Action Research Proposal in DepEd - Super Draft

Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
REGION V - BICOL
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF MASBATE CITY
MASBATE NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL
MASBATE CITY
Address: Quezon St., Masbate City
School ID: 302148 Email Add: mnchs.edu@gmail.com
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
Enhancing Students’ Utilization of Gadgets and Internet Connection in
Improving Academic Performance in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic,
New Normal in Education, and Distance Learning
An Action Research Proposal Presented to the School Research Committee of:
Masbate National Comprehensive High School – Junior High School
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the:
Araling Panlipunan Department Action Plan for S.Y.: 2021-2022
Accomplishment Report
By:
GLENN RIVERA
JHS Teacher
Araling Panlipunan ICT Coordinator
School Monitoring, Evaluation and Adjustment (SMEA) Coordinator
School Enrollment Focal Person (SEFP)
BAC Secretariat Head

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
I. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE
Many experts, teachers, and even plain people have long stated that a student's socio-
economic background affects his or her performance or learning in school and even at home.
This still holds true to some extent especially now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although
there are many other reasons or factors that affect children's learning, their general
background is one of the most common. In this aspect, the study looks into the ICT-based
situation of the family, especially the students and how it impacts on their academic
performance. Digital manipulatives surrounding the learners play an important role in his/her
performance in school especially during the new normal in education, where there is distance
learning through modalities namely online, digital, modular, radio-based instruction, TV-
based instruction, and blended learning. There are things that need to be clarified as to the
extent of the influence of these indicators on the youth in school especially on their learning
and performance. If in the past, teacher-centered and learner-centered approaches always
prevailed in professional studies, scholarly research, or informal discussions, now the
researcher will examine family-centered or society-centered approaches and concepts. The
previous two approaches are mostly behavioral in nature and often investigate psychological
factors or indicators only. Today, we also need to consider the socio-economic influences that
have bearing on the learning and performance curves of students in school. As such, the study
equates ICT-based socio-economic factors with the availability and enhanced utilization of
electronic gadgets and internet access or connectivity. Whereas, academic performance will
be defined in terms of average grades, compliance record and failing grades of students, all
in the context of the new normal in education and distance learning.
Parents, guardians, siblings, and other people around a child play an important role in his or
her performance in school. Even the objects or places to which he/she directly has access or
the ability to manipulate, affect how he/she fares academically. It is often said that the use of

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
gadgets, whether at home or in school, has a negative effect on children in general. This also
seems to be true when it comes to their academic performance. Gadgets, like mobile phones,
tablets, and computers, especially when they are connected to the internet, influence the
behaviors of students to the extent that they develop addiction to the value-added services
of these products including mobile games and social media activities. Many reasons have
been identified as to why this is happening. (Cite studies later). In this research, we will try to
see if these technologies can help students during the ongoing pandemic, where distance
learning is prevalent, and even beyond. The correlation between gadget and internet
availability with “good” academic performance will be explored among Grade 9 students at
the Masbate National Comprehensive High School for the School Year 2021-2022. However,
other intervening factors or processes such as the direct effects of gadgets and internet to
the productivity or ICT-based upskilling of students will not be discussed thoroughly. It will be
left to other scholars and researchers to tackle.
So, how are students performing during this current pandemic? Here are the data. Average
grades fall only between 80 to 86 percent during every quarter of the School Year 2020-2021
and for the first quarter of S.Y.: 2021-2022. Although significant numbers of students-at-risk-
of-dropping-out (SARDO) and No Longer Participating in School Activities (NLPA) were
identified, the drop-out statistics in MNCHS have apparently decreased, while enrollment in
general has increased. The compliance records of students, however, registered a few who
have never returned outputs and answer sheets of self-learning modules (SLMs). There are
also failing grades in certain subject areas as shown by generated grade sheets of teachers.
(Cite comparative data, longitudinal, time-bound, etc.)
The main problem that the researcher is trying to solve, or at least provide means to solve, is
the apparent decline in student performance in school. The solution identified is, first, to
pinpoint which among the factors affecting student performance have the greatest impact on

