Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies extends capdev for faculty researchers

The Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies, a research center under Bukidnon State University (BUKSU), conducted a capacity development workshop for faculty researchers on April 15-17, 2024. The workshop focused on qualitative research methods specifically in the field of peace studies.

Mr. Walter I. Balane, the Center Head, said this initiative is the Center’s main capacity development in preparation for its pursuit of the university’s role in peace-building.

The capdev is in coordination with BukSU’s extension program, “Strengthening Partnerships for Advancing Research Knowledge” (SPARK). The SPARK program is a collaboration between the BUKSU Research Unit (RU) and the BUKSU Extension Unit (EU) designed to equip participants with the necessary skills to conduct impactful research.

Faculty members from both San Isidro College (SIC) and BUKSU participated in the workshop.

Dr. Mario J. Aguja, acting Director for the Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao (IPDM) at Mindanao State University – General Santos City (MSU-GenSan), led the first day’s discussions. Dr. Aguja covered the fundamentals of qualitative research, including its strengths and limitations, identifying pressing peace and development issues, and crafting compelling research questions. Additionally, participants learned about choosing appropriate methodologies and conducting literature reviews with gap analysis.

On the second and third days, Dr. Jovar G. Pantao, former Director for IPDM, facilitated a session on designing research proposals and provided guidance on proposal refinement and feedback.

Participants gained practical skills in writing introductions, literature reviews, methodologies, data collection plans, analysis plans, conclusions, and recommendations. The workshop also included peer review and feedback sessions to solidify learning.

“The Business Administration Department is really striving to increase the number of our research output, and by attending on this training on qualitative study, we could somehow contribute in achieving the research targets of our college. This is very helpful on how to really go about the qualitative type of researches,” Dr. Catherine C. Salvo, BukSU’s Head for Commercialization and Technology Transfer said.

“It will provide an update on the recent threads in doing qualitative research, and I learned that there is a new method in the Filipino indigenous methods in conducting research. And, this is really very helpful, because we are also trying to indigenize our outputs especially in research,” Mr. Christian J. Inovejas, BukSU Philosophy Department Head said.

“Personally, it really helped me in my profession.  My background in research is really limited, and this really has taught me a lot in terms of creating research. It is different from capstone and research that I used to in Information Technology. So, it has helped me a lot,” Jaime Pascua, SIC faculty member said.

Established in 2021, the Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies is one of BUKSU’s research centers. The Center’s mission focuses on peace studies and community engagement, particularly through collaborative action with the province’s indigenous peoples. “Kalandag Taw” translates to “our collective peace” in the Binukid language, reflecting the Center’s commitment to fostering peace building efforts in Mindanao.

(with information from Stepanne Bracero and the Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies; Photo: Kalandag Taw Center for Peace Studies)