SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 1 9/28/2007 Week 7 Assignment – “Core Assessment: Research Proposal” Learning Outcomes 1. Describe and illustrate each step in the research cycle, both for laboratory and field research; and discriminate among the choices that must be made at each stage. 2. Apply the principles of the scientific method to social science research. 3. Operationalize a theoretical question or practical concern as a testable hypothesis. 4. Critically analyze and evaluate a research literature and then to build new research upon the foundation it provides. 5. Apply the fundamental aspects of measurement and construct variables based on those principles. 6. Identify and differentiate basic research designs and determine which is appropriate for a given research problem. 7. Identify the principles of probabilistic, nonprobabilistic, and multistage samples, and determine which is appropriate for a research problem. 8. Explain and justify the use of quantitative, qualitative and multimethod data gathering techniques. 9. Apply the principles of ethical research. Directions Assignment 7 – “Core Assessment: Research Proposal” exercise (200 points or 20% of your overall grade, due Sunday at midnight CST of Week 7). Read the instructions early and get to work on this assignment during your first week. Follow the instructions and the checklist. This assignment is both a detailed plan for a workable research project, and a justification for why that project is worthwhile and feasible. You may submit a draft (or portions of a draft) at any time for instructor feedback, but the final version is due at the end of week 7. Write up a summary of your experience. What challenges did you encounter? What would you do different next time if you were to repeat this exercise? This is required but is not included in the points in the graded assignment. You will post your “Reflection” essay in the forum provided then participate in a conversation with the other students and compare your experiences. Post your “Reflection” as early as possible in the week to allow time for a good discussion to develop. This is required but is not included in the points in the graded assignment. Submitting the Assignment and Due Date Submit your assignment to the Dropbox by Sunday midnight CST of Week 7. SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 2 9/28/2007 Format General Format (same as in week 2) Please follow the format as described at the end of this file. Grading Criteria This assignment is worth 200 points. This is the Core Assessment, and is graded using the Core Assessment Rubric as defined at www.park.edu/syllabus/corelearning.aspx. Requirements: Points Covered the topic and project requirements thoroughly: A – Problem Statement (max 1500 words): a summary and justification of the topic your proposed research will cover. 40 B – Literature Review (max. 1500 words): a critical eva ...

1. SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 1 9/28/2007
Week 7 Assignment – “Core Assessment: Research Proposal”
Learning Outcomes
1. Describe and illustrate each step in the research cycle, both
for laboratory and field research;
and discriminate among the choices that must be made at each
stage.
2. Apply the principles of the scientific method to social
science research.
3. Operationalize a theoretical question or practical concern as a
testable hypothesis.
4. Critically analyze and evaluate a research literature and then
to build new research upon the
foundation it provides.
5. Apply the fundamental aspects of measurement and construct
variables based on those
principles.
6. Identify and differentiate basic research designs and
determine which is appropriate for a given
research problem.
7. Identify the principles of probabilistic, nonprobabilistic, and
multistage samples, and determine

2. which is appropriate for a research problem.
8. Explain and justify the use of quantitative, qualitative and
multimethod data gathering
techniques.
9. Apply the principles of ethical research.
Directions
Assignment 7 – “Core Assessment: Research Proposal” exercise
(200 points or 20% of your overall
grade, due Sunday at midnight CST of Week 7).
Read the instructions early and get to work on this assignment
during your first week. Follow the instructions and
the checklist. This assignment is both a detailed plan for a
workable research project, and a justification for
why that project is worthwhile and feasible. You may submit a
draft (or portions of a draft) at any time for
instructor feedback, but the final version is due at the end of
week 7.
Write up a summary of your experience. What challenges did
you encounter? What would you do different next
time if you were to repeat this exercise? This is required but is
not included in the points in the graded assignment.

3. You will post your “Reflection” essay in the forum provided
then participate in a conversation with the other
students and compare your experiences. Post your “Reflection”
as early as possible in the week to allow time for a
good discussion to develop. This is required but is not included
in the points in the graded assignment.
Submitting the Assignment and Due Date
Submit your assignment to the Dropbox by Sunday midnight
CST of Week 7.
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 2 9/28/2007
Format
General Format (same as in week 2)
Please follow the format as described at the end of this file.
Grading Criteria
This assignment is worth 200 points. This is the Core
Assessment, and is graded using the Core Assessment
Rubric as defined at www.park.edu/syllabus/corelearning.aspx.

