Outstanding Teacher Lectures on Qualitative Research

Thirty faculty members and researchers from Silliman University attended an interactive lecture on qualitative research writing by the recipient of the 2011 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award.

Dr. Allan B. de Guzman, who received the award under the Higher Education Category, engaged the participants in a series of activities capturing the theme “Doing Phenomenology in Various Disciplinal Researches”.  

The lecture reinforced the competencies of the participants in research, particularly in the conceptualization, conduct and publishing of qualitative scholarly works in ISI Thomson Scopus and other indexed journals.

A full professor at the University of Santo Tomas, Dr. de Guzman simplified phenomenology as the researcher’s direct engagement in the process. When a researcher becomes a participant immersed in the nuances of his or her respondents, one’s understanding of the research process is more comprehensive.

“Those who can tell a story can enter the world of qualitative research,” Dr. de Guzman said, pointing to how every researcher packages the experience in a story relevant to their respective fields of specialization.  

He emphasized though that critical is the development of an “in-depth story”, digging deeper into realities surrounding any research work. This, he said, assists the researcher in producing high quality outputs and in increasing their chances at receiving grants.

At the end of the activity, the participants developed research manuscripts which were then critiqued by Dr. de Guzman.

The two-day interactive lecture was organized by the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment of the College of Education, in partnership with the Research and Development Center, Office of Instruction and the American Studies Resource Center.