Research Capabilities of Public Secondary School Teachers in the Schools Division of Zambales

The study aimed to assess the research capability of public secondary school teachers in the Division of Zambales and utilized a descriptive research design with a questionnaire as the main instrument in gathering data from seven hundred (700) teacher-respondents who were randomly selected. The researcher found out that the respondent is a married female Teacher-I in her early adulthood, with 21-25 hours of teaching load, baccalaureate degree holder had no research conducted and published but had attended a school-based seminar on research with knowledge on basic computer applications. The respondents were assessed "moderately capable" of writing a research proposal and writing a research report. There is significant differences in civil status, academic rank, specialization, number of seminars attended, number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing research proposal while the significant difference in age, specialization, number of seminars attended number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing a research report. There is a slight or weak relationship between the number of research conducted and the research capability and a negligible relationship between the number of seminars attended and the research capability as to writing a research proposal and writing a research report.

The study aimed to assess the research capability of public secondary school teachers in the Division of Zambales and utilized a descriptive research design with a questionnaire as the main instrument in gathering data from seven hundred (700) teacher-respondents who were randomly selected. The researcher found out that the respondent is a married female Teacher-I in her early adulthood, with 21-25 hours of teaching load, baccalaureate degree holder had no research conducted and published but had attended a school-based seminar on research with knowledge on basic computer applications. The respondents were assessed "moderately capable" of writing a research proposal and writing a research report. There is significant differences in civil status, academic rank, specialization, number of seminars attended, number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing research proposal while the significant difference in age, specialization, number of seminars attended number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing a research report. There is a slight or weak relationship between the number of research conducted and the research capability and a negligible relationship between the number of seminars attended and the research capability as to writing a research proposal and writing a research report.
doing action research and most researchers are those who participate in ranking within the school's division. It seems that promotion and career development remain to be the key motivating factor among teachers in doing research. Though the schools' division is conducting research training intensive training and workshops, a large number of teachers are still not fond of doing action research. Thus, this study aims to identify the teachers' profiles, capabilities in doing research and to fill the gap to provide additional literature. The implication of this study is for the Schools Division of Zambales concerned personnel to consider the findings of this study and address the needs of the teachers in order to create a community of teacher-research based.

Statement of the Problem
The study assessed the research capabilities of public secondary school teachers in the Division of Zambales. It identified the major factors that enable or hinder teachers in doing research undertakings and as such, innovative programs for conducting research to be developed. Specifically, the study sought to provide answers to the following questions: 1. How is the socio-demographic profile of the respondents described in terms of age, sex, civil status, position/academic rank, specialization/major, teaching load, years in teaching service, highest educational attainment, research seminars/training attended, number of research conducted, number of research published, and level of computer literacy? 2. What is the level of research capabilities of teacher respondents in terms of writing a research proposal and writing a research report?
3. Is there a significant difference in the level of research capabilities of teacher respondents when grouped according to their profile variables as to writing a research proposal and writing a research report? Formeloza and Pateňa's (2013) teachers research capability study has findings that the faculty are competent in grammar, sentence construction, and communication skills. Among the major parts of the research paper, the faculty need more improvement on the methods particularly in the construction of questionnaires, developing research designs, and determining statistical tools and treatment. On the other hand, the result of the study Desta in his study "Primary School Teachers Involvement in Action and its Implication for Quality Education", found out that a significant number of teachers in the study area do not have adequate knowledge and skills to undertaking action research because 44.56% of respondent teachers have not acted research course at a higher education institution. Even from those teachers who took the training, a sizable number of teachers was not equipped with adequate research skill and knowledge. From teachers who had taken research methodology courses, 35.42% of them assured that the training they have taken was not adequate enough to enable them to undertake action research. The reason they mentioned this was that the research course offered in a higher institution was highly theory-ridden and did not provide them with sufficient experience.
Teachers' attitude towards research activities is a major driving force behind engagement in educational research. Teacher researchers need to become familiar with and develop an appreciation of the nature of the research process itself, and ultimately change their attitude and behavior before conducting any piece of research.

Methodology
Since the research capabilities of public secondary school teachers in the Schools Division of Zambales is to be studied, the study used a descriptive method of research. The respondents of the study were the seven hundred (700) public secondary school teachers within the Schools Division of Zambales. Data on the total population of teachers were gathered through the School Division of Zambales Form 3-Secondary School Principals Report on Attendance of Students and Teachers. The number of respondents was obtained using Slovin's formula, 30% of the total number of teachers' population in the entire division as approved and recommended by the school and department heads.
For this study, a questionnaire from Salom (2016) and Formeloza and Pateňa (2013) was adapted, modified, and used. The first part of the questionnaire focused on the demographic profile of the respondent. The second part of the questionnaire focused on the level of capabilities of teacher respondents in writing a research proposal and the third part focused on the level of capabilities of teacher respondents in writing a research report. females. This clearly demonstrates the dominance of the female respondents, and this could be ascribed to the noted dedication and commitment of women in the teaching profession. The shifting of the male sector in engaging skilled manpower is attributed to the decrease in the number of males engage in the teaching profession.

