedure, it would be
impossible for the legislative bodies to deliver their functions of legislation,
representation and oversight. Regrettably, in these broad aspects, according to Tsekpo
and Hudson (2009), “in many developing countries as well as in many developed
countries, parliaments are weak, ineffective and marginalized.” Parliamentary
strengthening now becomes a need at least in the gamut of parliamentary procedure
(Yin, 2009).

Parliamentary procedure, an ever changing democratic practice is the systematic

conduct of meetings. It is a system which has its own principles, order of business,
 motions that facilitate order and ways of disposing a motion, designed to lessen the use
of time and to establish decorum.

The need to present in a scientific yet understandable way the rules and procedure is
one among the clamor of new public servants that should govern in a deliberative
groups. It will bring into focus the potentiality of group opinion for shaping larger
decisions in any organization whose authority emanates from the will of the majority.
Simply stated, in establishing the background of parliamentary law, in no doubt, will
make the understanding of rules of order easier for everyone.

The 5th District of Camarines Sur or most commonly called as Rinconada is composed
of 1 city and 6 municipalities: Iriga City, Bato, Baao, Bula, Balatan, Nabua and Buhi. In
the towns of Nabua and Buhi, there exists Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC)
that provides ladderized curricula in various programs for sustainable community
development to achieve national development goals (B.P 512). The researcher
believes that in helping communities become robust, and self-sustaining, a need to
transform its local governance is necessary particularly in the grassroots level – the
barangays. This will also address the concern of the College in producing a sound
research-based extension program that can be introduced in the community that CSPC
is mandated to serve.
III. Aims of
the
Study/Resear The main objective of the research is to measure the degree of awareness and adoption
ch Question of the Parliamentary Procedure among the selected local government units in the 5th
or Problem District of Camarines Sur.

This The study is framed around four (4) specific objectives, to wit:
should provide
a clear 1. Determine the profile of the respondents in terms of age, educational
statement of qualification, occupation/profesion, and number of years elected in the service.
the aims of the 2. Determine the level of awareness and extent of adoption of the elected officials
study/researc on basic Parliamentary Procedure such as:
h question or a. Fundamental Principles
problem. b. Meetings and Session
c. Quorum
d. Votes and Voting
e. Order of Business
f. Motion

3. Identify the significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and
their level of awareness, extent of adoption; and their level of awareness and
extent of adoption.

4. Identify recommendations to enhance or improve awareness and adoption of

Parliamentary Procedure.
IV. The people who will benefit the research output are the following:
Significance
and Scope of Sangguniang Barangay Members. The result of the study will identify areas of
the Study improvement and intervention programs to the Sangguniang Barangay Members to
effectively legislate laws and participate in the legislative proceedings of the Local
This Government Units. This will help them better understand local governance and
should put legislation.
emphasis on
how the study Constituents. The constituents will be assured that their elected Sangguniang
will make a Barangay members can actively participate in the legislative process of their local
contribution to government units and as a result can legislate ordinances to the benefits of the masses.
professional Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges. The result of this study can be used by the
and academic College as a researched-based extension program to the Local Government Units of
knowledge of the 5th District of Camarines Sur.
the topic.
College of Education, Arts and Sciences. This can be a platform program of the
social science department to bring to the community the concept of effective
governance and service to the community as mandated in the Constitution.

Future Researchers. The information of this study can prepare future researchers for
discussion towards better understanding of the intricacies of Parliamentary Procedure.

Researcher. The feeling of elation of having contributed to the society something that
can have a positive effect towards political governance and in re-shaping the political
affairs of the country through a research-driven extension program.
V. Research
Design and This study combines elements of descriptive and correlational research designs based
Methodology on the survey research paradigms of Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2007). This
research is descriptive statistics are used to translate independent variables such as
This age, sex, educational background and number of years in service, and describe how
should the respondents articulated their level of awareness and extent of adoption on the
discuss the concepts of parliamentary procedure. Correlational research design will be used to test
research the relationship of the independent variables to make reliable assessment of the
design relationship between the profile of the respondents and their level of awareness, and
including the extent of adoption. Quantitative method, particularly the used of survey questionnaires,
selection of will be utilized to fulfill the objectives 1, 2, and 3.
the research
participants, Questionnaire Surveys
the data The primary data collection instrument will be a 4-page self-completion
collection questionnaire, which was designed following the guidelines recommended by Babbie
methods, the (2013). The questionnaire consisted of an introductory paragraph at the beginning of
methods of the questionnaire for the respondents to read and the main section comprised of
data analysis, statements from parliamentary procedure practices. The instrument was divided into
and the ethical three (3) parts Part 1 included questions about the (a) profile of the respondents (age,
issues sex, educational qualification, and number of years elected in service). Part 2
involved and enumerated statements relating to the level of awareness and extent of adoption of
how these parliamentary procedures. Statements were sub-categorized into: Fundamental
would be principles of parliamentary procedures, meetings and sessions, quorum, order of
addressed. business, votes and voting, and motions. Part 3 of the questionnaire sought responses
on the recommendations for intervention activities that can aid in the awareness and
adoption of Parliamentary Procedure among local barangay officials.
The questionnaire will be pre-tested with a group of elected SK members
officially enrolled in CSPC Buhi Extension Campus before it was distributed to the study
population to avoid ambiguous questions or errors (grammatical, typographical or
oordering) as suggested in (Cohen et.al., 2007). The questionnaire was distributed
directly to the Office of the Punong Barangay to seek approval for the conduct.

