Background of the Study contains the ff:

1. Par. 1 - Overview of the research topic (situation, idea of

interest, real-world problem, initial idea, controversy,
conflict of ideas you want to resolve, theory, research finding,
claim) (10 sentences)
2. Par. 2 - Area being researched and literature or previous
studies (5-7 sentences – 2 literatures)
(Field, 2005);
(Field, 2005, p. 14);
According to Field (2005),
If it is more than 40 words
• A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to
improve native speakers' ability to understand accented speech (Derwing, Rossiter, &
Munro, 2002; Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research
described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native
speech. Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social
workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could
benefit from a similar program.

References

• Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to
foreign-accented speech. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(4),
245-259.

• Thomas, H. K. (2004). Training strategies for improving listeners' comprehension of foreign-

accented speech (Doctoral dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.
If it is more than 40 words…
Their training techniques are based on the research described above
indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-
native speech. Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with
students preparing to be social workers, but note that other
professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit
from a similar program.
This suggests that familiarity with nonnative speech in
general, although it is clearly not as important a variable as topic
familiarity, may indeed have some effect. That is, prior experience
with nonnative speech, such as that gained by listening to the
reading, facilitates comprehension. (Gass & Varonis, 1984, p. 77)
Background of the Study contains the ff:
Par. 3 - Set a good platform for the formal
articulation of the research problem (5
sentences)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1. detailed, clear, and convincing enough to make the reader
continue reading the rest of the study.
2. It can tell the reader why the researcher is personally or
academically interested in studying the chosen topic.
3. It makes use of creative writing and narrative hooks to get the
interest of the readers.
4. It answers the question, “Why are you studying this particular
research topic?”
5. It includes a comprehensive mention or discussion of several
related studies and literature to give the reader preliminary idea
of the topic.
 Steps in Developing a Research Background
1. Conduct Preliminary Research – this will help you formulate a
research question that will lead to more specific and relevant
research. (3 – 5)
2. Read information and develop a research question.
3. Create relevant sections (key issues, major findings, controversies
surrounding the thesis, evaluation and conclusion)
4. Conclude your background by identifying any further study that
needs to be done in that area or provide possible solutions to the
issue that have not been considered before.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
(RESEARCH PUZZLE OR
PROBLEMATIQUE)
RESEARCH PROBLEM
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RESEARCH PROBLEM
• Problematized topic and identified specific situation, problem
or issue
• General objective stated in declarative form
• Ex.
1. Citrus fruits are known to have dissolution qualities but its capacity
to dissolve is only for specific products with certain properties. The
study aims to compare the effectiveness of two citrus fruits - Citrus
nobilis and Citrofortunella microcarpa as solvents for Expanded
Polystyrene Foam (EPS).
• 2. In the study of Garcia (2010), Madre de cacao has the capacity to
decrease the production of dandruff when applied regularly. This
study aims to evaluate the formulated herbal shampoo containing
Madre de cacao leaf extract.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. Between the organic solvents Citrus nobilis and
Citrofortunella microcarpa, which is more effective in
dissolving Expanded Polystyrene Foam in terms of
dissolution time?
2. What are the dissolution time of EPS when treated with
the organic oil extracts of Citrus nobilis and
Citrofortunella microcarpa?
3. Is there a significant difference in the dissolution time of
EPS when treated with the organic oil extracts of Citrus
nobilis and Citrofortunella microcarpa?
CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
(EACH MEMBER SHOULD GIVE AT LEAST 3)
1. Specific problems stated in interrogative form and must not overlap each other
2. Uses exploratory verbs that are either non directional or directional
ND  “affect,” “influence,” “impact,” “determine,” “cause,” and “relate.”
D  higher, lower, more, less, increase, decrease, positive, and negative
3. Guide the literature search
4. Narrow down the scope and focus of the literature review
5. Guide you on what research design to use
6. Guide you on what data to collect and from whom
7. Important in analyzing and presenting data
8. Clear sense of what the research is about and what it wishes to achieve
9. It should be empirical
10. Should be complex and not terminal
11. should be relevant
12. should be practical
Descriptive – uses Descriptive Statistics
Inferential – uses Inferential Statistics
Type of Research Major Type of
Questions Research Questions
Descriptive Descriptive
Comparative Inferential
Relational Inferential
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What is the average pH level of soil, number of leaves, length
of thehypocotyl, roots, leaves, and diameter of the hypocotyl
and the top part of Raphanus sativus grown in three setups?
2. What are the average dissolution time of EPS when treated
with the organic oil extracts of Citrus nobilis and
Citrofortunella microcarpa?
3. Is there a significant difference in the dissolution time of EPS
when treated with the organic oil extracts of Citrus nobilis and
Citrofortunella microcarpa?
4. What are the median pre-test and post-test scores of the
students in the control group?
5. Is there a significant relationship between the BMI levels of
the Junior and Senior High School students?
• A researcher wants to examine the relationship of
critical thinking skills (an independent variable
measured on an instrument) to student achievement
(a dependent variable measured by grades) in science
classes for eighth-grade students in Assumption Iloilo.
The researcher controls for the intervening effects of
prior grades in science classes and parents’ educational
attainment.
 DESCRIPTIVE QUESTIONS

