TO: ALL STUDENTS IN RESEARCH

SAMPLES OF SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY, SCOPE AND

LIMITATIONS, DEFINITION OF TERMS

SAMPLE 1:

Significance of the Study

Observing the abundance of rice hull in the field and

polystyrene foam from the food and other goods packaging, and

enlightened by the results of other studies utilizing these solid

wastes, the researcher is opted to investigate the possibility of

these two waste materials as alternative construction materials

that would provide insulation in buildings.

Thus, if this is found positive, this study will be significant to

the following:

 Average Family Dwellings. This composite material will

certainly offer them comfort while staying in their

respective houses. Equally, this is also beneficial to any

 large construction/building that aspires to minimize cost

of insulation.

 The Concerned Government Agency. Utilization of

these wastes will definitely reduce the volume of wastes in

the dump sites which will eventually reduce the overhead

cost of its collection and hauling.

 Poor Families. The recovery/collection and selling of

these wastes can somehow augment their meager income

to sustain their daily needs.

 The Researchers. This research will surely enrich their

knowledge on waste utilization and concern of the

environment.

 Capitol University. This will surely contribute to the

attainment of its objective of helping the community

through its strengthened research and extension.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study is conducted to ascertain the insulation potential

of the composite material made from rice hull and polystyrene

foam wastes and assess its usefulness as an alternative

construction material.

Rice hull used are raw, dry and not burned. Samples are

taken from one of the rice mills in Opol, Misamis Oriental. The

polystyrene foam are those which are generally coming from

cafeterias, fast foods, snack centers and others, which are dumped

in the landfills and purposely recovered for this study.

Only locally produced adhesives of good quality is used so as

not to be constrained with material supply during the production

of samples. Specifically, the brand is Shellwood Glue. There are no

other additives of any kind used except the two main materials

only plus the adhesive.

Testing of the samples is done in the laboratory and in the

actual model building. Such test in the model building is done

under a controlled condition to test its effectiveness as insulation

material.

Definition of Terms

To facilitate easy understanding of the contents and

discussion of the study, the following terms are defined

operationally and or theoretically:

Affordability. This refers to a condition where the

composite material costs lesser than the commercially

available insulation boards.

Composite Material. This refers to the combination of rice

hull and polystyrene foam pressed together with Shellwood

Glue adhesive to form a light insulation material.

Environment-friendly. This refers to the characteristic of

the composite material being non-toxic and the development

of almost zero waste in its production.

Heat Transferred. This is the transfer of heat from inside of

the model building to the outside.

Insulation Capacity. The ability of the composite material

to reduce heat.

Locally Available. This refers to a condition where the

components of the composite material can be found in the

local community and do not need importation.

Marginal Family Dwellings. These are houses with

galvanized iron sheet roofs but generally without ceiling.

Moisture content. The amount of water in the rice hull at

the time it is mixed with shredded polystyrene foam and

resin.

Polystyrene foam. A waste derived from packaging of foods

and other sundry goods.

Proportion. This refers to the ratio of the polystyrene foam

to rice hull by volume.

Rice hull. An agricultural waste derived from the skin of the

rice seed left after the milling process.

Solid waste. This refers to both rice hull and polystyrene

foam that will be used as a composite insulation material.

Specific gravity. The ratio of the mass density of the

composite material to the mass density of water at 4C.

Thermal conductivity. This is a measure of the rate at

which heat is conducted through a particular material under

specified conditions. The lesser its value for a certain

material makes such material a good insulator.

SAMPLE 2:

Significance of the Study

This study ascertains the relevance of the Program

Educational Objectives and Program Outcomes of the CU – College

of Engineering. This utilizes the 360 –degrees feedback mechanism

from the different stakeholders whose concerns, comments and

suggestions are explored. Thus this study would be very significant

to:

 The CU – College of Engineering. The feedbacks of the

stakeholders would serve as the springboard for the

continuous improvement of the college.

