Chapter 1 and 2 of Research

A student is writing the background of a study on the effects of social media usage on students’ sleep patterns. The first paragraph includes statistics from WHO about global sleep issues and a description of how social media affects the brain. Which CARS move is the student demonstrating?

• Occupying the niche

• Establishing the research territory

• Identifying the research gap

• Stating the hypothesis

An excerpt from a background of the study reads: “Although studies have examined social media’s role in students’ academic performance, little research has investigated its connection to sleep quality in senior high school students.” Which CARS move is shown here?

• Establishing the territory

• Identifying the gap

• Occupying the niche

• Providing methodology details

A researcher wants to start a background section for a study on online peer tutoring in mathematics. Which opening line best fits Move 1 in CARS?

• “Few studies have examined the impact of peer tutoring in rural high schools.”

• “Peer tutoring is an instructional strategy in which students help each other learn academic content.”

• “This study investigates the effects of online peer tutoring on the problem-solving skills of Grade 11 students.”

• “The researcher will use qualitative interviews to gather data.”

Below are three sentences from a draft: (1) “Online learning has become a primary mode of instruction in the past five years.” (2) “There is limited research on its effects in Philippine senior high schools.” (3) “This study aims to determine the challenges faced by rural students in online learning.” What is the correct CARS sequence for these sentences?

• 1 → 2 → 3

• 2 → 1 → 3

• 3 → 1 → 2

• 1 → 3 → 2

A group of Grade 12 students is writing their research paper on the effects of part-time jobs on academic performance. They cite 10 studies from different countries showing how working students manage their time. In CARS terms, what are they trying to accomplish in this part?

• Identifying a niche

• Occupying the niche

• Establishing the research territory

• Summarizing the results

A teacher gives two possible sentences for Move 2: (1) “Mathematics anxiety has been studied in various contexts, but few have explored its link to smartphone usage.” (2) “Mathematics anxiety is defined as feelings of tension that interfere with math performance.” Which sentence is Move 2, and why?

• Sentence 1, because it identifies a gap

• Sentence 2, because it defines a concept

• Sentence 1, because it defines a concept

• Sentence 2, because it identifies a gap

An excerpt from a research background says: “This paper examines the effect of gamified learning apps on Grade 11 students’ engagement in General Mathematics. The study will also identify whether game mechanics improve problem-solving accuracy.” Which CARS move is this?

• Establishing the territory

• Identifying the gap

• Occupying the niche

• Reviewing the literature

A researcher wrote this sequence in a background: stated that climate change affects coastal communities, explained that most studies are about large urban areas, and described that their study will focus on Noveleta fishermen’s adaptation strategies. Which CARS order is followed?

• Territory → Gap → Niche

• Gap → Niche → Territory

• Niche → Territory → Gap

• Territory → Niche → Gap

A student says: “I’ll skip Move 2 and just go from Move 1 to Move 3 so I can make my background shorter.” Why might this be a problem?

• The research will be too long

• The research will lack evidence

• The research will lack a clear reason why it’s needed

• The research will have no conclusion

Two versions of a paragraph are shown: Version A starts with the definition of e-learning, discusses its worldwide rise, then cites local statistics, followed by identifying a lack of studies on rural schools; Version B opens with the study’s research questions, then moves directly to the methodology. Which version follows the CARS model better, and why?

• Version A, because it moves from general to specific and shows a gap

• Version B, because it focuses on the research questions first

• Version A, because it starts with the methodology

• Version B, because it avoids too much literature review