4. Requirements: Points
Covered the topic and project requirements thoroughly:
A – Problem Statement (max 1500 words): a summary and
justification of the topic your proposed research will cover. 40
B – Literature Review (max. 1500 words): a critical evaluation
of
existing research your project will build upon. 40
C – Ethics & Conduct of Research (max. 1500 words): potential
ethical, political, and practical challenges to completing your
project, and their solutions.
40
D – Design & Procedures (max. 2000 words): description and
justification for measurement, sampling, design, analysis, and
interpretation in your project.
50
E – References: at least 10 scholarly studies properly cited and
referenced. 10
Format – 20
Total 200
Questions and Issues:
If you have any questions or issues, please post them to the Q &
A or Reflections discussion thread.

5. Directions (including the Proposal Format and Checklist):
Your Research Proposal is a plan for researching a very specific
research question that are interests you.
You should think about it early in the term, then consult your
instructor to get your topic approved. Once
your topic is approved, start finding appropriate research
literature upon which to build your own plan of
research. See the accompanying summary and checklist for
detailed instructions (SO308_proposal.pdf
and following). Good luck!
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 3 9/28/2007
SO308 Research Proposal
Your Research Proposal requires you to design a small project
of original social scientific
research — but you will not actually collect or analyze the data
in this class (although students
often use this proposal as the basis for a senior project, thesis,
or work project. Your final
report should contain the following sections:
1. Abstract: a 200 word summary of your project, plus
appropriate keywords.

6. 2. Problem Statement: (max. 1500 words) an overview of the
topic your research will
investigate. It introduces and justifies your research question,
key variables, their
hypothesized relations, and your guiding theoretical
perspective. It explains how
your planned research is unambiguous in its goals and methods,
concerned with a
significant issue that will add to the store of human knowledge,
theoretically justifiable
and testable, practical and feasible to implement, ethical and
respectful of human
rights, and builds on existing knowledge in the field.
3. Literature Review: (max. 1500 words) a critical summary of
existing research your
project will build upon. Your review will evaluate at least five
other relevant research
projects from original sources in reputable, peer-reviewed
journals. The lit review
discusses previous research, as it influences the proposed
project. It evaluates the
methodological, theoretical, or substantive strengths or
weaknesses of those studies
and explains how they shape your research plans.

7. 4. Ethics & Conduct of Research: (max. 1500 words)
summarizes potential ethical
dilemmas, political consequences, and practical challenges
associated with designing,
conducting, implementing, and disseminating your research. It
explains where your
research process might go wrong and the safeguards you will
put into place to
minimize those risks.
5. Design & Procedures: (max. 2000 words) describes and
justifies your plans for
measurement, sampling, design, analysis, and interpretation of
results. It explains
which data you would collect, when you would collect it, and
what you would do
with it to make sense of your topic and shed new light on your
research question —
and how and why. This section is a set of “how to” instructions
for actually turning
your “good idea” into a real plan for scientifically answering
your original question.
6. References: all internal text citations should be fully
referenced according to APA
guidelines in this section.
Your research proposal is a carefully constructed argument for

8. why your question should be
answered and how a valid and reliable answer might be
obtained. It should be a meticulous set
of instructions for generating an answer according to the rules
of scientific method, and it should
make the case to interested parties for how such an answer can
be achieved — then it should
demonstrate how you followed that plan to collect data, analyze
the results, and form
implications and applications for those results.
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 4 9/28/2007
SO308 Research Proposal Checklist
Your Research Proposal is a report applying social science
research techniques to better understand some
aspect, issue, or problem of social life. It is literally a set of
step-by-step instructions describing how your research
question can be answered, why yours is a good method for
approaching the problem, and a plan for the analysis,
interpretation, and implications of the data you would collect.
You will not actually collect these data for this

9. class. This is only a plan! The following checklist will guide
the write-up of your proposal. A successful report
will clearly answer every applicable question (but not all
questions apply to every project, depending on the question
and methodology chosen). In addressing each question, you
should describe what your position is, how you will
achieve it, why this is so, and justify yourself (citing any
applicable reasons, evidence, or previous studies). Your
final report should conform to the APA Style guidelines for a
research proposal. These questions correspond to
the Research Cycle on page 8. Don’t freak out! There is a lot
here, but if you formulate a clear research
question and follow this step-by-step guide, you will get it done
one piece at a time. Start early and be sure to
consult your instructor and student colleagues for feedback.
15 React to the literature: review the scholarly and professional
literature, existing data sources, and
other materials that help establish what we think we already
know about your research topic (your should have
at least 3 to 5 scholarly sources in addition to any other
references).
topic?

