6th Research Colloquium

(Reflection Paper)

Faithful to its mission of equipping its students to become

world-class researchers, the University of Bohol Graduate School and
Professional Studies held its 6th Research Colloquium on May 20,
2017, at UB Nursing Skills Laboratory. The universitys research
colloquium is a forum mandated by the Commission on Higher
Education where graduate school students expose themselves to the
process of starting a research work and updates on the latest trends
in applied research in various disciplines.

The said forum was graced with two brilliant speakers who
hailed from prestigious universities and are recognized experts in the
field of research. They were Dr. Margaret Udarve-Alvarez and Dr.
Nelly Z. Limbadan. Dr. Alvarez is the current Research Director in the
Research and Publication Department of Silliman University,
Dumaguete City. The second speaker was Dr. Nelly Z. Limbadan,
Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in Ateneo de
Davao University. She discussed on Quantitative and Qualitative
Research.

The first speaker tackled on the process of research and

publication wherein she ignited everyone to take the courage of
publishing their work, so their labor and hard work will be paid off.
She started her talk by telling us the nature of research. She captured
the difficulties of conducting research from the statement of a
psychologist named Harry Kirke Wolfe (1918),
 Research is a mental groping by starlight
towards the daylight of clearer vision.
It begins in the slow laborious search for facts in a narrow
field.
As material accumulates, relations appear.
The mass ferments, and finally organizes itself
into the semblance of a new living idea.

She said research and publication are indeed a laborious work;

however, there is satisfaction and fulfillment at the end when a new
living idea comes out. She recalled an experience when she was still
new to publication. Her first submitted paper for publication was
rejected outright by the peer reviewers, but she did not lose hope.
She persisted until she was able to publish in various journals. And
now, she is already the research director of a prestigious university.

Her statements struck my mind and reminded me of the saying,

the experts were once beginners. Dr. Alvarez is an epitome of
someone who had moved from being a newbie researcher to being
an expert. Looking at the place where she is now, and her humble
beginning bolstered my interest to publish a research paper in the
future. There is no impossibility in publication as long as we are
passionate in what we are doing.

Another thing that I learned while listening to her was the value
of persistence and humility. She persisted and worked hard with
humility until she reached her ambitions in life. Rome was not built in
one night, and so it will take time for us to become experts. However,
if we start our first single step now in our thousand miles journey, we
could expect something bigger and brighter in the future.
 She challenged the graduate school students especially those
who are enrolled in the PhD programs never to be afraid to publish
our work. Start small and eventually you will learn the trade of
research and publication. Submit papers to different journals. If our
paper is rejected, we should not stop there until it is published. Her
challenge motivated me personally to try publishing my work.

The second speaker, who shared in the afternoon, was Dr.

Nelly Z. Limbadan. She tackled about the different research designs
which are under quantitative and qualitative research. Dr. Limbadan
differentiated the two types of research designs regarding concept
and methodology. Quantitative is numerical in nature whereas
qualitative research is non-numerical. Quantitative data are gathered
using closed questions, or by using scales; on the other hand,
qualitative research requires the use of open-ended questions which
generate qualitative answers.

She motivated the students to never settle for a single research

design because there are a lot of research designs out there that are
waiting to be used depending on the needs of the situation. Another
aspect of her talk was the discussion of the advantages and
disadvantages of using any of the two research designs. She even
said if there is a need to use the two designs which are commonly
known as triangulation, do not be afraid to try it. Venturing into a
research design that is not common among students is a bit scary at
first but after knowing how it is being done eventually makes
somebody versatile in doing research.
 Based on my observation, the majority of the theses and
dissertations displayed at UBGSPS library used quantitative research
designs. Only a handful of UB graduate school researchers ventured
into qualitative research and most of them are those who enrolled in
the MA Nursing program. They prefer to use phenomenology as
their research design. So far, I have not seen yet anyone in the
UBGSPS who used Grounded Theory approach at the PhD level.

As I reflected on the talk of Dr. Limbadan, the UBGSPS should

provide an avenue for its students to learn more about Qualitative
Research Designs such as Phenomenology, Case Study, Historical
Analysis, Content Analysis, Grounded Theory, etc. Furthermore,
there is a need for the school to empower its students with the latest
technology used in both qualitative and quantitative research such as
SPSS, NVIVO, etc. if the goal of the school is to help its students
become globally competitive.