CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter covers the methods and procedure to be used in the conduct of the study. These

include research design, research environment, research respondents, research instrument and the

statistical treatment of data.

Research Design

This study used the survey approach of conducting a research. Specifically, it employed the

descriptive survey and correlation procedures. The researcher’s determination in this research is

to provide data which will help determine the difference concerning the attitude of the STEM

students towards Science and to prove the correlation of the variables; attitude and science

process skills of the selected students. According to Ethridge (2014), Descriptive studies are

characterized as the attempt to determine, define or identify what is. As what Busk (2015) said; a

correlational study is a particular type of a descriptive research where the researchers are

concerned of the relationships between two variables. Moreover, there is no attempt to

manipulate the variables. (Siegle, 2015).

Research Environment

The survey was conducted at the University of Cebu-Pri Campus which is located in Sambag I, J.

Alcantara St., Cebu City. The campus serves as an extension of the Main Campus where it is

composed of only two grade levels; grade 11 and grade 12. The campus also offers different

tracks like Arts and Design, Technical Vocational Livelihood and Academic Track. In the
Technical Vocational Livelihood, it comprises with Cookery, Computer Systems Servicing and

Travel Service. As for the Academic Track, it compiles with General Academic Strand,

Humanities and Social Sciences, next is the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

and lastly, the Accountancy, Business and Management. The school’s mission is to offer quality

Senior High School Education services in an enabling and supportive learning environment.

Research Respondents

The researchers chose STEM Grade 12 from the afternoon session as the respondents of the

study with a population of 502; thus, the method that was used to determine the sample size is

the Calmorin’s formula with a sampling error of 0.02 which results the sample size as 130

respondents.

After finding out the needed sample size, it was settled to use the cluster sampling method.

Cluster sampling is used in statistics when natural groups are present in a population. The whole

population is subdivided into clusters, or groups, and random samples are then collected from

each group (Glen, 2013). First, the researchers selects groups or clusters, specifically the

sections; Providence, Wisdom, Brilliance, Fortitude, Zeal, Adroitness, Dynamism, Benevolence,

Resilience, Optimism and Joy, then from every cluster, the researchers selects the individual

subjects by systematic random sampling; where they select every 5th element of the population.

After, the researchers selected a 5 sections through the systematic random sampling.

Research Instrument

The instruments used in the study consists of two parts: Science Process Skills Test (SPST) and

the Attitudes toward Science Questionnaire (ATSQ).

Part I. Science Process Skills Test

This instrument is adopted by (Zeidan, 2015). This test is composed of 18 items that examines

basic and integrated science process skills. There are 10 items that tests the basic science process

skills such as the observation, measuring, classifying, predicting and communicating. As for the

integrated science process skills, there are 8 items specifically, controlling variables,

hypothesizing and experimentation. This test was used in order to determine the level of mastery

in science process skills of the selected students. As for the validation of this instrument, a study

of Zeidan (2015) was pilot tested with a group of 25 first secondary Grade students similar of its

target population to ensure their comprehensibility, validity, and reliability.

Part II. Attitude towards Science Questionnaire (ATSQ)

This test was adopted by Zeidan (2015) as the instrument to identify the selected students’ level

of attitude towards science. It is composed of 25 items which indicates whether the student

agrees or disagrees using the Likert-type, a 5-point response scale (5 = strongly agree, 4 = agree,

3 = neutral, 2 = disagree & 1 = strongly disagree). A study conducted by Zeidan (2015) states

that the results of the instrument were used in order to explore its structural validity and found

out that the total amount of variance for the 25 items was 47.06%, the eigenvalue was 11.77, and

all items loaded on the anticipated factor has a loading weight greater than 0.60 which means

that the claim for structural validity strongly supported the said instrument.

Research Procedure

The study compiled of four phases: setting up the test and survey questions, requiring the

respondents to suffice the instruments, analyzing the data gathered and the privacy and

confidentiality of the collected information.

Phase I consists of setting up the test and survey questions, it also includes the process of

preparing and validating the approval form to perform survey’s on the selected students. Phase II

comprises of requesting the respondents to answer the instruments provided. The student’s

science process skills was measured through the Science Process Skills Test (SPST) with a total

of 18 items. As for the attitude of the selected students, the instrument that was assessed was the

Attitudes toward Science Questionnaire (ATSQ) consisting of 25 items. Phase III covers the

analyzation of the information’s gathered based on the aforenamed instruments. Phase IV

contains the confidentiality and the privacy of the information..

Statistical Treatment of Data

All collected data were collated for analyses. Appropriate statistical measures were used and

employed to quantify the data and to answer the problem set for the study.

Descriptive statistics such as frequency count and percent distribution, mean and standard

deviation were used to describe the respondents’ profile.

Frequency count determines the number of respondents who were subjected to the assessment of

science process skills.

Arithmetic Mean was used to assess students’ mastery of basic process skills and performance in

science.

Mean Percentage Score was used to determine the average score in the Science Process Skill Test

and in the Achievement Test.

Standard Deviation was used to get the average of how distant the individual scores or

perception are from the mean of the tests.

Weighted Mean was computed to determine the level of students’ attitude toward science.

Inferential Statistics of Pearson Product-Moment-Correlation Coefficient was employed to

determine the relationship of Scientific Attitude and mastery in basic process skills to

performance in Science and their significance.