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
it. Secondly, the study will look for the best indicators that can be “manipulated” so as to
make a positive impact on student performance. Socio-economic background indicators are
chosen for this initiative and the best independent variables that can be manipulated include
the availability of gadgets and access to internet at home.
Based on the data gathered, the researcher will confirm whether students’ socio-economic
background indicators, especially ICT-based ones, result in positive performance in school.
There are already studies that prove how the mentioned indicators affect the performance of
learners in the aspect of productivity enhancement and upskilling. While other provide
justification as to how technology helped provide alternative resources of information that
are readily accessible to students and teachers alike. So far, there are still limited studies on
the impact of these technological indicators of socio-economic background on the overall
academic performance of students especially in the context of an ongoing pandemic where
different types of distance learning modalities exist.
How do we measure the effectiveness of the solution then? One way to do this is to observe
students who have had access to gadgets and internet. If they apparently have increasing
grades and classroom compliance, vis-à-vis fewer to zero failing grades, then the “action” –
of providing them with gadgets and internet access – will be deemed effective as well. Initially,
the study will also compare statistically the performance of modular versus digital and online
students in MNCHS in terms of the indicators identified. If the data show how effectively
digital and online students perform better than modular students, then another “action”
would be needed. That is, convert existing modular students to digital and online ones,
assuming that they have the capacity to be so. In the process of this study, the level of ICT
skills, knowledge, and attitude of students dubbed generally as “productivity” as well as the
development of alternative sources of knowledge might be overlooked. Nevertheless, they
are all taken into consideration as intervening factors. Still, other things will be held constant

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
(ceteris paribus) to maintain a parsimonious stance towards this action research. All concepts
will be defined and operationalized as far as the researcher is concerned.
It is important to assess the relationship between socio-economic background indicators and
children’s school performance because we can act on these things. The behavioral factors
that are seen or present in teachers and young people may not be changed because they
oftentimes are innate or difficult to change from the point of view of teacher-centered and
learner-centered approaches. In the manner that we do “action research”, we can only
choose some indicators that we can move, change, or pay attention to so that we can also
change their direct and indirect effects on the overall academic performance of students.
In an institutional analysis of a child’s performance, it is also important to see the relevance
of social and economic institutions on the learning curves of Filipino children. Here in this
aspect of the study, the writings and action research are even rarer. The main reason is that
behavioral or psychological perspectives and methods of analysis, study, and research are
more dominant. Over time, institutional analysis has gained attention and ground in
educational research and social studies. It is still a young approach or method of analysis, but
it has great potential in explaining what is really happening in school and at home during
distance learning.
“Home coordinator” is the present term used to refer to a person who has direct guidance
over a student or learner. In the Department of Education’s language, “learner” is the proper
name given to a student or pupil. Terminology is indeed changing, and the scope of such
concepts and phenomena is expanding. More often, the words or terms that need to be
mentioned should be more specific to become clearer to others. A discussion in layman’s
terms will not defeat the scholarly intent of the study that aims to communicate as well to
experts and scholars.

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
Definition of Terms (Definitions will be provided later):
Academic Performance
Socio-economic Background
Learner – pupil and student
Home Coordinator
Institutions
Social institutions (religion included)
Gadget
Family income
Social class
Status
Educational Attainment
Institutional approach
Behavioral approach
Psychological approach
COVID-19
COVID-19 pandemic
New Normal in Education
DepEd BE-LCP

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
Distance Learning
Distance Learning Modality
Modular distance learning or education
Online learning
Digital learning
TV-Based instruction (TVI)
Radio-based instruction (RBI)
Other terms (see LESF and Grade 9 Student profile, Grade sheets, SMEA data and other
indicators)
II. ACTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study aims to improve the academic performance of practically all Grade 9 students in
Masbate National Comprehensive High School in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, new
normal in education, and distance learning, and even beyond by isolating the potential
positive effects of enhanced utilization of gadgets and internet connection. Specifically, it will
seek to answer the following questions:
1. What factors affect students’ academic performance in Masbate National
Comprehensive High School?
2. How does gadget and internet utilization affect the academic performance of students
in the context of the new normal in education and distance learning?
3. To what extent can gadgets and internet connection be used by the school in
enhancing academic performance and other school indicators of students?

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
III. PROPOSED INNOVATION, INTERVENTION AND STRATEGY
As an intervention to the relatively low level of academic performance of students in Grade 9
in Masbate National Comprehensive High School, this study will enhance the utilization of
gadgets and internet connection of students at home to improve their academic performance
in various means such as increasing average grades, higher compliance behavior or record,
and reduced failing grades in subject areas. The participants of the study will be subjected to
observations and statistical analysis on the basis of their positive use of gadgets such as
cellphones, tablets and computers, and internet connection, whether through mobile data,
WiFi, broadband or other means. This will last for three (3) months during the third quarter
period of School Year 2021-2022.
The initial observation and analysis will be made by comparing already gathered data on
enrollment via the online Modified Learner Enrollment and Survey Form (MLESF) and
academic performance indicators namely average grades, compliance to school outputs and
activities records, and failing grades and establishing either a correlation or causal
relationship between them. The next steps include isolating the effects of availability of
gadgets and internet connection at home on the academic performance of students. This will
also entail the observation of whether enhanced utilization of such gadgets and internet
connectivity positively affect the students’ academic performance. If needed, the study may
also employ deliberate efforts of providing gadgets and internet access to students through
less expensive means such as sponsorships, national government initiatives, and Local
Government Unit (LGU) grants or projects. The main objective is to see if the performance
indicators of Grade 9 students in MNCHS will improve after equipping them digitally.

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
IV. ACTION RESEARCH METHODS
A. Participants and/or Other Data Sources of Information
Around one thousand two hundred (1200) MNCHS Grade 9 students during the School Year
2021-2022 will be observed upon pending identification of those who are low performing in
terms of relatively lower average grades, minimal compliance to school outputs and activities,
and failing grades in various subject areas. The main indicators will be found in the school’s
LIS-based and teacher-based enrollment data via the MLESF and students’ data by means of
grade sheets and consolidated reports on academic performance. Should there be efforts to
provide gadgets and internet access to low-performing students to affect their academic
behavior, data will come mainly from observations and listing of their positive use of gadgets
and internet connection and relating these with how likely their academic grades and
compliance will develop. As such, their academic performance will be tested and measured
objectively.
The students who have enhanced utilization of gadgets and internet connection are expected
to garner higher average grades and compliance records and register few to zero failing
grades. If the study succeeds in its investigation, it will debunk already established scholarly
findings as well as earlier misconceptions that gadget and internet use have negative impacts
on students’ academic performance due to various reasons such as addiction to mobile games
and social media platforms.
B. Data Gathering Methods
This study will employ a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods such
as statistical analysis, comparative methodologies, interviews, and observations. To first
establish the relationship between gadget and internet use and academic performance
indicators identified above, the research shall use statistical analysis, especially regression

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Upon the provision of actual gadgets and internet access
to specific low-performing students, interviews and direct observations will be used coupled
with comparative study and, again, statistical analysis.
The data will be cleaned up mainly by tabular and graphical presentations showing the
relationships between variables and all of these will be described accordingly. Without much
intent to affect the behavior of students due to ethical concerns, objective methods will be
used most often and will not subject the participants to behavior-altering experiments.
Preferably, institutional and socio-economic factors will be altered more than the behavior of
the people involved subscribing to the parameters of an institutional approach to research.
The researcher will make use of the available data collected through the online enrollment
system and process conducted at the beginning of SY: 2021-2022. This type of document
analysis will not be deemed ex post facto research since there were no assumptions attached
yet to the enrollment survey and data gathering procedure. The research also expects to have
a partnership with external stakeholders like LGUs or private sector entities like
telecommunication companies when it comes to the possible provision of gadgets and
internet connectivity to low-performing students to see if their academic performance will be
improved as a result of such an intervention strategy.
Subjective questionnaires will be used minimally or not at all since it is inferior to objective
research methods like statistical analysis and direct observations. Checklists of gadget and
internet use will be developed, and observation notes will be generated. After tabulating all
the needed data, specifically those that can be numerically interpreted, statistical techniques
will be run to analyze the relationships between the variables considered for the study
including the supposed independent and dependent variables, as well as the intervening or
control variables.

