CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

This chapter contains the discussion of the methods and procedures that the

researchers will use in gathering the data needed in the study. This includes the

research methodology, sources of data, data gathering procedures, the research

instruments and the statistical treatment of data.

Research Method

This study will utilize a combination of research strategies namely: the descriptive

–qualitative method and the quantitative method. A qualitative method seeks to

ascertain respondent’s compliance on the frontline services offered by the Social

Service Offices. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally

specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors and social contexts of

particular populations and it uses semi-structured method such as in-depth interviews,

1
focus groups and participant observation.

Likewise, the researchers will use the quantitative method. It is a method which

emphasizes on objective measurements and numerical analysis of data collected

through polls, questionnaires or surveys. Quantitative research focuses on gathering

numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people 2. This will be utilized for the

interpretation of the findings on the questionnaire to be given to the respondents along

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with the frontline services offered by the Social Service Offices of the LGU of Masbate

City.

Through these methods, the researchers will be able to determine the

compliance of the selected social service offices on the delivery of each frontline service

through its direct clientele-respondents by describing and expressing how these offices

conform to such law. The questionnaires and interview guides that will be administered

are subject for analysis and are based on the comprehension and interaction of the

respondents.

Moreover, this research method is the most appropriate design because it is

versatile and can help lead the researchers to identify the proper data that they want to

elucidate from the respondents. Furthermore, this method aims to gather data without

any manipulation on the researchers’ context. On the other hand, because of the data

collection and analysis procedures (the survey and interview guide), this method is very

effective to investigate large group of subjects. Furthermore, because of the descriptive

method, the researchers will be able to know the problems encountered with the

compliance of the frontline services and to have possible pellucid solutions for such.

Hence, this can be basis for the enhancement of Republic Act 9485 also known as Anti-

Red Tape Act of 2007.

Sources of Data

All the information and the data that are essential to the study will be obtained

from various sources. There are two sources of data that the researchers will utilize in
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the conduct of the study. First, the primary sources are the important documents about

the projects and the data which will come from the respondents which includes the

selected frontline social service officers and the clienteles as they answer

questionnaires and interviews which will be conducted personally by the researchers.

Second, the secondary sources of data are the information from the LGU and

other government agencies, books, journals, unpublished undergraduate theses,

dictionary, the internet and other reference material that are deemed relevant to the

present study. The materials will supply the data that are not achieved from the

respondents and the concerned offices of the LGU. The copy of the Anti-Red Tape Act

of 2007 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations and Citizen’s Charter, the Frontline

Services being offered by the selected social services offices and others was referred

at. The latter were also used to identify the respondents and the key respondents

through the use of documentary analysis.

Respondents

There are two sets of respondents in the conduct of the study. The first set are

the clients who avail the Frontline Social Services of the LGU offices in Masbate City

serves as the primary respondents. The steps taken in determining the sample size

includes: a) Identifying the top three (3) most populated in the Upland (Maingaran,

Malinta and Usab), Poblacion (Ibingay, Nursery and Tugbo) and Coastal (Bantigue,

Bolo and Pawa) barangays in Masbate City; b) by means of the Slovin’s Formula, the

required sample size will be determined with the preferred margin of error at 5%; c) the
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number of respondents per barangay will be distributed using the Proportionate

Sampling Techique; and d) the Purposive Sampling Method will also be employed to

know who among the residents of the selected barangay will qualify as respondents of

the study.

TOTAL
BARANGAY CLASSIFICATION RESPONDENTS
POPULATION
Bantigue Coastal 3,112 29
Bolo Coastal 2,911 27
Ibingay Poblacion 7,219 66
Maingaran Upland 3,239 30
Malinta Upland 3,567 33
Nursery Poblacion 11,805 109
Pawa Coastal 2,333 22
Tugbo Poblacion 5,991 55
Usab Upland 2,880 26
TOTAL 43,057 396