 Engineering students. The outcome of the assessment will

improve the learning process of the students. Better

experiences will likely to be encountered. Students become

more competitive in the work area in terms of skills and

knowledge.
 Industry Partners. The collaborative inputs from the

different industries would serve as an eye – opener for the

College to respond to their needs in terms of the skills and

competencies.

 Capitol University. This study would served as the basis for

the enhancement of the program delivery including the

streamlining of the curricular activities for the development

of a more responsive graduates, which CU could take pride

of.

 Engineering Faculty. The result of the study may change

the attitude of the faculty to become more concern to the

learning process of the students. Likewise, for them to

become more aware of the global engineering events that

they can share to the students.

 Engineering Alumni. The outcome of the study will

eventually enhance the quality of the engineering alumni by

producing more skillful and competitive graduates who will

be added to the existing alumni in the field.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study covers the assessment of the Program Educational

Objectives (PEO’s) and Program Outcomes (PO’s) of the College of

Engineering. The activity includes getting feedbacks from the

different stakeholders, namely; Alumni, Graduating Seniors,

Undergraduate Students, Faculty members and Industry –

Partners.

The alumni that were interviewed are those who participated

in the Engineering Alumni Homecoming last February 12, 2011.

However there are some of them who are classified as walk – ins in

the office of the College Dean.

As to the industry- partners, only 13 selected industries

located in the proximity of Cagayan de Oro City and with identified

CU graduates employed are invited.

All the faculty members of the College of Engineering are

included. Similarly, considering their number all graduating

seniors are required to participate in the exit interview/

assessment forum where their responses on the issues related to

PEO’s and PO’s are presented. Furthermore, some selected

undergraduate students are requested to participate.

The data gathering techniques varies, such as using standard

survey questionnaires, focus group discussion, and individual

interviews.

The Program Educational Objectives and Program Outcomes

are those which are specified by the Commission on Higher

Education in the respective Engineering CMO’s issued in 2008.

Definition of Terms.

To provide a better understanding of the study, the following

terms are given definitions.

Ability. It refers to the “power to do something,

intellectually or physically” (Villar, 2009).

Anxiety global factor. A global factor scale composed of the

contributory aspects of the primary personality factors of

warmth, vigilance, apprehension and tension.

Aptitude. It refers to the inherent ability or potential to learn

after some training or studies in areas such as technology,

music, athletics, art, communications, mathematics,

science, etc.

Career. A lifelong calling or pursuit that includes a

profession, an occupation, vocation, avocation or other

calling that one pursues through a lifetime, although it may

change, where one is able to pursue interests and develop

and use potentials and aptitudes, skills and abilities.

Career Counseling. It is the process of helping an

individual come up with a personal career plan by collecting,

collating and evaluating various information about the self

and the world of work to help the client meet his/her life

goals and take the necessary steps to implement the plan.

Career Planning. The consideration of and decision-making

done by which alternatives open in the occupational,

educational, and leisure areas of one’s life are studied and

selected.
Entrepreneurial Skills (ES). It pertains to one of the

potential/inclination of students measured and shown

through the NCAE results.

Global Factors. This refers to the five global factors of

personality found under the 16 Pf test namely, Extraversion,

Anxiety, Tough-mindedness, Independence and Self-control,

which are made of combinations of the primary factors to

describe personality in broader terms.

Job. A specific kind of work or set of tasks or duties a person

has to perform at the workplace from day to day, according

to a description and set of expectations.

Personality Traits. It refers to “the qualities that reflect a

person’s unique character and identity” (Imelda Villar 2009).

Primary Personality Factors. It is also referred to as the

personality traits in this study. This refers to the personality

factor scales found under the 16 PF test namely: warmth,

reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-

consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance,

abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to

change, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension.

Self-control global factor. This refers to the global factor

that is made of the primary components of liveliness, rule-

consciousness, abstractedness, perfectionism.

Technical-vocational aptitude. It is otherwise known as

the “Overall TVA” or “TVA” of students based on the NCAE.

This measure covers the clerical ability and visual-

manipulative skills of students.

Visual- Manipulative Skills (VMS). It pertains to one of the

potential/inclination of students measured and shown

through the NCAE results.