You’re assignment this week is to develop a plan or outline for your own research study. This study can look at anything you may be interested in personally, and you will design and plan each step of the process. In this week’s chapter, we have discussed many of the ways in which Sociologist’s conduct research, as well as some of advantages and disadvantages of each method. When sociologists apply the sociological perspective and begin to ask questions, no topic is off limits. Every aspect of human behaviour is a source of possible investigation. What is the point of research? Simply put, to learn stuff.
The Situation:
You are the leading researcher at the International Sociological Research Institute. You have been awarded a grant from the Universal Research Institute to conduct any type of research you want for literally any cost, great or small. Your job is to put this funding to good use. Develop an outline of your research, and be sure to follow the six steps and include responses to the questions below.
Step 1: Ask a Question or Find a Research Topic
What is your research question? Why is this research question worthy of scientific study? What are your variables? Describe your topic and it’s importance, and build an argument for why this research is worthwhile.
Step 2: Review the Literature/Research Existing Sources
What types of existing research are out there? What sources might you consider for your literature review? Are there any limitations to existing research? Keep in mind, I don’t expect you to do a full literature review here, just a brief outline of some of the sources that might be used.
Step 3: Formulate a Hypothesis
Based on your findings so far regarding your topic, what findings do you expect to capture? Make sure to review the Step 3 in the text to be sure you are providing a true, testable hypothesis.
Step 4: Design and Conduct a Study
How are you going to carry out the research? What type of research design will be used? What type of data will you be collecting? What are some of the advantages and limitations to this kind of study?
Step 5: Draw Conclusions
Step 6: Report Results
Since you are not actually completing the research, the last two steps of the research process will be impossible to complete. For additional points, go ahead and describe how you will use your findings. While learning stuff is very cool, sociological research is often used to influence public policy, demonstrate needs for services, or predict the future. How will your research be used? How will it impact society?
Requirements:
You will never see a page minimum in my assignments. There are as many writing styles as there are people. That being said, I do expect that you complete all portions of the prompt (this expectation carries over to how I will be grading future exams *wink wink*)
In your response, make sure to include at least 5 key terms from the text. These can be found by clicking here. Be sure to highlight or bolden these terms in the body of your submission.
In your response, address all of the questions above. Be sure to include each of the six steps to complete sociological research. Also, be sure to save this submission as it may benefit you on future assignments *wink wink again*
This submission should be 12 pt font, and submitted as a .doc or .pdf file type. This assignment is due by midnight on Friday (8/26)