The START Approach – A Simplified and Practical Tool for Beginning Researchers

Abstract

This pioneering study addresses the need for practical tools which could be used by beginning researchers in generating research topics. The objectives of this study are to present the use of the START Approach as an instructional innovation for classroom instruction in a research subject and to identify some themes on its strengths and weaknesses through content analysis of coded templates known as CST or Coded START Templates. Employing content analysis on forty-eight (48) CST taken as samples from a national training on research and using quantitative data analysis on selected content variables, findings revealed that majority of the CST have followed the writing pattern prescribed in the approach, have shown that majority of these templates have ‘Very Highly Applied’ the approach, and have reported that the thoughts in the CST as coded responses are ‘Very Highly Continuous’. Using content analysis, the START Approach was found to display strengths in its implementation which includes its high doability, easy application, provision of thought continuity, collaboration, contextualization and localization. However, the START Approach may result to unnecessary topics and may require the help of a language teacher especially in the ‘Refine’ stage where appropriate verb usage is very crucial to determining the specific action which the user intends to conduct as a research. With this, the researcher recommends the use of the START Approach at the classroom level among all beginning student researcher in high school or even in college. Further studies may be instituted to determine the use of START Approach among advanced students in research.