Final Practicum Case Report

POLSCI Practicum
Political Science Department

I. Jeremiah Jawaharlal M. Nalupta II - 11318198

II. Nature of the Institution, Company or Agency
The nature of the institution that we are engaged in is to critical in related political and
social issues that is happening in the country. We are also tasked to explore the discipline to
learn new ways of research methods and the aim of the institution is to make us public
intellectuals after the whole On-the-job training. It is about understanding phenomenon
about politics and to be able to scrutinize issues by being critical with the supervision of Dr.
Contreras. Another nature of this training is that you are not constrained to a single method
or running errands to complete ours but rather to become more aware of the reality we are
facing in the political spectrum. It is flexible in terms that you are requiring of different task
every time you meet with your adviser. New realities are always being showed though the
institution. It is progressive them on how we approach issues, which stretches our
experience and knowledge on the field of Political Science. Furthermore, the aim of this
training is not just making us public intellectual but also a responsible citizen of this country.
It is just about researching and submitting report but also having the opportunity to help the
people and educate them on certain political issues. The significance of this mission is in
order to encourage people to become more active in participating in political issues and to
have the awareness of the politics that is happening around them. It also helps us into
deepening the understanding of politics as students of Political Science majors. The hands-
on approach where you are sent to the field to inquire and acquire data what also makes it
unique because you are always on the move while you are doing your research that tasked.
This term we have attended the Philippine Political Science Association International
Conference 2016. This if for us, to experience how academics discourse on issues and
researches that has been made. The nature of this trip was to let us understand the
importance of Political Science in Theory and in Application. So far, ideas are flowing for 2
days and we met academics and learned from their researches. This makes me intellectually
curious to delve myself more in understanding politics in different research areas. The tasks
what Dr. Contreras made us do is to observe and make analysis on the researches that were
presented. The purpose of the conference was to point out that politics matters in everyday
life and in a larger arena of understanding. It is dealt with everyday and we cannot ignore
the fact that conferences like this are important in order to discover new knowledge that
might improve our understanding and significance of politics. Then another task that is soon
to be at tackled would be the interviewing of Indigenous people in Nueva Vizcaya that will
help us deepen our understanding of qualitative research. It is also about emerging
ourselves in research in the field that is not all about theories that we learn in the
classroom.
III. Description of major tasks and assignments
This part describes the major tasks, activities, assignments and outputs of the practicum
student. Please refer to the sample table below:

Major Tasks & Description Outputs & Outcomes

Assignments
Philippine Political Science We will have to report to our Reflection Paper
F
Association International supervisor about academic papers
u
Conference 2016 presented in the conference
r
including our reflections and
t
critical analysis.
h
Research assistants in for We are task to be research Data collections
e
Dr. Contreras in Nueva assistants for Dr. Contreras in
r
Vizcaya Nueva Vizcaya through
interviewing Indigenous people.
e
Explanation of the table items can be included in this section.

IV. Individual Reflection

Our practicum assignment in general had a nature that was purely interactive; the
practicum group was tasked to accompany their adviser in his on going research, regarding
Indigenous People (IP), and in return this allowed exchanges that are indispensible in the
part of the mentees. The experience garnered in the educational-outreach trip are all in line
with the quest of De La Salle University and Political Science department to instill to its
students the practical and real application of their program, and being immersed in the field
made all these goals attainable. A personal realization was before I find that not all theories
and class lectures are practical for everyday use, this fieldwork made me think otherwise
that during moments and times like this, and that as a student of Political Science, there are
practical application for everything thought inside the four corners of a classroom, case in
point was that I was able to overlap the learnings in my Public Policy course in determining
the stance of IP while juxtaposing it to the Policy regarding Indigenous Peoples Rights, and
within this I was able to use my knowledge regarding research methods such as Key
Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussions. The only challenge that I could think of is
that there are instances of language barrier with the IP, and although this may be a problem
I consider it a small one since there are always limitations during research work. During our
deployment in Nueva Vizcaya, I can attest that this trip was a fruitful one and many
learnings were garnered and though to us by our adviser Dr. Antonio P. Contreras.

V. Recommendations for Future Deployment

 VI. Attachments/Appendices

Documentation of Nueva Vizcaya Fieldwork: Key Informants