Table 1

Number of Respondents for the 9 Most Populous Barangays in Masbate City

Slovins’s formula is used to calculate an appropriate sample size from a

population.3 For example, it’s well known that IQ scores follow a normal distribution

pattern. But what about if you know nothing about your population at all? That’s when

you can use Slovin’s formula to figure out what sample size you need to take, which is

written as n = N / (1 + Ne 2) where n = Number of samples, N = Total population and e =

Error tolerance.4

Proportionate Sampling Method, is a sampling strategy used when the population

is composed of several subgroups that are vastly different in number. The number of
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participants from each subgroup is determined by their number relative to the entire

population.5 In order to determine the number of respondents from each barangays, the

abovementioned method was used; where the population from each barangays was

divided by the entire population by the total population of the selected barangays, and

was then multiplied by the sample size.

Population of One of the Selected Barangay

x Sample Size

Total Population of the Selected Barangays

A total of 43, 057 residents are garnered from the top three (3) most populated in

the Upland (Maingaran, Malinta and Usab), Poblacion (Ibingay, Nursery and Tugbo)

and Coastal (Bantigue, Bolo and Pawa) barangays in Masbate City. Using the Sloven’s

Formula and the Proportionate Sampling Method, the researchers came up with a total

of 396 respondents. Purposive Sampling Technique is also going to be used. It is a non-

probability sampling in which one that is selected based on the knowledge of a

population and the purpose of the study. 6 The third sampling technique is crucial for the

current undertaking because it enables the researchers to isolate the respondents from

mere residents.

Also, the employees in the offices of LGU Masbate City who offer Frontline

Social Services will serve as the respondents and/or implements. They will be utilized to

supplement and support information that are gathered in the study. There would be 3

respondents coming from the implementers; one from the Bureau of Fire Protection,
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one from the Social Welfare Department and another one from the Department of

Agriculture.

Research Instrument

The researchers will utilize the questionnaire, and interview guide methods as

the data gathering tool. The questionnaire is designed to conduct a survey to the

selected clienteles with regards to the frontlines services offered by the government.

Both the interview guide and the questionnaire are written in English which will be the

main tools use in gathering data; the questionnaires will be translated in Filipino so that

the respondents will understand it well. There will be four parts of the questionnaire-

checklist that will be distributed to the clientele or the selected residents of the selected

barangays who will be assessing the frontline service performance of the Social Service

Offices. The first part of the questionnaire is the Socio-demographic profile of the

clienteles, second is the compliance on the delivery of each frontline services of the

social service offices based on Anti-Red Tape Act, the third is the problems

encountered by the clients in the compliance of ARTA, and the fourth will be the

proposed measures to solve the problems.

The researchers will also conduct key informant interview (using the interview

guide) to the Social Service Offices to be answered by the selected frontline service

officers to draw out a concrete and reliable source of data that will be used in the

interpretation and analysis of the study. Like the questionnaire, the interview guide will

also have four parts. The first part will be the socio-demographic profile of the
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employees, the second part will be the compliance on the delivery of each frontline

service, the third part is the problems encountered by the implementers in the

compliance of Anti- Red Tape Act, and the fourth part will be the proposed measures to

solve the problems.

The formulated questions on the interview guide and questionnaire–checklist was

based on the Anti-Red Tape Act and the frontline services offered by the Social Service

Offices.

Research Procedure

The researchers will follow a number of procedures to employ a systematic conduct

of the study:

1. Upon series of deliberation, the researchers chose Masbate as the locale of

the study.

2. The researchers formulated the problem entitled “Compliance On R.A. 9485

(Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007) by Social Service Offices of the Local

Government Units of Masbate City.”

3. The researchers will outline and define the concept of the study, after which

they will conduct a research in various libraries to come up with

comprehensive related literature and study on the topic.

4. The researchers will seek the approval of the adviser. After which, the

researchers will determine which offices in the LGU of Masbate City rendered

social services and the particular frontline services offered by each offices.
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5. The researchers will proceed on conducting preliminary researches and will

gather relevant information that can be used in the completion of the study.

6. The researchers will utilize the descriptive–qualitative method and the

quantitative method of research for the questionnaire and interview. The

researchers will formulate an interview guide for frontline services officer for

each social services offices and formulate a questionnaire for the selected

clientele availing such services.

