Research Fundamentals: Definitions and Significance

• The chapter introduces research fundamentals like its forms, significance, varieties, and methodology.

What is Research?

• Research utilizes scientific methods to assess and examine a specific subject.
• Sociologist Earl Robert Babbie defines research as a "systematic inquiry" for describing, explaining, forecasting, and controlling observed phenomena, using both deductive and inductive reasoning.
• The word "research" originated from the Middle French verb "recherche," meaning "to search again”.
• The term evolved from denoting the process of discovery to meaning methodical investigations into specific topics by the 1630s.
• Research has adapted to refer to academic and scientific inquiries indicating its growing significance in academic disciplines and scientific methodologies.
• Nowadays, "research" includes a wide array of methodical investigations signifying the pursuit of knowledge and enhanced understanding.

Definitions of Research

• Research is a systematic process that involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to enhance our understanding of phenomena.
• Research is a process to collect and analyze information to improve understanding of a topic, consisting of posing a question, collecting data, and presenting an answer (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).
• Research seeks to generate new information or knowledge that can solve problems, improve life quality, and offer understanding (Adams & Schvaneveldt, 1991).

Purposes of research

• Research answers questions, solves problems, and advances knowledge by investigating and collecting data on a specific topic.
• Research can improve life quality.
• Research betters instruction/teaching strategies, solves indiscipline problems, examinations, and evaluations.
• Research elevates student achievement through the instruction they receive.
• Research satisfies human needs by creating new medicines and inventions.
• Research reduces workload by developing automated systems, enhancing productivity, and simplifying complex processes.
• Research explores and discovers new knowledge by revealing undiscovered facts and perspectives.
• Research contributes to developing academic fields by broadening knowledge and comprehension of subjects, which advances academic disciplines.

Characteristics of good research

• Good research is anchored on a solid research question, which is critical, defines the scope, and outlines the information expected to be learned.
• Cummings et al. (2013) suggest using FINER criteria to evaluate a research question.
• A good research question is feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant.
• Quality research follows a systematic, appropriate methodology - the methodical steps a researcher takes to guarantee study yields accurate, trustworthy results.
• Research methodologies are classified into qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.
• Research is empirical, as empirical data is collected through observation, experience, or experimentation.
• Research is cyclical; it involves problem identification, potential solutions, testing, and theoretical justifications, with the cycle repeating as additional study is needed.
• Good research uses proper data analysis, requiring empirical data collection and appropriate analysis based on the data type.

Types of Research

• Research is classified based on applicability of findings, objectives, and mode of inquiry.
• Research is also classified into two categories considering its nature and applicability: basic/pure/fundamental and applied research.
• Research is classified as action research and evaluative research.
• Based on the methodological perspective, research can be qualitative and quantitative.

Basic Research

• Basic research aims to broaden the body of knowledge in science improving our understanding of behaviors or phenomena, and to formulate new theories and principles.
• Examples: establishing a theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between substance abuse and criminal behavior, studying the relationship between environmental factors and crime hot spots, and examining the role of social media in facilitating criminal activity.

Applied Research

• Applied research is carried out for practical purposes, to generate findings and suggest long and short-term interventions.
• Applied research aims to solve a specific problem in real situations.

Action Research

• Action research seeks to investigate and solve a problem simultaneously, coupled with action.
• The phases in an action research cycle: plan, act, observe, and reflect.

Evaluation Research

• Evaluation research is a methodical investigation to judge/appraise a system, program, practice, object, or activity to produce data used to make decisions.
• Evaluation Steps: Defining the goal, defining criteria for assessing success, determining/describing success level, and make recommendations.

Developmental Research

• Developmental research develops new goods, technology, or procedures.
• Examples: developing and testing new surveillance technologies for deterring criminal activity and developing advanced GIS tools for spatial analysis of crime patterns and hotspots.

Exploratory Research

• Exploratory research investigates questions that have not been "thoroughly examined before" particularly in novel situations or when data is difficult to gather.
• Exploratory research involves qualitative methods.
• Defined as people getting along, meanings of actions, and what issues concern those actions.

Explanatory Research

• Explanatory research identifies the causes and effects of social phenomena, and predicts how one phenomenon varies in response to another.

Descriptive Research

• Descriptive research answers "What is it?," "What are its characteristics?," and "What does it look like?", and is more focused than exploratory research.

Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research includes gathering, evaluating, and interpreting non-numerical data to learn how people interpret and give meaning to their social reality.
• Qualitative data includes text, video, photographs, or audio collected using diary accounts or interviews.
• The collected data is analyzed using grounded theory or thematic analysis.
• Features of Qualitative Research: understanding research participants' meanings, investigating context influence on individuals/activities studied, elucidating processes by which meanings/contexts lead to features/outcomes, and incorporating the subjectivity of the researcher.
• Qualitative researchers analyze text for patterns/themes conducting the inquiry subjectively and reflexively, and presenting data in a narrative form using inductive reasoning.

Qualitative Research Methods

• Ethnography is the study of people in their own environment using participant observation and face-to-face interviewing.
• Grounded theory involves data collection/analysis where the theory is "grounded” in actual data so analysis happens after collection.
• Qualitative Case study helps in exploring a phenomenon within a particular context.
• Phenomenological study explores what people experienced focusing on their experience of a phenomena.
• Narrative research uses written/spoken words or visual representation of individuals, typically focusing on individual lives.

Quantitative Research

• Quantitative research gathers and evaluates numerical data to test causal relationships, identify patterns/averages, create predictions, and extrapolate findings to larger populations.
• Types of Quantitative Research Methods: Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental.
• Descriptive research describes an overall summary of the study variables.
• Correlational research investigates relationships between the study variables.
• Experimental research examines whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between variables.

College Research Agenda

• CCJE research activities find solutions to issues related to responsible governance and public safety.
• The CCJE research agenda is composed of values, principles and research thrusts, guides CCJE researchers in initiating different research activities in the field of criminal justice system.
• CCJE research includes: faculty members, support staff and students' desire in seeking new knowledge, conduct dissemination, coordination and application.
• Research endeavors of CCJE establish strong collaboration with local and international agencies anchored on Social Concerns, Responsible Governance and Community Development.
• CCJEs research initiatives are geared towards the development of legal and well-being of Cavite citizens.

Formatting the paper

• Two manuscript formats: IMRAD & APA 7th Edition.

Title Page

• Contains: the title, author(s), and institutional affiliations.

Abstract

• Contains a concise summary describing purpose, procedure, and results, functioning to outline all parts of the paper.
• Provides an overview including the problem, research objective, methods, results, discussions, and conclusion.

Keywords

• Keywords- concise words used for indexing and are taken from the title.

Introduction

• Explains the problem and the objectives of conducting the study.

Methodology

• Clear, detailed description of the procedure answering how data was collected and analyzed.

Results

• Illustrates the findings without interpretation including introductory, summary, non-textual elements.

Discussion

• Consists of data analysis and interpretation, limitations, and implications.

Full Research

• Full research (Chapters 1 to 5) - not publishable due to the thickness.

IMRaD

• Prescribed when a research is to be published in a scientific journal.
• Modular summary of the research with the sections: introduction, method, results, and discussion.

APA format

• Paper size should be 8.5"x11".
• Margins are 1" all around.
• Calibi-11, Arial-11, Lucida Sans Unicode-10, Times New Roman-12, Georgia-11 or Computer Modern-10 are to be used.
• Double spaced should be used.
• Paragraph Alignment is left-aligned.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph of text 0.5" from the left margin.
• Section Labels are to be center-aligned.
• Include a header page at the top of every page.

Abbreviations

• Shortened form of a word or phrase.

Numbers

• Numbers below 10 are express in words while numbers 10 and above are express in numerals.
• Spell out numbers if it begins a sentence.

Page Numbering

• The APA Style rules direct authors to start page numbering at "1" on the the title page in the top right corner of the page, .
• Page numbers should continue in that position to the last page of the document.

Quotations

• A direct quotation reproduces words verbatim from another work or from your own previously published work.
• Always provide the author, year, and page number of the quotation in the in-text citation.

Tables

• Visual displays composed of columns and rows in which numbers and texts are presented.

Figures

• Include graphical display of information in a graph, chart, drawing, maps, photos diagrams and the like.

In-Text Citation

• The APA manual recommends the use of the author-date citation.
• Located in any part of the body of the paper and briefly identifies the cited work.
• If only one author, in the in-text citation provide the surname of the author but do not include suffixes such as "Jr.".
• If two authors, name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work.
• If more than three authors, list only the first author's name followed by “et al.” in every citation
• Two or more works by the same year, use lower-case letters to give each year an identifier to signify the source.
• Citing interviews or any personal communication, note the communicator's name, the fact that it was personal communication including its date.
• Listing a source of another source, ensure the original source is named as the original creator.

Reference List

• All lines after the first line of each entry in the reference list should be indented 1/2" from the left margin, known as hanging indentation.
• Mention the authors first followed by given name and middle name.
• Group Author.
• List the entries by the year (earliest comes first).