1. How do the students rate on critical thinking skills?

(A descriptive question focused on the independent variable)
2. What are the student’s achievement levels (or grades) in science classes?
(A descriptive question focused on the dependent variable)
3. What are the student’s prior grades in science classes?
(A descriptive question focused on the control variable)
4. What is the educational attainment of the parents of the eighth graders?
(A descriptive question focused on another control variable)
INFERENTIAL QUESTIONS
1. Is there a significant relationship between critical thinking ability and
student achievement?
(An inferential question relating the independent and the dependent
variables)
2. Is there a significant difference between the average science grades of
Grade VIII – St. Anne and Grade VIII – St. Catherine?
(An inferential question comparing the dependent variable)
3. Is there a significant difference between the dissolution time of EPS
when treated with the organic oil extracts of Citrus nobilis and
Citrofortunella microcarpa?
(An inferential question comparing the two organic oil extracts)
HYPOTHESIS
HYPOTHESIS
• Stated in declarative form
• Simple, Specific and can be tested
• Number depends on the comparative and
relational research questions
FOUR TYPES OF HYPOTHESES
 Directional Non-directional
Null Hypothesis Null Hypothesis
There is no positive significant There is no significant relationship
relationship between the science between the science academic
academic performance and critical performance and critical thinking skills
thinking skills of Grade VIII students. of Grade VIII students.
Directional Non – directional
Alternative Hypothesis Alternative Hypothesis
Science Academic Performance of There is a significant relationship
Grade VIII students has a high between the science academic
positive correlation with critical performance and critical thinking skills
of Grade VIII Science students.
thinking skills.
This is a perfectly good experimental hypothesis, but not for the experiment described in the question. You could use
this hypothesis if you did a study in the wild looking at how many monkeys get killed by predators whilst feeding on
the leaves of A, B etc.
• When offered all five types of leaves, which
type will the monkeys eat preferentially?
• This is a question, and questions fail to satisfy
criterion #1: They are not predictive
statements. Hence, a question is not a
hypothesis.
THE VALUE OF RESEARCH IN
YOUR AREA OF INTEREST
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
HOW TO WRITE
1. Provide a general explanation of the necessity and
importance of your topic/study/research in your field
and how it will add to the scholarly literature in your
field.
(3 – 4 reasons)
2. Provide explanation about how your study will improve
practice and how it will be beneficial to your audience (3
or more)
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF
THE STUDY
SCOPE
A. Set what your study covers
• Time period
• Location
• Subjects
• Context
• Specific objectives
B. “The coverage of this study is…” or “The study
addresses…” or “This study covers…”
EXAMPLE 1: A STUDY ON HOW COLLEGE STUDENTS’ LEISURE
ACTIVITIES AFFECT THEIR ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT

This study covers the habits of college students

during weekends and their grades. From the
responses gathered within the survey, we can
deduce how different weekend activities affects
the student’s academics.
EXAMPLE 2: A STUDY ON HOW COLLEGE STUDENTS’
LEISURE ACTIVITIES AFFECT THEIR ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT
This study covers 320 sophomore students from De La Salle
University – Manila on the activities they do every Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. This addresses the knowledge gap
about whether self-reported weekend activities affect the
time Lasallian students spent studying and their average
CGPA over the course of a school year.
EXAMPLE 3
This study will focus on developing a web-based help desk system using a problem
tracking technique for Postgraduate UUM-CAS department at UUM. This system will
let users (staff, students or lecturers) to freely interact with the technical support
employees who have the ability to answer all problems related to the postgraduate
services provided by the UUM-CAS. In addition, UUM-CAS postgraduate students can
navigate FAQ section which contains a groups of frequently asked questions that are
related to UUM-CAS Postgraduate department at UUM and they can find their
problem or inquiry there. Moreover, the proposed system will help the students,
lecturers, and staff at UUM-CAS postgraduate department to see the latest UUM-CAS
postgraduate news and articles added by the technical support employees. The
prototype to be developed is based on problem tracking technique.
LIMITATIONS

• Humble acknowledgment of your current

capabilities
• Key terms, definitions, sample group,
methodology, research design
EXAMPLE 2: A STUDY ON HOW COLLEGE STUDENTS’
LEISURE ACTIVITIES AFFECT THEIR ACADEMIC
ENGAGEMENT
This study covers 320 sophomore students from De La Salle
University – Manila on the activities they do every Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. This addresses the knowledge gap
about whether self-reported weekend activities affect the
time Lasallian students spent studying and their average
CGPA over the course of a school year.
• What will you do if you lack resources (time
and money) but needs to finish or produce a
research?
 CONCEPTUAL AND
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
FRAMEWORK

• provides “guidance for the researcher as study questions are

finetuned, methods for measuring variables are selected and
analyses are planned”.
• mirror to check whether the findings agree with the framework
or whether there are some discrepancies where discrepancies
exist, a question is asked as to whether or not the framework can
be used to explain them
 Theoretical Framework Conceptual Framework
• refers to the theory that a • “synthesize” the existing
researcher chooses to guide• “each of these terms
refers to a structure” views in the literature
him/her in his/her research. which guides the
concerning a given
• is the application of a theory, researcher.

or a set of concepts drawn

• help the reader situation – both theoretical
understand the reasons
from one and the same why a given researcher and from empirical findings
theory, to offer an
decides to study a •end result of bringing
particular topic, the
explanation of an event, or assumptions s/he makes, together a number of
how s/he conceptually
shed some light on a grounds his/her
related concepts to explain
particular phenomenon or approach, the scholars or predict a given event, or
s/he is in dialogue with,
research problem who s/he agrees and
give a broader
• Deductive in nature disagrees with understanding of the
phenomenon of interest
BUILDING A CONCEPTUAL MODEL

• Start with the endpoint (dependent variable,

outcome, or target point for intervention)
• identify potential correlates, based on empirical or
theoretical evidence
• show mediating variables by proximity to
dependent variables
CONVENTIONS FOR DRAWING A CONCEPTUAL
MODEL
1. Only include concepts that will be operationally defined and
measured
2. Present left-to-right or top-to-bottom
3. Use arrows to imply causality
4. Label concepts succinctly
5. Do not include operational definitions or values of variables in
the model
EXAMPLE: TOBACCO PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable premature
mortality in the United States. It also represents an enormous cost
burden to the nation. The question is, what works to make tobacco
use prevention and control at the population or community level?
The Guide to Community Preventive Services addresses the
effectiveness of community-based interventions for three strategies
to promote tobacco use prevention and control:
1) prevent tobacco product use initiation
2) increase cessation and
3) reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
• smoking bans might be the result or
outcome of interventions, such as a
community-wide education and/or
political campaign.
SMOKING BANS WILL…
1. Reduce ETS exposure
2. Affect the tobacco use behaviors of smokers (might think twice
about continuing their habit and might reduce their daily
consumption of tobacco, and these two effects might increase the
number who attempt to quit)
3. Directly affect tobacco consumption by youth or affect their
impressions of the social desirability of smoking
IF THERE ARE SMOKING BANS AT THE WORKPLACE AND
PUBLIC PLACES, WHAT COULD BE THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS?

1.Bans Might
Increase ETS in the
Home
*affects business
revenue and tourism
• 56 studies were reviewed
• 12 measurements of differences or
changes in exposure to ETS, 6 studies of
changes in tobacco use prevalence among
employees, 4 measurements of cessation
by smoking employees etc.