10. conventional understandings of the issue: what is
sound or reasonable about previous work? Why? What is
unsound about previous work? Why? How
might these deficiencies be improved? Justify your positions.
of previous work so as to make your study
better?
did you find in previous
work? How did that influence their findings?
applicable work. How did previous studies
influence your theoretical perspective or methodological
choices?
01 Select research topic: identify your broad area of research
interest then selectively narrow your
focus to a manageable scope that can be accomplished in a
finite amount of time and with a finite amount of
resources.
ce it in its larger social
and intellectual context. How does it relate to
other practical problems or phenomena and/or theoretical
issues? Justify your choices and explain the
decisions you’ve made to limit your project.
thesis statement (or, if more than
one, make sure that they are tightly related and

11. do not unnecessarily enlarge or diffuse the nature of your study)
that relates two or more variables
-out
and theoretically testable. Justify your position.
developed and feasible to study. Justify your position.
your choice of topic.
02 Develop your framework: clearly state the perspective(s) or
theoretical lens(es) through which
you view your research and defend it as a reasonable, effective
one through which to study the issue or
problem.
ng your
perspective and the methods you’ve chosen to
collect your data and test your hypotheses. Defend and justify
your position.
or simply similar to both major “schools of
thought” in the social sciences and to more specific, “middle-
range” or “micro-“ theories in your field.
Elaborate how these intellectual connections shape your
research project and justify your choices.
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 5 9/28/2007

12. y explain and defend your hypothesis. Justify it
according to as many of the criteria we have
discussed as possible. Explain the major alternatives and why
you have elected for the choices you have
made.
s and clearly
distinguish them and their operations from the
others. Explain the major alternatives and defend why you have
included the variables you have and failed
to include other, reasonable candidates.
perating between or
among the variables in your hypotheses — in
other words, why and how do you think one variable influences
or changes with another?
they are appropriate to your research question
and your theoretical perspective.
your choice of theoretical perspective.
03 Design your study: discuss how you plan to measure each
variable and collect your data, then justify
your choices.
measure each variable. Exemplify and justify your
coding decisions for each variable. Discuss the possible
alternatives and explain why yours is a superior

13. method, given your theoretical position and practical
constraints. Include copies of instruments or
measurement criteria in an appendix.
to generalize? Describe and justify your plan of
sampling. Discuss the possible alternatives and explain why
yours is a superior method, given your
theoretical position and practical constraints. How is your
sample representative of your population and
what are its potential limitations? Justify the applicability of
your findings, given the nature of your sample.
possible alternatives and explain why yours is a
superior method, given your theoretical position and practical
constraints.
methods are valid and reliable.
Discuss specific threats to both and explain what
procedures you are implementing to reduce or remove specific
threats to validity and reliability.
your choices of operationalization, sampling, and
design.
04 Develop your proposal: identify who the formal gatekeepers
are and what their procedures will be
for approving your project; discuss what needs to be included in
your proposal to satisfy their institutional

14. needs.
research by presenting them with a proposal?
be addressed for you to obtain formal
permission?
ntingency plan for other sites or
05 Obtain resources, access, and permissions: identify who and
what you will need to
practically and ethically implement your research project, then
explain how these resources may be obtained.
cess you will go through to get past each
level of formal and informal gatekeeper.
Develop contingency plans for each step. Justify your choices
practically, methodologically, and ethically.
se.
Alternatively, discuss why such stories will not
be needed and explain your decisions.
organizations that you will be working with that set out
the rights and responsibilities of each party.
include a copy in an appendix.
(include itemized estimated expenses in an appendix)
and justifying your spending.

15. SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 6 9/28/2007
-monetary resources you
will need to complete your project (equipment,
personnel, and so forth). Justify their inclusions.
arise from your research. Develop safeguards to
reduce or eliminate their occurrence and/or design plans for
treating each ethical problem, should it arise.
aware of potential ethical pitfalls and how
their solutions have provided positive or negative examples in
your own study design.
06 Prepare materials, team, participants, and/or site: define
what preparatory work
must be accomplished before data collection to train your
research team, prepare your participants or site, and
ready the necessary materials or instruments.
before the collection of data (e.g., drafting,
proofing, and copying instruments; building and testing
equipment; etc.). Develop contingency plans in case
of potential mishaps.

16. must occur before data collection (e.g., if in the
lab, how must it be outfitted or modified; or, if in the field,
what ecological changes must be
implemented?). Develop contingency plans in case of potential
mishaps.
do everything yourself or must you include
others? What sorts of additional training must be undergone to
prepare the team? Justify your decisions.
participants to successfully participate in your
study. Is their any training, screening, or briefing necessary?
Justify your decisions.
07 Collect data: discuss when and how you will collect the
necessary data to test your hypotheses.
your data, including the implementation of your
plans for sampling and design. What issues may arise in their
implementation and how can you maximize
your results?
and explain why this is the optimal choice.
alidity
that may spontaneously arise during the course of
data collection? Develop contingency plans to reduce or
eliminate their effects.

17. spontaneously arise during the course of data collection?
Develop contingency plans to reduce or eliminate their effects.
-existing perspectives
become an issue during the data collection process?
Explain what you have done to minimize their effects and
justify your decisions.
08 Leave the field or lab: plan what steps are necessary to leave
the field and/or your participants in at
least as good a condition as before they participated in your
study.
agreements made to facilitate the execution of your
research project? Develop contingency plans to address
problems in removing yourself from the field.
participants, informants, or indigenous team
members to facilitate the execution of your research project?
Develop contingency plans to address
problems in removing yourself from the field.
the dictates of the “harm principle?” Justify your
position.
individual and organizational) and their data by
collecting and storing said data in a responsible and ethical
manner. Justify your decisions.

18. 09 Analyze data: choose which techniques are appropriate to
scale, test, assess, or otherwise manipulate
your data.
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 7 9/28/2007
any post-collection manipulations of the data.
Discuss alternatives and explain why your choices are superior.
schemas and justify their inclusion. Discuss how they
are superior to other reasonable alternatives.
ed methods for testing your
findings. Justify the criteria you have chosen
and explain why your choice is superior to other reasonable
alternatives.
assessment tools and utilize methods of
triangulation or replication to enhance the validity and
reliability of your findings.
occur at this stage? What biases may potentially thwart
your analyses? How might your theoretical, methodological, or
practical commitments skew your analysis?
Discuss how you are minimizing or eliminating those threats.

19. 10 Interpret data: choose what standards are appropriate to
judge the relative success or failure of your
hypotheses and how you will assess the meaning of your
research findings..
influential at this stage. What assumptions, biases, or
preconceptions may influence you interpretation? Reflexively
address your procedures and interpretations.
your results. Defend your decisions in light of your
theoretical, methodological, and practical commitments and
constraints.
bility may
occur at this stage? What biases may potentially thwart
your interpretations? How might your theoretical,
methodological, or practical commitments skew your
interpretations? Discuss how you are minimizing or eliminating
those threats.
11–14 Writing, submitting, reviewing, and distributing
findings: identify the
audience for your findings and the media or other distribution
conduits through which you may share your
results.
selected. How will their composition influence your
presentation?

20. of your research. Describe and justify the steps
you are taking to minimize or eliminate them.
ticipate presenting your results to your
subjects and your audience so as to be sensitive
to any political and ethical ramifications. Justify your
decisions.
findings to actual practice.
SO308 – Assignment 7 – Page 8 9/28/2007
01 select research topic or question
15 react to the literature
14 publish or distribute
findings 02 develop framework
PREPARATION
13 peer review COMMUNICATION and
process and DEBATE PLANNING
03 design
12 submit study
report The
RESEARCH
11 write CYCLE
report

21. 04 develop
proposal
10 interpret data
EMPIRICAL
STUDY and ANALYSIS
09 analyze data 05 obtain resources,
access, and permissions
08 leave the field or lab
06 prepare materials, team,
07 collect data participants, and/or site
Diagram of the Typical Social Research Cycle (keyed to
questions).