7. The researchers’ proposal will be submitted for oral defense, after which

revision will be made.

8. Upon the approval of the study during the proposal defense, the researchers

will then subject the questionnaires for pre-testing in offices and barangays

which are not part of the locale of the study in order to know the validity and

reliability of the questionnaires.

9. After pre-testing the questionnaires, the researchers will now make a letter

asking for the approval of the Mayor of Masbate City and the barangay

captain for each barangay selected for data gathering purposes.

10. The researchers will now administer the questionnaires which were previously

pre-tested and explain the study to the respondents in order for them to fully

understand the objective of the study. After which the researchers will now

start the interview with the social service offices in the city of Masbate and will

administer questionnaires to the clientele availing such services.

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11. After collecting the needed information, the researchers will start to

summarize, analyze, interpret and tabulate in order to come up with the

findings, conclusions and recommendation of the research.

12. The researchers will now submit the completed manuscript for final defense.

Statistical Treatment of Data

The statistical method in the analysis of the data will chosen on the basis of their

suitability of the data such as stratified random sampling method, frequency count,

percentage of the study distribution. A graphical presentation of ranking will be used to

further show the relationship and/or difference among variables to be gathered.

Specifically, the statistical tools that will be used are as follows:

1. Slovin’s Formula is a sampling method introduced by Kulkol Magnus Mcleod in

determining the sample population of the study. 7 This formula will allow the

researcher to divide the population with the desired degree of accuracy. It will

give the researcher the idea of how large the sample size needs to be and

ensure the accuracy of the results. The preferred margin of error for this study is

5%.

N Where:
n=
1+ N e 2
n= number of samples

N= total number of population

e= marginal error/ error of tolerance

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2. Proportionate Sampling Technique is the second sampling technique which

enables the researchers to portion out the total respondents depending on the

size of the population of a given barangay.

Population of One of the Selected Barangay

× Sample ¿ ¿
Total Population of the Selected Barangays

3. Purposive Sampling Technique will also be used since the researchers need to

identify who were the residents who availed social services.

4. Frequency Count is used in which the number of respondents, responses and

occurrences of the subject study is determined. It is used to describe the

respondents in terms of quantity.a The data will be assessed by grouping them

into different classes, the number of responses in each class will be determined

and the results will be presented in tabular form. b

5. Percentage will help determine the range of respondents who approve with the

compliance of ARTA by the Social Service Offices of the LGU of Masbate City.

The totality or total percentage of the respondents who participated in the survey.

f f= Frequency
p= ×100
n
n= Sample Size

100 is constant
Where: p=Percentage

6. Ranking will be used to determine the relation arrangement of measure on a

series according to magnitude, value of quality or vice versa. c In this study, it will

describe the respondents’ response and the comparison to the totality of data. It
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will be used to measure what particular responses get the highest point. This will

be used to know the most common opinion, observations and recommendations

of the respondents in relation to the compliance of ARTA by the Social Service

Offices of the LGU of Masbate City.

Notes

1
Gaudencio V. Aquino. “Fundamentals of Research”. National

Bookstore Inc.. Mandaluyong City, Philippines 1992. Pg. 22.

2
Babbie, Earl R., The Practice of Social Research. Retrieved from
http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=615867.html, April
24,2014, 5:34pm.
3
Retrieved from http://www.statisticshowto.com/how-to-use-slovins-
formula/, April 27, 2014, 6:34pm
4
Retrieved from http://dheeman.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/how-
to-use-slovins-formula-2/, April 27, 2014, 6:34pm
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5
Retrieved from http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?
term=Proportionate+Sampling#ixzz308pjqhNo, April 27, 2014, 6:35pm)
6
Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/Types-of-
Samples/a/Purposive-Sample.htm, April 27, 2014, 6:35pm)
7
Salvador, Benito L., Perception On The Provincial Ordinance No.
2011-3 (Anti-Plastic Ordinance Of Albay) Of Selected Commercial
Establishments In Legazpi City. (Undergraduate Thesis, BUCSSP, Daraga,
Albay, March 2014, pp. 49)