Interview Surveys
Since the study seek strong cooperation and collaboration from the
respondents, a face-to-face follow up semi-structured interview was conducted to some
elected barangay officials present in the course of the data gathering to know about
their parliamentary procedure practices. A conversation with a purpose is the
characterization of the interview, which is the appropriate method for exploratory
research, such as this present study. The interview utilized open-ended questions to
allow the respondents an opportunity to provide opinions or explain their responses
(Singer & Couper, 2017). The interview questions were asked to participants with a
range of roles directly tied to the practice of parliamentary procedures, conduct of
meetings and sessions, order of business, election and motions. Also, the interview
was administered in Tagalog and Rinconada dialects so respondents can express their
ideas fluently. Data obtained were transcribed and translated into English.

Data Source and Sampling

Since there are about 42 and 38 barangays in the Municipalities of Nabua and
Buhi respectively, or a total of 80 barangays in the two Municipalities, it was necessary
to limit this study to a specific group of the population for reasons of practicality and
convenience too, to the researcher. The proximity of the barangays to the ‘centro’ and
availability of correspondence are among other considerations in the distribution of the
request to conduct study. Out of the 40 letter requests sent, only 37 barangays
responded (92.5% response rate). The invitation letter included the request to conduct
study and copy of the questionnaires.
The respondnets of the study are the elected barangay officials in the Municipality of
Nabua and Buhi as shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1
Respondents of the Study

Municipality No. Of barangays 50% of the X 9 Barangay

barangays Officials

Buhi 38 19 171
Nabua 42 21 189
Total 80 40 360

From the total 40 barangays, a total of 360 respondents who were the elected barangay
officials were the target respondents of the study but only 333 approved to participate.
Respondents were the elected Punong barangays, Sannguniang barangays and SK
Chairpersons in the 40 barangays which are considered the locale of the study.

Data Analysis
The collected quantitative data were analyzed and integrated altogether to
complete the findings of the study. The statistical techniques adopted in analyzing the
survey data included the use of Weighted Mean to determine the level of awareness
and extent of adoption of Parliamentary Procedure among the local barangay officials.
Likert scaling technique is mostly used for measuring people’s attitudes and
perceptions through the use of standardized response categories in survey
questionnaires (Babbie, 2013).
The Likert scores were calculated by multiplying the nunber of respondents with each
of the individual statements with a score for each statement ranging from 1 – 4. The
range gives the weight if the responses where 1 = Not at all Aware / Never Adopted, 2
= Slightly Aware/Almost Never Adopted, 3=Moderately Aware/Frequently Adopted, and
4=Extrememly Aware/Always Adopted, in line with Wade (2006) Likert-type scale
response anchors. In addition, the Likert scores for each statements were also
calculated and averaged in order to measure the extent to which the respondents
adopted and level of awareness and provide overall findings.
Finally, correlation analyses was considered to determine the the significant
relationship between the profile of the respondents and their level of awareness, extent
of adoption; and their level of awareness and extent of adoption. To establish if
relationship exists, the researcher adopted a correlation statistical test using Chi-
Square test of independence to answer the relationships between the profile of the
respondents and their level of awareness, and the the profile of the respondents and
their extent of adoption.
The Chi-Square test of independence is used to determine if there is a significant
relationship between two nominal (categorical) variables. The frequency of each
category for one nominal variable is compared across the categories of the second
nominal variable. The data can be displayed in a contingency table where each row
represents a category for one variable and each column represents a category for the
other variable. For this research, the researcher wanted to examine the relationship
between sex (male vs. female) and level of awareness and extent of adoption (high vs.
low). The chi-square test of independence can be used to examine this
relationship. The null hypothesis for this test is that there is no relationship between
sex and level of awareness of parliamentary procedure.
The researcher calculated the expected value of the two nominal variables by using this
formula:

Where

= expected value

= Sum of the ith column

= Sum of the kth row

N = total number
After calculating the expected value, the following formula was applied to calculate the
value of the Chi-Square test of Independence:

= Chi-Square test of Independence

= Observed value of two

nominal variables

= Expected value of two nominal variables

Degree of freedom is calculated by using the following formula:
DF = (r-1)(c-1)
Where
DF = Degree of freedom
r = number of rows
c = number of columns
To answer the 3rd objective on the relationship between the level of awareness and
extent of adoption, the researcher used Spearman-rank order of correlation. According
to Puth and Neuh (2015), the Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rs) is the
most preferred correlation test when the variables to be considered are ordinal. Since
the variables to be measured in this study are ordinal, such as age, sex, educational
qualification and number of years in the service and the concepts of parliamentary
procedures, Spearman’s correlation was considered the most suitable technique in the
analysis of the quantitative data generated from the survey questionnaire.
For this paper, the researcher express that the null hypothesis H0 as there is
no significant relationship between the compared variables. The computed p-value
determines how probable to accept or reject the Ho. This means that when the p-value
is more than 0.05, there is a strong statistical evidence against the Ho and that the rs
result is significant. Therefore, Ho is rejected.