Civil Status.
Out of seven hundred (700) respondents, there were 280 or equivalent to 40.00 % are single; 401 or 57.30 % are married; 11 or 1.60% are widows, and 8 or 1.10 % are separated from the spouse. It manifests that majority of the teacher-respondents were already handling marital and family responsibility. It further demonstrates their emotional, psychological, physical, and financial readiness of having family and children in providing the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, education, and hospitalization.

Academic Rank.
Out of seven hundred (700) respondents, the majority with 469 or equivalent to 67.00 % are occupying Teacher -1 position; 102 or 14.60%, Teacher-II; 81 or 11.60%, Teacher-III; 28 or 4%, Master Teacher-1; and 20 or 2.90%, Master Teacher 2. Majority The majority of the teachers are occupying the lowest academic rank. The entry-level in the Department of Education is Teacher-1 and attaining the highest academic rank is the by-product of pursuing masters and doctorate education.

Specialization.
Out of seven hundred (700)  above in the service. It clearly implies that most of the teacher-respondents were novices and new in the teaching profession. The mean year of service, equivalent to 6.65 denotes satisfaction and contentment in the profession. The year in service implied that teachers would remain loyal to the teaching profession and desirous to stay up to the age of retirement. They enjoyed dealing with their students and treated them as their children or younger siblings.

Highest Educational Attainment.
Out of seven hundred (700)  3.40%, School/District/Division/Regional/International and only 1 or equivalent to 0.10% had attended District/Division based seminars. The data clearly shows the effort of the school head and principal in conducting a school-based research seminar and so with the division level. The school officials understand the importance and relevance of conducting action research for their teachers in looking for solutions to small problems confronting the teaching and learning process. Most teachers are engaging experimental studies on determining the effectiveness of intervention for better academic gains and performance.

Number of Research Conducted.
Out of the seven hundred (700) respondents, there were 490 or equivalent to 70.00% have no research conducted; 198 or equivalent to 28.30 % have already conducted 1 to 3 research; 7 or 1.00 %, 4-6 research, and 5 or equivalent to 0.70%, 7 or more research conducted. The failure to conduct research is accounted for by the difficulty encountered in writing the research report. Moreover, according to the respondents, they have problems doing the statistics and providing interpretation and analysis. Those noted with research output have attended graduate studies programs that help build their competence and capabilities in conducting research.

A number of Research Published.
Out of the seven hundred (700) respondents, there were 641 or equivalent to 91.60% have no published research; 54 or equivalent to 7.70 % have already published 1 to 3 research; 2 or 0.30 %, 4-6 research, and 3 or equivalent to 0.40%, 7 or more published research. Publication of research output is not an easy endeavor. The entire manuscript is being transformed into a publishable article by capturing the results of the investigations. For research to be able to be published, it entails costs ranging from Php5, 000.00 to Php12, 000 .00 which amount greatly depends on the publishers.

Level of Computer Literacy.
Out of seven hundred (700) respondents, there were 4 or 0.60% who do not know computer; 62 or 8.90%, with little knowledge on a computer; 526 or 75.10%, with knowledge on computer and 108 or equivalent to 14.40% with full knowledge on computer. Teachers today are considered millennials. Learning computers is indispensable in the teaching profession. Computers provide help not only in conducting research but also facilitate the preparation and submission of monthly, quarterly, and year-end reports. They have the basic knowledge on typing, setting up of margins, application of several icons and menus as to the selection of font type, border designs, page layout, checking of grammar usage. The teachers also have the knowledge on using computer or laptop in writing business letters and reports.

Research Capabilities 4.2.1. Writing a Research Proposal
The respondents were assessed moderately capable on all indicators particularly in writing the bibliography (9) manifested in the weighted mean of 3.22 and ranked 1 st while least on indicator 10, identifying the appropriate statistical tools with a mean of 2.98 and ranked 10 th . The computed overall weighted mean on the responses was 3.10 with a qualitative interpretation of "moderately capable". The respondents demonstrate moderate capability in writing the bibliography. The respondents understand the importance of citing, giving recognition, and acknowledgment of authors in order to avoid a penalty in violation of the Anti-Intellectual Property Right Law. The bibliography is usually written in the Appendix part immediately after Chapter 5. It is written and arranged in alphabetical order. It could also be noted the dilemma and predicament of the teacher respondents towards identifying the appropriate statistical tools to be used in the study. The statistics provide a tool to describe the data as to frequency counts, percentage, mean, and rank distribution and to determine significant differences and relationships by using inferential statistics such as t-test, z-test, U-test, H-test, F-test or Analysis of Variance, Pearson-r, Spearman Rank and Chi Square-test and many others. The determination of the appropriate statistical tools is based and anchored on how the statement of the problems and hypothesis had been formulated. As admitted by the majority of the respondents, not only identifying the statistical tools even as well on the computation of the data is a big problem for them. Abu-Bader (2006) explains the importance of using statistical methods in social work practice with a Complete SPSS Guide, one that provides a step-by-step description of the process to organize, analyze, and interpret data instead of focusing on the memorization of formulas.

