Practical Research 1
It has
Lesson 1 – Research Experience and Knowledge
Inquiry
 Defined as “a seeking for truth, information or
knowledge.
 The information is sought through questioning.
 Individuals carry on the process of inquiry from
birth till death.
 The process of inquiry begins with gathering
information and data through applying the
various human senses.
Downside of Inquiry:
 Unfortunately, traditional educational system
has discouraged the natural process of inquiry.
 Students become more inhibited in asking
questions and are not challenged either to
answer high level questions.
 As they move through grade levels, students in
traditional schools learn not to ask too many
questions, instead, they are asked to listen and
repeat expected answers.
 The kind of training is carried on even after they
graduate.
Exploratory Nature of Inquiry
 Allows individuals particularly students to
grapple with different ways of looking at ideas
and issues and to think creatively about
problems that do not possess simple (or
perhaps even any) answer
Different Factors involved in different kinds of inquiries:
1. Selection of appropriate questions
2. Formulation of appropriate questions
3. Identification of key issues
4. Search for valid and relevant evidence
5. Interpretation an assessment of evidence
6. Application of evidence to identified issues
7. Presentation of coherent, conclusion, final or
tentative
8. Reflection on, and assessment of the learning
process
Experience and Knowledge
 Experience is a familiar and a well-used source
of knowledge. As a student, you try several
routes in going to school. You try to find out
which way takes the least time or the most
traffic free or most scenic. By going through
personal experiences, you can find many
answers to questions that you may have.
been said that experience is the best teacher.
 Just as wisdom is passed on from one
generation to the next as a result of experience.
You may have encountered difficulties as you
were growing up but each experience is
something that you learn from –either it has
given you a taste of success or failure.
 However, one may be limited in terms of
experiences as a source of knowledge. Events
may happen in the same way but may have
different effects on individuals. You may enjoy
hiking onto a mountain top but another may
choose spending his leisure time in a mall. Taste
may vary among people. The ensuring
realizations or learning may also have different
consequences.
 In education, observation at classroom
situations may yield different results depending
on who the observer is and what he is focused
on. Or the same event may be observed but one
can look at the positive aspects while the other
can report on the negative ones. However,
experience will always be considered rich and
practical source of knowledge.
 For things though that are difficult or impossible
to know by personal experiences, you may turn
to an authority. Particularly in research,
knowledge is sought from other people who
had experienced what the problem is or some
other sources of expertise. Everyday
experiences would show that we consult a
lawyer for legal problems, a physician for
health-related cases or a teacher for academic
matters. This consultation is not limited to
people. For example, we use a dictionary to find
out the meaning of a difficult word, an
encyclopedia to get information on a certain
topic as research to back up our own findings.
 Authority is a quick an easy source of
knowledge but it has also its shortcomings that
you must consider. First, authorities can go
wrong. It can happen that people claim to be
experts in a field but may not have the
knowledge to prove it. Second, you may find
that authorities disagree among themselves on
issues, indicating that their authoritative
statements are often more personal opinion
that fact. (Walker, 2010).
What is Research?
Research
 The systematic investigation and study of
materials and sources to establish facts and
reach new conclusions
 When you come across studies about events
that happen or experiences that you meet, they
shape people’s understanding of the world
around them.
 In various spheres of human life, research has
come up with developing appropriate solutions
to improve the individual’s quality of life.
 Although, it may take place in different settings
and may use different methods, scientific
research is universally a systematic and
objective search for reliable knowledge.
(Walker, 2010).
 Generally people find it difficult to do research.
Many reasons are given for people to find
excuse in doing it. Most often, you are not
aware of the benefits derived from conducting
research. Some benefits of conducting research
include increasing personal knowledge.
 Research is an art of studying something
carefully and extensively in order to attain deep
knowledge. When done on a larger scale,
research contributes to the welfare of humanity.
It can be creative, exploring or just reassuring in
nature.
Research holds the following significant data:
1. To gather necessary information. – It provides
you with all necessary information in the field
of your work or study and gives a basic idea
