SAINT PAUL UNIVERSITY PHILIPPINES

Tuguegarao City

METHODS OF RESEARCH
Mid-Term Examination
Second Trimester 2017-2018

NAME: JOHN PAUL A . ANAPI

PROGRAM COURSE: MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOSPITALITY
MANAGEMENT

1. Give a definition of research and explain

2. Why do people undertake research
3. Enumerate and explain 5 difficulties in conducting a research
4. Cite 2 uses of research as a scientific process and explain
5. Differentiate quantitative from qualitative research
6. Can case study be more appropriately a qualitative rather than quantitative
research? Justify your answer.
7. Differentiate pure from applied research
8. Cite 3 possible ethical issues that can be encountered in research and how these
can be addressed
9. Give 3 factors to consider in choosing a research problem and explain
10. Differentiate quasi from true experimental design
1. Give a definition of research and explain

: Research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict and control the

observed phenomenon. It involves inductive and deductive methods. Inductive
methods analyse the observed phenomenon and identify the general principles,
structures, or processes underlying the phenomenon observed; deductive
methods verify the hypothesized principles through observation. The purpose is
different; one is to develop explanations, and the other is to test validity of
explanation.
2. Why do people undertake Research?

: Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory.

Exploratory define as initial research into hypothetical or theoretical idea,

while descriptive research is defined as attempts to explore and explain while
providing additional information about a topic. Explanatory implies that the
research in question is intended to explain, rather than simply to describe the
phenomena studied.

3. Enumerate and explain 5 difficulties in conducting a research

 CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOPIC –determining what resources you have

available- time, money, people and choose a topic that can do justice.
 CHOOSING THE RIGHT METHODOLOGY- the methodology that used
comes from the research question, not from the personal preferences for
one design or another.
 FINDING STUDY PARTICIPANTS- once you have your team together, it
is time conduct the study and that means finding participants.
 GETTING INSTITUTION TO PARTICIPATE- recruiting study participants
requires going through institutions, which may put up barriers, particularly
if the research is controversial or sensitive, and it presents an additional
challenge.
 DEALING WITH THE DATA-the final challenge is knowing how to make
sense of the data gathered.

4. Site 2 uses of research as a scientific process and explain

: HYPOTHESIS –this method is a tentative description of what has been

observed, and make predictions based on the hypothesis.
DATA ANALYSIS- the data and draw conclusion; accept or reject the hypothesis
or modify the hypothesis necessary.

5. Differentiate quantitative from qualitative research

: QUALITATIVE research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an

understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It provides
insight into a problem or help to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential
quantitative research..
QUANTITIVE research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating
numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistic. It is used to
quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors and other defined variables- and
generalize result from a larger sample population.
6. Can case study be more appropriately a qualitative rather than quantitative
research? Justify your answer.

: Yes! Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive,

naturalistic approach to its subject matter. Meaning qualitative researchers
studying things in their natural setting, attempting to make sense of, or interpret,
phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them.
While the aim of qualitative research is to understand the social reality of
individuals, group and cultures as nearly as possible as its participants feel it or
live it. Qualitative researchers use a variety of methods to develop deep
understanding of how people perceive their social realities and in consequence,
how they act within social world ie: dairy accounts, open-ended questionnaires,
documents, participants’ observation and ethnography.

7. Differentiate pure from applied research

: The key difference between pure and applied research depends on their goal:
Pure research is conducted without a specific goal in mind whereas applied
research conducted with the aim of solving problem. The main aim of pure
research is to advance knowledge about the world, and introduce new theories,
ideas, and principals as well as new ways of thinking. Pure research is the
source of most new information and ways of thinking in the world.

While applied research is conducted in order to solve a specific and practical

problem. Therefore, it tends to be descriptive in nature. However, applied
research is often based on basic research or pure research. Since it involved in
solving practical problem, it often include empirical methods.
Applied research is used in a variety of fields such as medicines, technology,
education, or agriculture. Studying relationship between genetics and cancer,
observing the behaviour of children to identify the effectiveness of various
interventions are some examples of applied research.

8. Cite 3 possible ethical issues that can be encountered in research and how
these can be addressed

 INFORMED CONSENT is the one of the major ethical issue in conducting

research, it seeks to incorporate the rights of autonomous individuals
through self-determination. The researcher must inform the subjects about
the methods which will be used to protect anonymity and confidentiality
and indicate a person with whom they can discuss the study.
 BENEFICENCE- DO NOT HARM the ethical principle of beneficence
refers to the Hippocratic “be of benefit, do not harm. Sometimes difficult to
predict when creating hypothesis especially in qualitative research,
beneficence relates to the benefits of the research, while non-maleficence
relates to the potential risk of participation.
 RESPECT FOR ANONYMITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY the issue of
confidentiality and anonymity is closely connected with the rights of
beneficence, respect for the dignity and fidelity.if the researcher is not able
to promise anonymity he has to address confidentiality, which is the
management of private information by researcher in order to protect the
subject’s identity.
9. Give 3 factors to consider in choosing a research problem and explain

 CHOOSE SOMETHING THAT INTEREST YOU

Research takes a long time, often much more time than what is expected,
do not choose a topic or jump onto some ones research unless it tackles
your interest. In addition to being time consuming research can be also
frustrating as it usually run into unforeseen obstacle. Staying motivated is
difficult enough when the topic is something you are really passionate
about.
 CHOOSE A TOPIC THAT IS FEASIBLE
There are many topic but some topic are more feasible than others. For
instance, if you want to conclusively prove or disprove the research will
probably not going well. Since every researcher has different limitations or
restrictions, the question of feasibility often depends on individual
researcher.
 CHOOSE A TOPIC THAAT IS “RESEARCH-WORTHY”
Most people that begin research have an end goal in mind.nresearch is
typically written for an audience, wheter it be a select group of individuals
or broader population and have to keep in mind as selecting a topic.

10. Differentiate quasi from true experimental design

 In true experiment, participants are randomly assigned to either the

treatment or the control group, whereas they are not assigned randomly in
a quasi-experiment
 In quasi experiment, the control and treatment groups differ not only in
terms of the experimental treatment they receive, but also in other, often
unkown or unknowable, ways. Thus, the researcher must try to statistically
control for as many of these differences as possible.
 Because control is lacking in quasi-experiments, there may be several
“rival hypotheses” competing with the experimental manipulation as
explanations for observed results.