Writing a Research Report
The respondents were assessed moderately capable on all indicators particularly in (4) writing the statement of the problem and objectives manifested in the weighted mean of 3.13 and ranked 1 st while least on indicator 10, in applying and submitting requirements to research publications with a mean of 2.80 and ranked 10 th . The computed overall weighted mean on the responses was 3.03 with a qualitative interpretation of "moderately capable".

Test of Differences on the Perception of the respondents towards Level of Research Capabilities 4.3.1. Writing a Research Proposal
There is no significant difference in the perception towards the level of research capabilities in writing a research proposal when grouped according to age, sex, years in the service, and highest educational attainment profile variables respectively manifested in the weighted mean of 0.086, 0.275, 0.058, and 0.333 which are higher than (>) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, hence the Null Hypothesis is accepted.
On the other hand, there are significant differences in the perception towards the level of research capabilities in writing a research proposal when grouped according to civil status, academic rank, specialization, number of teaching loads, number of research conducted, number of seminars attended, number of research published and level of computer literacy manifested in the weighted mean of 0.026, 0.000, 0.013, 0.002, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000 and 0.000 which are lower than (<) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, hence the Null Hypothesis is rejected.
The data reflected in the data revealed the opposing views of the respondents towards research capability as to writing a research proposal. This finding is similar to the study of Salom (2013) as he found out that faculty members are capable in all the identified areas of writing a research proposal and writing a publishable research paper. His findings imply that research is a familiar activity to the respondents because of research and seminars. However, 63.86% of the faculty did not engage in research because of first, lack of time; second, lack of interest; third, not enough incentive; and fourth, lack of research writing skills. Salom (2013) inferred from his study that the faculty had, indeed, gained knowledge and developed research skills, but due to lack of time, it was quite difficult for them to focus on research; the bulk of their work was more on instruction and in administration designation. In the same vein that the faculty members could not concentrate on doing some areas of the research process, such as reviewing related literature, constructing research instrument, conducting the validity and reliability test of the data-gathering instrument, identifying the research variables, collecting and processing data, establishing an interconnection between and among data, using parallel observations with contemporary events to give credence to the situation presented in the introduction, and drawing out implications. His study stated also that the research capability of the faculty was affected by their academic rank, highest educational attainment, and teaching load. There is no significant difference in the perception towards the level of research capabilities in writing a research report when grouped according to, sex, civil status, years in the service, and highest educational attainment profile variables respectively manifested in the weighted mean of 0.416, 0.110, 0.072 and 0.540 which are higher than (>) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, hence the Null Hypothesis is accepted. On the other hand, there are significant differences in the perception towards the level of research capabilities in writing a research report when grouped according to age, academic rank, specialization, number of teaching loads, number of research conducted, number of seminars attended, number of research published and level of computer literacy manifested in the weighted mean of 0.005, 0.000, 0.000, 0.003, 0.000, 0.000, and 0.000 which are lower than (<) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, hence the Null Hypothesis is rejected.

Writing a Research Report
The data clearly manifest the opposing perspective of the respondents towards writing a research report. This finding supports the study of Abarro and Mariňo (2016) found that research capabilities of teachers with respect to a research proposal is affected by their position and not affected by age, sex, highest educational attainment, and research training attended while with respect to writing a publishable research paper, the research capabilities of teachers are affected by sex, civil status and training and seminars attended and not age, position, and highest educational attainment. There is a weaker or slight relationship between the numbers of research and the research capability as to writing a research proposal and writing a research report manifested in the computed Pearson r-value of 0.339**, and 0.347** respectively. The computed P-value of 0.000, and 0.000 are lower than (<) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, therefore the Null Hypothesis is rejected, hence there is a significant relationship. The data further reveals that the number of research conducted is slightly influenced by their capability in writing a research proposal and research reports. Those teachers who have experienced in conducting more research could have seemingly taken it easy and not a problem compared to those with novice and beginners in conducting research. The law of repetition and exercises explains that more experience in writing research accumulates mastery and develops higher competence. There is no relationship between the number of seminars attended and the research capability as to writing a research proposal and writing a research report manifested in the computed Pearson r-value of 0.069, and 0.089, respectively. The computed P-value of 0.069, and 0.078 are higher than (>) 0.05 Alpha Level of Significance, therefore the Null Hypothesis is accepted, hence there is no significant relationship. The data provides sufficient evidence to conclude that the number of attendances to seminars does not influence research capabilities.

Conclusion
Based on the summary of the investigations conducted, the researcher has concluded that: 1. The respondent is a married female Teacher-I in her early adulthood, major in Math with 21-25 hours of teaching load, baccalaureate degree holder, no research conducted and published and had attended school-based seminar on research with knowledge on basic computer applications. 2. The respondents were assessed "moderately capable" of writing research proposals and writing a research report. 3. There are significant differences in civil status, academic rank, specialization, number of seminars attended, number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing research proposal while significant differences in age, specialization, number of seminars attended number of research published, and the level of computer literacy towards writing a research report. 4. There is a slight or weak relationship between the number of research conducted and the research capabilities and a negligible relationship between the number of seminars attended and the research capabilities in writing a research proposal and writing a research report.