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
Interviews that will be conducted, should a need be, will not be done on random participants
but will be based on certain criteria that will be satisfied. Thus, identifying students
deliberately will be done to see the actual effects of independent variables on specific
students, i.e., low-performing students (or those with low average grades, minimal
compliance records and failing grades in subject areas) and students who apparently have
improving academic performance.
C. Data Analysis Plan
As stated above, the study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
However, on the analysis process, it will favor more statistical techniques by means of
regression and analysis of variance (ANOVA). All tabulations, graphing, and computations will
be done with the use of statistical applications or software that include Microsoft Excel,
Google Sheets, and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). These will serve as the
main measures of the effectiveness of the enhanced utilization of gadgets and internet
connectivity in improving the overall academic performance of Grade 9 MNCHS students
during the School Year 2021-2022.
However, interviews and observations will be employed to gather feedback as to the
appropriateness of the strategy in addressing the problem. The responses also during the
interviews will be further used in the discussion of the final analysis of the research. The data
gathered through a pre-designed observation tool and observation checklist shall also be part
of the progress monitoring of the intervention. The data will equip the researcher with hard
facts as regards the potential positive effects of the intervention, i.e., provision of gadgets
and internet access, while the study is ongoing. This will also lead to some adjustments to the
implementation of the said intervention, whenever necessary and eliminate the factors that
may result in erratic behavioral changes among the participants.

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
All the data gathered during the interviews, observations, and document analysis will be
compared and triangulated to assess the positive impacts of the intervention on the academic
performance of the participants based on their average grades, compliance behavior and
failing marks.
V. ACTION RESEARCH WORK PLAN AND TIMELINES
ACTIVITIES TARGET DATE PERSONS INVOLVED
PRE-RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
• Crafting of the action
research proposal
• Approval of the proposal
December to January 2022 Researcher
Master Teachers
Department Head
School Head
Research Committees
concerned
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
• Implementation of the
study
• Data gathering
• Tabulation and analysis of
data
• Interpretation of the
gathered data and analysis
• Preparation of the research
paper
January to March 2022 Researcher
Respondents
Potential external stakeholders
POST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
• Printing of the research
report
• Submission of the research
report to the research
committees for review
• Submission of the final
copy of the research papers
April 2022 Researcher
Master Teachers
Department Head
School Head
Research Committees
concerned
Table 1: Table of Activities, Target Dates, and Persons Involved

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
ACTIVITIES
(And Sub-Activities)
Month 1
(December)
Month 2
(January)
Month 3
(February)
Month 4
(March)
Month 5
(April)
PRE-RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
Making of the action
research proposal
Approval of the proposal
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
Implementation of the study
Data gathering
Tabulation and analysis of
data
Interpretation of the
gathered data and analysis
Preparation of the research
paper
POST RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:
Printing of the research
report
Submission of the research
report to the research
committees for review
Submission of the final copy
of the research papers
Table 2: Gantt Chart of Action Research Activities

REGION V - BICOL
MASBATE CITY
Tel.: (056) 333-2255 Fax: (056) 333 – 5353
VI. COST ESTIMATES
ACTIVITIES RESOURCE NEEDED AMOUNT
Preparation and printing of
research proposal
Bond paper
Internet connection
Php 300.00
Php 500.00
Printing of the reading
materials and other related
documents
Reproduction fee Php 200.00
Snacks/meals during
interviews and observations
Food Php 1000.00
Printing and binding of
completion results
Printing and binding fee Php 1000.00
Travel Expenses
(submission of proposal and
completion report)
Gasoline for motorcycle Php 500.00
Publication of research results Journal publication fee Php 3000.00
TOTAL Php 6500.00
Table 3: Table of Activities, Resources Needed, and Cost Estimates
VII. PLANS FOR DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION
The results of the research study will be shared with fellow teachers in Masbate National
Comprehensive High School and research committees concerned, especially during Learning
Action Cell (LAC) sessions and In-Service Training (INSET) activities and meetings for possible
and scalable adoption of the intervention strategy employed. To further disseminate these
results, the research will present the study to a panel of fellow researchers and stakeholders
through a research conference and publish it through a reputable research journal or
publication.
VIII. REFERENCES
To Follow

Action Research Proposal in DepEd - Super Draft

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