WRITING THE RESEARCH

REPORT
Course Title: Advanced Research Methods/
Methods of Research
Course Code: SSR 391/EDF 202

Renato E. Salcedo, MAEd

Discussant

I. Getting Started in Writing

the Research Report
A. Plan the report
B. Know the purpose of the report
C. Know the audience of the report

Questions to be taken into account in knowing the

audience

Are all readers alike?

What do they already know about the subject?
What do they need to know?
What are their attitudes to the subject, to the writer, and
to the writers objectives?

Four Categories of Audience

academic/research community
sponsors of research undertakings
policy makers
the general public, especially the beneficiaries of the
programs, projects, services arising from your study

D. Manage your time in writing the report

E. Writing the Report

II. The Academic Thesis and

Dissertation
I. Definition
A dissertation (also called thesis or
disquisition) is a document that presents
the author's research and findings and is
submitted in support of candidature for a
degree or professional qualification. The word
"thesis" comes from the Greek ,
meaning "position", and refers to an
intellectual proposition. "Dissertation" comes
from the Latin dissertti, meaning
"discourse." The word thesis is utilised as part
of a Bachelors or Masters course, dissertation
is normally applied to a doctorate degree.
(wikipedia.com)

B. Objectives of theses and dissertations

to marshal all the relevant information

that relates to the topic or problem, and
to support all data and arguments with
sources of evidence
to carry out empirical work that has not
been done before
to use already known material but with a
new interpretation
to replicate a study that has been done
in another country or context
to bring new evidence to bear an old
issue

III. Content of the Thesis/Dissertation

(DMMMSU General Format)
Preliminaries
Title Page
Approval Sheet
Biographical Sketch
Acknowledgement
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Abstract

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

Situation Analysis
Conceptual/Theoretical
Framework
Statement of the Problem
Hypotheses of the Study
Significance of the Study
Definition of Terms

Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Related Literature
Related Studies

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

Research Design
Population and Sample
Instrumentation
Validation of Instruments
Treatment of Data

Chapter 4
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS,
AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Chapter 5
SUMMARY,
CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

Conclusion

Recommendations
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES

A. Title Page

the title should be both short (generally 15 words or

less) and descriptive of your study
the title should indicate the key variables in the
study
avoid trite and wasteful phrases such as "A study
of ..." or "An investigation to determine ..."
the title should be presented in an inverted pyramid
form and should be in single space
the title page includes the title of the study, name
of the researcher, institution, a statement of
fulfilling requirements for the degree sought,
and month and year of graduation.
the title page is the first page of the manuscript. It
is considered page i, but the number must not
appear on the page
the complete title should appear in ALL CAPS

B. Approval Sheet

the approval sheet includes the a

statement that the research of the
author has been examined and
approved by the undersigned members
of the Oral Examination Committee
For the Ph.D. programs, the Oral
Examination Committee must have six
(6) members; for the MA/MS
programs, five members

C. Biographical Sketch

this section presents the personal profile

of the author of the study
it must be written in the third person and
could include the following information:
place of birth, place of high school
graduation, place and date of college
graduation with degree(s) and major(s),
professional or employment experience,
scholarly publications, and memberships
in professional societies.

D. Acknowledgement

this page is for the author to express

professional and/or personal
indebtedness. It is good to
acknowledge the people who helped
or participated in direct or indirect
way to your thesis/dissertation.
the researcher must be consistent
with the use of the third ("the
author") or first person throughout

E. Dedication

serves as the section wherein the

author can present to the readers
to whom is he dedicating the
study

F. Table of Contents

this section is basically a topic outline of the

study. It gives the reader an overview of
the major topics covered by the study.
it functions as an index to the work and
must fully and accurately reflect the
organization of the information contained in
the study
major headings, sub-headings, and page
numbers must be included
the table of contents does not only provide
a guide to finding sections but also to help
describe the contents of the study

G. List of Tables

this preliminary section enumerates

the tables contained in the study

H. List of Figures

this section lists the figures

presented in the study
a List of Tables/Figures is necessary
even if there is only one
table/figure

I. Abstract

the abstract contains the authors name, month and

year of graduation, degree, institution and its
address, and the title of the research and the name
of the adviser;
the body of the abstract contains the research
focus (i.e. statement of the problem(s)/research
issue(s) addressed); the research methods used
(experimental research, case studies,
questionnaires, etc.); the salient results/findings
of the research; and the main conclusions and
recommendations
the abstract should have a maximum of 1,000 words
or 3 pages
it should be in a narrative style and must not contain
separate headings

the abstract serves two major purposes: it helps a

person decide whether to read the paper, and it
provides the reader with a framework for
understanding the paper if they decide to read it
formulas, diagrams or other illustrations are not
included in the abstract
an abstract should not add any new information but
should simply summarize the
thesis/dissertation
in addition, abstracts help other researchers decide
which papers might be relevant to their respective
studies
a researcher must write his abstract with an
abundance of caution since it is usually the only
part of the study read by some researchers and in
most universities in the Philippines, the only part of
a thesis/dissertation that can be photocopied

J. Situation Analysis

presents a birds-eye view of what

readers would be expecting from your
study
this section discusses the general
context under which a research problem
is to be studied
it presents the circumstances on why a
researcher decided to undertake the
research
it also acts as an introduction about the
topic of your research

K. Research Framework

this section presents the theoretical and

conceptual basis of a study showing
linkages and meaning of the relationship of
the different variables
theoretical frameworks are a type of
intermediate theory that have the potential
to connect to all aspects of inquiry (e.g.,
problem definition, purpose, literature
review, methodology, data collection and
analysis). Conceptual and theoretical
frameworks act like maps that give
coherence to empirical inquiry
a conceptual framework is based on
generally accepted methods, practices, etc.

