This document provides instructions for students to develop a research plan on diversity or collaboration in a community group. It outlines the requirements for creating 8-11 notecards summarizing the research plan. The notecards must include: an introduction, research question, 4-6 literature review cards, a hypothesis card, optional operational definitions card, and a research method card. Students are instructed to refine their research question and bibliography from the previous assignment, complete a literature review with notes on sources, formulate a hypothesis and choose a research method, and incorporate these elements into the notecards.

1. t
ouchstone 3: Presenting a Research Plan
SCENARIO:
Your supervisor has approved your research question and plan
for studying some aspect of diversity and/or collaboration in a
community group. Now it is time to conduct your literature
review and develop your hypothesis and research plan.
ASSIGNMENT:
In the first Touchstone, you developed a research question and
prepared a preliminary bibliography for your literature review.
You will now conduct your literature review, formulate your
hypothesis and research plan, and develop a set of notecards
that summarize your work.
REQUIREMENTS:
You must create 8-11 notecards using the touchstone template
below. Your notecards will include:
introduction card
research question card
literature review (4–6 cards)
hypothesis card
operational definitions card (if needed)

2. research method card
A. Directions
Step 1: Revise Touchstone 1
First, return to the community group description, research
question, and proposed bibliography that you submitted in
Touchstone 1, and make any necessary changes based on
feedback from the grader. You will likely want to refine your
reading list based on the feedback you received and what you
learned about diversity and collaboration in Unit 3.
Step 2: Conduct a Literature Review
Next, complete your reading for your literature review.
Reminder of attributes of good readings for your literature
review:
They are academic, scholarly works about research findings or
they are reliable journalistic reporting based on scientifically
credible and reliable data.
They should have been published in the last 10 years—unless
they are a landmark work on the topic and provide important
background or as a comparison.
They look at different sides of the argument and a variety of
perspectives.

3. As you complete each reading, take notes. Questions you should
answer about each reading include:
Who wrote this article? Is it the researchers themselves, or is it
a journalist writing about their findings?
Where was it published? Is it a scholarly publication like an
academic journal, or is it for a popular audience? If the
publication is for a popular audience, how would you
characterize the audience?
Do they have an academic affiliation? Are the researchers
sociologists, or are they of a different discipline?
When was the research conducted?
What question were the researchers attempting to answer?
How does this question/topic relate to my question/topic?
What methods did they use to study their question?
What conclusions did they draw from their results?
How do their conclusions impact my research question,
hypothesis, or research plan?
As you did for your first Touchstone, you will include
five key elements
for each source, with each element separated by a period:
Author’s name(s)

4. Publication date
Title of the source
Page numbers (if applicable)
Source's location for web-based texts (URL)
EXAMPLE
Alireza Behtoui. 2015. Beyond social ties: The impact of social
capital on labour market outcomes for young Swedish people. p.
711-724.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783315581217
Step 3: Formulate a Hypothesis, State Your Operational
Definitions, and Choose a Research Method
Hypothesis
Next, formulate a hypothesis for your research question and
choose a sociological research method appropriate for testing
your hypothesis. While you won’t be conducting the research,
you will write up a description of how you plan to conduct your
research.
(HINT: Refer back to
Lesson 1.3.5: Formulating a Hypothesis
,
Lesson 1.3.6: Collecting Data: Quantitative Approaches
, and

5. Lesson 1.3.6: Collecting Data: Quantitative Approaches
for help.)
A formal hypothesis states the relationship between two
variables—one is independent (IV) and one is dependent (DV).
It must also be formatted as an If/Then statement, for instance:
If people eat chocolate (IV), then they will get pimples (DV).
If people go to the gym (IV), then they will be fit (DV).
Operational Definitions
Operational definitions identify important concepts related to
the research. For example, If your community organization
includes students, are they K-12? College? Medical? Or are
students defined as: young adults between the ages of 18-21
who are attending a particular college or university?
Research Method
Deciding on a research method will also take some thought and
planning:
Will you use qualitative or quantitative research or a
combination?
How will you engage subjects or find your data?
What kinds of tools and assessments will be used to gather the
data?

6. Step 4: Prepare Your Notecards
Finally, incorporate Steps 1-4 to prepare a set of notecards for
your proposed research study. Use the template provided to
create 8-11 notecards that present the work you completed in
Steps 1-4.
NotecardComponentIntroductionYour introduction notecard
should introduce your audience to the community group being
studied.Research questionYour second notecard will state your
research question.Literature Review (4-6 cards)Now that you’ve
introduced your community group and research question, it’s
time to add information to your literature review notecards.
Each source should have one notecard. The notecard should
describe the information and analysis you performed in Step
2.HypothesisYour hypothesis notecard should describe your
hypothesis.Operational definitionsYour operational definiti ons
notecard should include and explain any operational definitions
you developed for your study.
You may skip this card if you have none.
Research methodYour research method notecard should
introduce your proposed research method and explain how you
propose to conduct your research.
C. Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission:
Use a readable 11- or 12-point font.
All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.

7. Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
Submission must include your name and the date.
Include all of the assignment components in a single file.
Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.