about the things needed. It helps you for a
project to get acquainted with the processes
and resources involved. The information helps
in the outcome of the project.
2. To make changes – Sometimes, there are built-
in problems in a project or process that is hard
to discover. It helps you find the root cause and
associated elements of a process. The end
result is such a research that invokes a demand
for change and sometimes is successful in
producing such changes. For example, many
researchers conducted by the United Nations
paved the way for environmental policies.
3. For a safer life – Discoveries and development
resulting from research have improved life
expectancy and health condition of humankind.
New investors in medicine have led to the
advent of drugs that not only treat but prevent
diseases from recurring.
4. To know the truth – It has been proven time
and again, that many established and known
truth are more lies or rumors. Research is
needed to investigate and expose these and
bring out the truth.
5. To explore our history – Research about human
history has enabled us to learn and understand
more about our forefathers and helped us
learners from their mistakes and follow good
things from their life. Research will give you
knowledge about what could happen to our
planet and therefore do what are expected to
be done.
6. To understand arts – Research also helps in the
understanding and appreciation of the works of
artists in literature, painting and other fine arts.
Research teaches you to relate arts with other
branches or fields of study.
As individual students, you may be asked to write a
research paper for these reasons:
 Research teaches methods of discovery
 Research teaches investigative skills
 Research teaches critical thinking
 Research teaches logic
 Research teaches the basic ingredients of
argument
Why do Research?
 The writing process will make you confident in your
ability to find information and present it effectively
in varied ways. It may be on:
 A theme in freshman English on the value of
good speaking
 A paper in history on the Presidents of the
Philippines
 A report in a physics’ class on the moon’s
effects on ocean tides
 An archaeological field paper on the burial
practices of the early Filipinos
 A brief biographical sketch of a famous
person like the current Nobel Prize in
Literature holder
 All those papers require some type of
research writing. You will undertake such
written activity during your senior high
school and will increase in frequency as you
enter college. Other motivations of getting
involved in research are:
 You can get to investigate topics
that may be of interest to you
  It can make you study (course work)
more meaningful and you’ll
discover real world application of
what you’re studying
 You can have hands-on, practical
experience in your field of study
 Research is a great way to network and meet
new people. Undergraduate research allows you
to grow and uncover opportunities for later
career. Undergraduate research is conducted in
all disciplines and encompasses a broad range
of activities – from learning about research to
discovering new knowledge and creating words.
Research is about solving problems and
discovering questions in all disciplines.
a task performance or skills development
component.
 If you desire to be competent researchers, you
need to gain understanding of the various
stages of the research process. Ding research is
anchored in an experimental learning approach
where you will fuse and build principles with
real-life experiences. In an undergraduate
research, experience rather than solely
imparting facts about a topic to students is
given attention. The faculty help students learn
that topic through a process of discovery.

 Forms of Undergraduate Research Experiences

a. Class-based Activities – such as naturalistic
conservation, surveys and experiences can
often be structured to train students in the
steps of the research process.
b. Class-Based Projects- like term papers,
service learning and community-based and
campus-based learning can be of a research
nature.
c. Capstone Experiences- like senior research
projects and research tasks/assignments
can allow students to develop and explore a
research question of their own.
d. Out-of-the-class Student/Faculty
Collaborative Researches – provide students
opportunity to work with faculty members
o their own on-going research or on a
project jointly or designed by both.

 The old saying, “Give me a fish and I eat today.

Teach me how to fish and I will eat for a
lifetime” can be applied to research training, to
start with in the senior high school/
undergraduate level up to the tertiary. This
quotation refers to students need to learn
applications skills. This means that they have to
engage personally in what they are doing. It also
means learner’s motivation and hard work.

 When you embark in research, you will need

learning experiences composed of a knowledge
component described as the representation of
facts, principles, concepts, procedures and/or
theories in a certain subject, characterized by
learning, remembering and/or reproducing and