CHAPTER VI THE PROBLEM ‘Statement of the Problem ‘The five essential parts are: 1. an introductory phrase 2. ageneral plan of procedure 3. the object of the plan 4. setting and population of the study 5. fab problems ‘The phraseology of the introductory partis predictably any of these: “it was the purpose of this research,” or “the purpose of this study is,” or “this study attempts to/ aims at ..".." The past or present tense may be used. ? ‘The general plan of procedure may be: “to investigate,” “to determine,” “to ‘examine and analyze,” “to find ouvidentify,” or “to assess/measure,” ete ‘The object of the plan varies according to the specific study: “child-rearing practices and their variations,” “the specific needs and the library services called for,” teen talk linguistic styles,” “phenomenon of text jargon,” etc. ‘The setting and population limit the spatial area and the people involved: “three fishing communities in Cebu,” “among selected college students at UC-Banilad . Campus,” ete, Just as in the title, the setting (research site) and the population may be deleted since these will be eisborated in the methodology.he sub-problems are usually wh-questions; yes/no are confined to experimental and statistically-tested problems. Each sub-problem contributes to the totality of the main problem; any of the sub-problems can be withdrawn without altering the general nature of the problem; only the coverage is affected. Tiempo’s (2006) statement of the problem (sce sample) illustrates all the five essential parts. The sub-problems are broken down into three wh-questions (1-3) and one yes-no question (4) to be treated statistically These sub-problems ate further itemized using either a) Arabic numerals and decimal points (see Alcisto); or b) Arabic numerals and letters (Tiempo) ; or ¢) Arabic numerals and letters with decimal points (see Tecson). fa) ) © 1.0 1.0 1.0 1 2.0 a. 1d 2a, al 112 2b, a2 12 2c. a3 1.21 2d, ad 1.22 3.0 as 2.0 3a. a6 21 3b, a7 241 3c. b. 2.12 4.0 bil b2 64samen | Miso, 2005 (@) i bene THE PROBLEM } 0 The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of politeness strategies among Statement of the Problem male and female first year, English 111 (Communication Arts 1) students in Cebu Institute of Technology first semester SY 2004-2005. ‘This study further identified the structure of a narrative that was displayed in the data based on Labov and Waletzky's Model (1967). Specifically. this study sought to answer the following questions: 1, What are the-commonalities in the frequency of occurrence in the male and female students’ politeness strategies in terms of: 1.1 Bald-on record, 1.2 Positive politeness, 1.3 Negative politeness, and 1.4 Off-record strategies 2. What are the commonalities in the frequency of occurrence of the structure of a narrative in terms of: 2.1 Abstract, 2.2 Orientation, 2.3 Complicating Action, 2.4 Evaluation, 2.5 Resolution, and 2.6 Codameter ema © SAMPLE THE PROBLEM Tecson, 2008 ment of the Problem ‘Through the identified linqustic features, this study attempted to determine and analyze the teen talk linguistic styles in electronic mails, Specifically, this study aimed to answer the following questions: 1; How are e-mail linguistic styles in the case of teen-talks described in terms of the following linguistic features: Morphological Transformations a.1 clipping and novel spelling 4.2 letters+numbers to represent words 3 phonological substitution a4 emoticons/emotext .5 formulaic expression 6 syntactic deletions 4.7 other morphological transformations? b. Word Formation b.1 abbreviation b.2 affixation b.3 blending b4 borrowing b.5 clipping 6.6 coinage or word manufactureStating the Hypotheses ‘To answer the yes-no question “Is there a relationship between the shortened form and the fricative consonant production by the sender?”, that is, 1f the texter encodes “dis, der, dem,” for “this, there, them,” does it follow that his/her production of these words correlates (mutually relates) to his/her text message? The researcher posits his/her research_hypothesis (a calculated guess or prediction) that “there is a significant correlation between the shortened form and the fricative consonant production by the sender.” Due to the “testable” criterion of a hypothesis, and the numerical data obtained to support the analysis, the framing of hypotheses has been delegated to STATISTICS (consult a statistician). Thus, a research which has no testable statistical evidence need not state any hypothesis. The conventions of “hypothesis testing” demand a NULL hypothesis which is a statement of “no significant difference”: H,: There is no significant correlation between the shortened form and the fricative consonant production by the sender. The null hypothesis, represented by Ha is the central element in any test of hypothesis because the entire computation is aimed at rejecting or failing to reject it. ‘The RESEARCH hypothesis, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of the null hypothesis. It directly contradicts the “no significant difference” by stating that there DOES EXIST a significant difference, and this is precisely the reason why the study is made.H) (Research or alternate hypothesis): There is a significant correlation between the shortened form and the fricative consonant production by the sender. ignificance of the Study Outside of the researcher's personal interest in the topic, a research is conducted to focus attention on a problem that affects a sector, if not the whole community, and to find solutions. Thus, the study raises the problem to a level of “awareness”, coneretizes it with “data”, exposes its weaknesses and strengths thru analysis, and ventures into proposed solutions. This whole process endows research with a “social responsibility” to the larger community; and this commitment to service is expressed in the “significance of the study”. The research should specify “who” (sectors, persons, institutions, agencies) shall benefit from the study, “how” they shall use the study, and “in what areas” the study would be of use. ‘Tiempo (2006), in his “significance of the study,” specifies how the mobile phone users, English majors, teachers, linguists, and curriculum makers can make use of his findings (see sample). 69SAMPLE Significance of the Study This study would be beneficial to the following: To the mobile phone users that they may-be able to know the commonly abridged words as well as the meanings of the symbols used in text mesa © gathered data will serve as a guide so that misinterpretations of the text messages are avoided To the students who major in Applied Linguistics and other areas of language study that they may acquire data done locally for future studies concerning bilingualism and codeswitching. To the teachers that they may become aware of the effects of text mes: waiting style to the writing skill of their students, To the linguists whose studies are focused on codeswitching and bilingual behavior, that they may find relevance or difference of th studies to this study To the curriculum makers, that the findings of this become an avenue in enhancing the present curriculum by giving special attention to second language acquisition,(4) PROGRESS REPORT __ Problem and sub-probl-me Group Members: (name and signature) Session: _ SCOR: Date Submitted: Teacher's Signature Statement of the Problem (3-5 sentences) Sub-problems: (at least 3) (Use the back page if necessary)