CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter discussed the design and procedures undertaken during the conduct of the study. It presented the research method used, respondents of the study, instrument used, validation of the instrument, data gathering procedure and statistical treatment of data.

Research Method Used This study made used of descriptive method of research method which described facts concerning the nature and status of anything. This method is designed for the researchers to gather information about the current and existing conditions to necessitate the conducting of the study. Descriptive research method enables the researchers to interpret and understand the descriptive data collected. Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answers the questions who, what, where, when and how.

Although the data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research cannot describe what caused a situation. Thus, descriptive research cannot

be used to create a causal relationship, where one variable affects another. In other words, descriptive research can be said to have a low requirement for internal validity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_research. Retrieved

August 18, 2011). Descriptive method is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in the

study. The survey type of this method is used to describe and measure the existing phenomena. As used in this research, gathered and treated, are data on accounting department staffs and branch managers profiles such as age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, years of service and their evaluation with regards to the existing accounting system and the internal control systems affecting the business transactions.

Respondents of the Study The respondents of the study were composed of 30 respondents comprised of 20 accountants from the Accounting Department and 10 state auditors from the Commission on Audit of DOST. The survey questionnaires were administered on September, 2011.

Instrument Used The primary instrument used for this research is a structured questionnaire adapted on the New Government Accounting System (NGAS) Manual and the Government Accounting and Auditing Manual (GAAM). The researchers conducted the study using questionnaires, some of which are adopted from the thesis of Julie Jane De Vera (2010) and Frederick Simon Cabe (2010). The content of part 1, part 2 and part 5 of the questionnaire were based on the existing references, documents, and information materials. The content of part 3 was adopted from the New Government Accounting System Manual and part 4 was from the Internal Control Manual. The questionnaire was presented to the thesis adviser Dr. Gloria T. Baysa who made several revisions in it.

The questionnaire is divided into five parts. The first part focused on the profile of the respondents which reveals the demographic variables of age, gender, civil status, highest educational attainment, years of services, division and present position. The second part concentrated on the perspective of the agency such as the type of government institution, clientele and functions. The third part pertained to the respondents view of compliance on the NGAS based on the basic features and policies; budgetary accounts system; income/ collections and deposits; disbursement; and financial reports. The fourth part pertained to the compliance of internal control of the business based on the general and specific standards of internal control. The fifth part summarized the problems encountered and proposed solutions on the problems thereto. Three (3) rating scale was used to modify the answers of the respondents considering three options with the corresponding scale. The options are (FC) Fully Complied, (PC) Partially Complied and (NC) Not Complied. Likert Scale was used to modify the answers of the respondents on the problems encountered and proposed solutions. The options are (SA) Strongly Agree; (A) Agree; (UN) Undecided; (D) Disagree and (SD) Strongly Disagree. Respondents were requested to check the space provided for each option.

Data Gathering Procedures This part of the study serves as one of the challenging experience of the researchers. First, the researchers had deal great time in formulating the questionnaire, with the help of their thesis adviser, Professor Gloria T. Baysa. With regards to data gathering, the researchers first secured the approval of Assistant Secretary Atty. Mario P. Bravo of Administration, Legal and Financial Affairs of the department in administering the questionnaire. The researchers conducted unstructured interviews and

took notes of the facts that may not have been uncovered by the survey questionnaire and collected documents. Observation was also used as a mean of gathering information for the research. This enabled the researchers to gather directly primary data or firsthand information for the study for a more accurate interpretation and description and

also to gather sufficient data to supplement or verify information

gathered by other means. The results will be tallied and tabulated according to the frequency of items checked by the respondents. After the data tabulation, the results will be interpreted using various statistical tools. Thus, the results of the techniques used in the data gathering give way for the researchers to arrive at the interpretation of the study.

Statistical Treatment of Data The data collected in this study were organized and classified based from the research design and the problems formulated. The data were coded, tallied and tabulated to facilitate the presentation and interpretation of the results using the following: 1. Frequency and Percentage The percentage and frequency distributions were used to classify the respondents according to personal background variables such as age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, and number of year in the current position. The frequency also presented the actual response of the respondents to a specific question or item in the questionnaires.

However, the percentage of that item is computed by dividing it with the simple total number of respondents who participated in the survey. The formula used in the application of this technique is: % = (f/n) x 100 where % = percentage f = frequency n = number of cases or total sample 2. Ranking This is a descriptive measure to describe numerical data in addition to percentage. Ranking was used in the study for comparative purposes and for sharing the importance of items analyzed. 3. Weighted Mean Another statistical technique used by the researchers was the weighted mean. It was used to determine the average responses of the different options provided in the parts of the questionnaire used. The method is used in relation to the Likert Scale. It was solved by the formula

where: = weighted mean = the sum of all the products of frequency of each weight and = total number of respondents and , being the

as the weight of each operation

The consolidated points from the respondents answer to each item over a fivepoint scale were as follows: WEIGHTED MEAN 4.51 - 5.0 3.51 - 4.5 2.51 - 3.5 1.51 - 2.5 1.00 - 1.5 SCALE 5 4 3 2 1 VERBAL INTERPRETATION Strongly Agree (SA) Agree (A) Undecided (U) Disagree (D) Strongly Disagree (SD)

The consolidated points from the respondents answer to each item over a threepoint scale were as follows: WEIGHTED MEAN 2.51 - 3.0 1.51 - 2.5 1.00 - 1.5 SCALE 3 2 1 VERBAL INTERPRETATION Fully Complied Partially Complied Not Compiled

4. ANOVA (One- Way Analysis of Variance) It was used to determine the significant difference between the perceptions of the respondents. It was used to test the significant differences between means of 3 or more sets of data simultaneously. ANOVA set at 0.05 probabilities was used. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a method for dividing the variation observed into different parts, each part assignable to a known source, cause, or factor. The ANOVA was developed by R.A. Fisher and reported by him in 1923. Simply stated, it is used when we wish to test the significance of the difference between two or more means obtained from independent samples.

The following formula was used: a. SSC Sum of Squares Column Means

b. SSE Sum of Squares within Error

c. SST Sum of Squares Total

d. To compute F:

where: Tc nc = column total for all observations in the treatment = number of observations (sample size) for each respective treatment x k N = sum of all observations = number of treatments = total number of observations

Computation for degree of freedom is necessary in order to obtain the critical value (P), the formula is: df where: r k df a. Hypothesis H0 = There is no significant variation between the obtained/ actual and expected frequencies b. Decision Rule Reject H0 if computed x2 > x2.5 = critical value with df. = number of rows = number of columns = degree of freedom = (r-1) (k-1)

5. Likert scale The consolidated points from the respondents answers to each item over a five point scale were as follows: WEIGHTED MEAN 4.51 5.0 3.51 4.5 2.51 3.5 1.51 2.5 1.00 1.5 SCALE 5 4 3 2 1 VERBAL INTERPRETATION Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree