Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, research design, locale and population, sampling technique and data gathering
procedure were presented. The researchers provide this for the reader to know how the study was
conducted.
Research Design
This study utilized a descriptive research design. Descriptive design depicts the participants in
an accurate way. This method was chosen because the researchers sought to know the effects and
predict the variance of one or more variables using the variance of another variable(s). The goal
of descriptive research design is to collect information methodically in order to describe a
phenomena, situation, or population. More particular, it assists in answering the what, when,
where, and how questions about the research challenge rather than the why (Descriptive
Research Design: What it is and how to use it, 2023).
Locale and Population
The respondents of this study are the selected 30 young entrepreneurs between the ages
of 16 and 28 that are owners of a small and medium-sized business in Quipot for a minimum of
one year. Respondents to the study will assist researchers in accumulating crucial and reliable
information specifically about their start-up capital which is an initial investment in relation with
the survival rate of companies run by young entrepreneurs, including insight and experiences.
Research Instruments
The survey questionnaire will be utilized in this study to investigate the start-up capital
accumulated by young entrepreneurs that influenced the length of business operation and the
current operational status of the business. It will be divided into four parts. The profile of the
respondents in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, type of business and number of
years in operation will be the first section of the questionnaire. The data provided an overview of
the characteristics of the young entrepreneurs and helped the researchers identify patterns related
to their background and business operations. The second part will assess the initial amount of
capital invested by the respondents to start their business. It included items on the amount of
start-up capital, source of funding, sufficiency of capital, ease of access to funds, and financial
challenges encountered during the first year of operation. The third section includes how long the
respondents’ businesses had been operating and their current operational status that measured the
duration of operation, current business condition, changes in income, and growth indicators such
as expansion or product diversification. Lastly, the fourth section determined the respondents’
level of agreement on how start-up capital influences the survival and stability of their
businesses. The final section will be patterned on a 4-point Likert’s Scale with designated value
to determine the relationship of start-up capital and business survival rate. Participants in this
study were given questionnaires to complete after the study in order to gather information
regarding their experiences. Likert-type scales are the ones that have been used a lot in studies on
any field of education. As stated by Nee, C. & Yushu, M. This Likert-type scale (2020) is
predicated on the notion that attitudes can be quantified and that the strength/intensity of
experience is linear, i.e., on a continuum from strongly agree to strongly disagree. With reference
to Table 1, the respondents' answers were ascertained using a Likert scale with four points: 1-
Strongly disagree, 2- Disagree, 3-Agree, and 4 - Strongly agree. The obtained means from the
weighted student responses were interpreted as follows.
Table 1: Likert Four-Point Scale Range Interpretation
POINT SCALE RANGE EXPLANATION
4 4.00-3.00 Strongly Agree
3 2.99-2.00 Agree
2 1.99-1.00 Disagree
1 1.00-0.99 Strongly Disagree
Sampling Technique
The researchers selected 30 young entrepreneurs from Brgy. Quipot Tiaong Quezon as
their respondents. Purposive random sampling technique was used to choose the participants. It
is a non-probability sampling, and the respondents were chosen depending on the characteristics
of the population and the purpose of the study. According to Nikolopoulou (2023), purposive
sampling involves choosing persons of the population who are likely to have specific features or
experiences (and are willing to share them with you). This allows you to focus on a small sample
size by selecting persons or instances that meet your study. It is a method that can be used in both
quantitative and qualitative research to locate and select examples with a lot of information so
that the limited sources are used as efficiently as possible. The researchers chose only
respondents who are 16 and 28 young owners of a small and medium-sized business in Quipot
that operates for a minimum of one year.
Date Gathering
In gathering data and information from the respondents, the researchers underwent a
series of procedures.
Requesting authorization to the respondents, the researchers personally approached the
chosen young entrepreneurs and requested permission to be one of the respondents.
Instrument administration and retrieval. Following approval, the verified surveys will be
delivered to the young entrepreneurs. Their answers will be kept private and secure. To achieve
100% retrieval, the researchers personally retrieved the questionnaire.
Data collection and processing. Following the retrieval of the surveys, the findings will be
tallied and handled statistically. The data will be organized for easier statistical processing in
order to answer the study's researchers' questions.
The interpretation and analysis of data. After tabulation and calculation, the data analysis
and interpretations will be given. The findings will serve as the foundation for the study's
conclusions and suggestions.
Data Analysis Procedure
The results gathered from the assessment checklist were tallied, tabulated, analyzed and
interpreted. Frequency and percentage distribution were utilized to provide a proportional
representation of each response in relation to the total number of participants, thereby facilitating
a comprehensive understanding of the respondents’ profiles and business characteristics. The
formula of frequency and percentage distribution is:
Where n is the number of samples and f is the frequency of responses.
The researchers will also compute the Means of responses employed in the treatment
data. It was applied to the Likert-scale items in the fourth section of the questionnaire to
determine the average response of the participants regarding the relationship between start-up
capital and business survival. The resulting mean values were interpreted using a standardized
verbal scale to ensure consistency in data analysis.
Where:
x = Weighted mean
f = Frequency of each response
w = Weighted value assigned to each response
N = Total number of responses
The researchers was also employed the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
Coefficient (r) to ascertain whether a significant relationship existed between the amount of
start-up capital and the business survival rate. This statistical tool was appropriate for measuring
the degree and direction of the linear relationship between two continuous variables.
The formula for Pearson’s r is given as:
Where:
r = Correlation coefficient
N = Number of paired scores
x = Independent variable (start-up capital)
y = Dependent variable (business survival rate)
The computed value of r was interpreted based on the following correlation scale:
Table 2: Correlation Interpretation Guide
Range of r-value Interpretation
0.80 – 1.00 Very High Positive Correlation
0.60 – 0.79 High Positive Correlation
0.40 – 0.59 Moderate Positive Correlation
0.20 – 0.39 Low Positive Correlation
0.00 – 0.19 Very Low or No Correlation