Methods of Social Research SOC 3001

Description

part 1)Read carefully the textbook (Appendix B: Writing a Research Proposal) and answer the following questions.

(w4r11) What should you discuss at the beginning of the introduction section?

(w4r12) What roles does your literature review play in the introduction section?

(w4r13) In which section or component (see the table above) would you present your research question?

(w4r14) What would you write in the methods section (which is referred to as “Data Collection” in the textbook)

part 2) Read carefully the supplemental reading listed below and answer the following questions.

(w4r15) What do you discuss in the findings section?

(w4r16) What do you discuss in the discussion/conclusion section?

FORMAT FOR AN EMPIRICAL RESEARCH PAPER

(1) TITLE

A title is usually short and typically includes the major variables examined. Give a tentative title at the beginning and finalize it when the paper is completely finished.

(2) ABSTRACT

An abstract is a very brief (often limited to 150 to 200 words) summary of your paper. The purpose of the abstract is to help readers decide if the article is relevant or not. It describes your research question, method, data, and major findings. It should contain only ideas or information already discussed in the body of the paper. Write once the paper is completed.

(3) INTRODUCTION

This section presents the research question that you examined in your paper. In addition:

· [1] It explains why it is important to study this question, and

· [2] It summarizes what other researchers have studied and written about this topic, including their findings.

Some people prefer to create a separate section for [2] called “Literature Review”. If you prefer this format, present your research question and [1] in “Introduction”. Present “Literature Review” after “Introduction”.

(If you do not have any idea how to organize this section, read research articles published in a sociological journal and examine how the introductory part of the article is organized.)

You can discuss some of the following questions:

· What is known and unknown in the area of your problem?

· Is there any general agreements or disagreements among the previous researchers?

· How does your proposed research relate to existing theories and/or to previous research findings?

· What aspects of previous studies will it corroborate or replicate?

· Etc…

Describe each relevant study, briefly summarizing the data analyzed and findings made in each one. Examine how the past studies fit together. Are they consistent or inconsistent in their findings? When you summarize past studies, try to organize them in a logical and coherent way, such as ordering them chronologically, classifying them in pro and con sides, presenting studies with similar findings together, etc.

It may be possible to generate a research question (and justification of it) through your literature review. For example, you may want to

· examine a theory not adequately tested.

· examine rival theories.

· extend the theory to a new population or substantive area.

· use a new measurement of a variable.

· correct methodological problems found in previous studies.

· include more variables in order to examine the problem more deeply.

· reexamine previous findings, if you find something is wrong with them.

· examine conflicting findings made by previous researchers.

· etc.

Example: If you are interested in studying a social problem, [1] justify your study by describing how serious this problem is in society (you can cite current newspaper and magazine articles [and other sources as well] to describe how serious the problem is or has become) and [2] summarize studies on this problem, including their findings (for this, you mainly use academic journal articles and professional reports from government and research organizations). At the end, present your research question, relating it to previous studies. This is just one way to organize this section. You can organize this section in many different ways.

(5) METHODS

This section reports your research procedure, detailing: (a) how, when and where you collected your data, and (b) how the variables were measured/observed.

If you used available data, summarize how the original researcher collected the data.

If you collected your own data, describe your procedure in data collection:

Data: In this section, describe how you obtained your sample. You also have to describe how many cases you had in your sample.

Measurement: Describe how the variables were measured in your study. Restrict your description to those variables that you were analyzed in your study.

You may include any data collection instrument (such as a questionnaire, etc.) you used an appendix to your paper.

The above description applies primarily to quantitative studies. If your research is qualitative, you may not cover all the points listed above. Nevertheless, describe what you obtained for your data, and how, when and where you obtained the data.

(6) FINDINGS

Describe what you found in your study in relation with the problem presented in the intro section. In this section, you extract relevant information from your data to answer your research question.

Typically, descriptive statistics of key variables are presented at the beginning of this section. Once the data are described, relational analyses can be presented. In this section, you describe various relationships among key variables specified by your research question.

You use such statistics as %’s, averages, frequencies, etc. for the descriptive purpose. Use cross-tabulations, tables of means, correlation coefficients, etc. for relational analyses.

Use tables, figures, and/or graphs, if appropriate. If you include SPSS tables in your paper, modify them for easier reading. If you include tables, figures or graphs, you must refer to and describe them in the text of your paper. So, don’t include unnecessary tables, figures and graphs.

Don’t present your findings randomly. Decide what kinds of analyses are necessary to answer your research question, and then decide how you can present these analyses in the most cohesive and logical way.

Types of your analysis depend on your research problem. For example, if your study is qualitative, you are not likely to use statistics and tables.

(7) DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The Discussion and Conclusion section (which could be two separate sections, “Discussion” and “Conclusion”) reflects on the findings you made and concludes your paper. Summarize your major findings.

· What did you find in your study?

· How do your findings answer your original question?

· Relate your findings to previous research. How do your findings compare with previous research? What is the study’s contribution to the existing body of knowledge on this topic?

· Do your findings have any relevance to a larger theory? What do they mean in the larger theoretical context?

· If appropriate, discuss policy or other practical implications of your findings to respond to the question, “So what?” Are there any policy or practical recommendations based on your findings?

In addition, if you like, you can discuss the following in the discussion section:

* Discuss any methodological problems, if you are aware of them. Discuss how these might have affected your study and how they may be fixed.

* Make suggestions for future research. What direction should future research on this topic should take based on your findings?

(8) REFERENCES (List all the books and articles referred to in your paper.)

There are many different formats to present your bibliographic info. SOC 301 suggests to use the format developed by the American Sociological Association (ASA).

[Source: Earl Babbie, Basic Social Research, Wadsworth]

Part 3) Answer the following question

Components of a Research Proposal	Components of a Research Report
Title	Title
Abstract (if required)	Abstract
Introduction (including Literature Review)	Introduction (including Literature Review)
Methods	Methods
Plan for Data Analysis	Findings
Discussion/Conclusion (“Implications”)	Discussion/Conclusion
Timeline
Budget
Appendix (if necessary)	Appendix (in necessary)
References	References

• w4r11What should you discuss at the beginning of the introduction section?
• w4r12What roles does your literature review play in the introduction section?
• w4r13In which section or component (see the table above) would you present your research question?
• w4r14What would you write in the methods section (which is referred to as “Data Collection” in the textbook)?
• w4r15What do you discuss in the findings section?
• w4r16What do you discuss in the discussion/conclusion section?