L. Research Paradigm

A model that seeks to illustrate the

relationship of the key variables in
the study, the flow of the research,
and the processes that a study have
undergone

M. Statement of the Problem

the part of the study which

comprehensively enumerates the
problems to be tackled in the
study
the statement of the problem
should be in question form

N. Hypotheses of the Study

the section that presents the

assumptions of the study based
on the problems
the hypotheses of the study is
usually in the null form

O. Significance of the Study

this section of the study answers why there

is a need for the research and who will
benefit
applied and scientific contributions are
usually discussed
the significance is addressed by discussing
how the study adds to the theoretical body
of knowledge in the field and the study's
practical significance for communication
professionals in the field being examined.
Ph.D. students also must explain how their
research makes an original contribution to
the body of knowledge in their discipline.

P. Definition of Terms

this section of the study provides a list

of terms that are defined operationally
(how it was used in the study)
its purpose would be to clarify certain
terms used in the study which might
not be easily understood by some
readers
make citations if necessary e.g.
(Aquino, 2007)

Q. Related Literature and Related

Studies

to prove the originality and value of the study, a

researcher must present a thorough review of the
existing literature on the subject, and on closely related
subjects
the literature review shows how a research builds on
prior knowledge by presenting and evaluating what is
already known about the research problem
the goal of the literature review is to demonstrate "the
logical continuity between previous and present work"
this does not mean that a researcher would provide an
exhaustive historical review. Analyze the relationships
among the related studies instead of presenting a series
of seemingly unrelated abstracts or annotations
this chapter should not merely string together what
other researchers have found. Rather a researcher
should discuss and analyze the body of knowledge with
the ultimate goal of determining what is known and is
not known about the topic

R. Research Design

the design of the study, whether it is a case

study, a survey, a controlled experiment, a
meta-analysis, or some other type of
research, is conveyed through this section
Chapter 3 chapter describes and justifies
the data gathering method used. This
chapter also outlines how you analyzed
your data.
the writing of this chapter should begin with
the description of the research method that
the researcher chose and an explanation on
why this method was the most appropriate.
In doing so, the researcher should cite
reference literature about the method.

S. Population and Sample

this subsection of Chapter 3 describes

the sample with a sufficient detail so
that it is clear what population(s) the
sample represents
it also presents a description of
population and description of and
justification for type of sample used
or method for selecting units of
observation

T. Instrumentation

a description of your instruments, including

all surveys, tests, questionnaires, interview
forms, and other tools used to provide data
is presented in this section
it describes and justifies the data gathering
method used as well as the development of
instrument or method for making
observations (e.g., question guide,
categories for content analysis) and the
administration of instrument or method for
making observations (e.g., interviews,
observation, content analysis)

U. Validation of Instruments

this is the part of the study

where evidence of reliability and
validity of the instrument/s is
presented

V. Treatment of Data

this part of the study provides a

description of data analysis and
what were the statistical
tools/formulae utilized in
analyzing the collected data

W. Presentation, Analysis, and

Interpretation of Data

this section is where the researcher reports on the

findings of his study with its analysis and interpretation
this section may be in the form of descriptive text,
tables, and figures
in the discussion of the findings, the researcher is the
expert on his data set and an authority on the problem
he is addressing
in this section, the researcher discusses and interprets
the data for the reader by telling the reader the
implications of the findings
Furthermore, a researcher must return to the specific
problem he investigated and relate his findings to those
of previous studies presented in the literature review and
the research frameworks, by explaining relationships and
supporting or disagreeing with what others have found.
He can also draw his conclusions.

X. Summary

covers the highlights of the

research or the major points
raised. It provides a quick tour of
the findings of the study

Y. Conclusions

this section provide the

interconnections of the findings of the
study. Conclusions are short, concise
statements of the inferences that you
have made because of your work.
it should highlight the key results
from the research work and should
derive the important facts out of your
study and the results that you
obtained.

Z. Recommendations

indicates the practical and even theoretical

contributions of the study
the recommendations should flow logically from
the findings of the study
a researcher can provide specific directions to
policy makers and implementors regarding the
measures or approaches that can be adopted or
improved to correct problems encountered in the
study
suggestions for future research can also be
included
recommendations are usually presented in a
concise format, so the use of a list is appropriate

AA. Bibliography

this section covers the different materials

(e.g., books, journals, monographs, public
documents, theses, dissertations, websites
etc.) used as references in the study
an author can use a specific style but must
be consistent in using the style he prefers
the full publication information of all
sources cited in the manuscript should be
provided

AB. Appendices

the appendices include materials that are

too cumbersome to read in the body of
the paper but are useful references for
readers
the appendices contain material that is
pertinent to the text, but not directly
included (raw data, lengthy mathematical
proofs or derivations, questionnaires and
other data collection instruments, consent
forms, policy statements etc.).