Research on a particular human interaction, situation, or activity.

TERM PAPER RESEARCH PROJECT
The term research project for this course is to be research on a particular human interaction, situation, or activity. This is where students will actually practice sociology by designing and conducting their own research on a particular facet of human society. There are three parts to the term paper; the research proposal, a one page statement of the particular human activity or endeavor to be investigated, the theoretical position from which the investigation will be performed, the hypothesis, and the methodology; the literature review, which should be roughly 3-4 pages and incorporate initial results of a review of literature relevant to the proposed research connected to the theoretical position and research orientation, and the research proposal expanded into a research model, including the operationalization of important concepts; and the final submission which should be 7-9 pages, with an 11 or 12 point font, one inch margins, and double spaced, and incorporate results of the research and discussion of the results connected to the theoretical paradigm(s) in APA format.
Project Assignment Components
Research Proposal: This paper should be no more than 1-2 pages in length, double-spaced with an 11 or 12 point font, and should be a brief description of the proposed term paper research, including what is the hypothesis of the research paper, which theoretical approach the paper will employ, what methodology the student will be using, and which particular human activity or endeavor the student will be investigating. Another way of thinking about this is to make sure that there are several things included in this paper; what is the subject of the research, what is the expected finding, why is this subject important to research, and how is the data going to be gathered. The subject of the research has only one restriction; it must involve human activity of some type. Sociology studies numerous facets of human society and activity. Possible sources for research topics include hobbies, interests, social problems, career choices, etc. When the particular human interaction, activity, or situation is selected, there may be an expectation of what will be found. This is the potential hypothesis for the research paper. Connecting this hypothesis with one or more of the larger theoretical approaches, functionalism, conflict and interactionist, can be thought of as explaining why this subject is important to research and how this research contributes to a greater understanding of human society, activity, or interaction. This is the deductive process of research. Alternately, if there is no expectation of any results, data can be gathered and analyzed, and the explanatory theory can be developed out of the analysis. After gathering and analyzing data, an explanation is developed using one or more of the theoretical approaches. This is the inductive process, also known as the grounded theory approach to research. The final component of the research proposal is the method; how the data is to be gathered. Chapter 2 of the textbook has good descriptions of the various methods; experiment, survey, observation, secondary analysis, content analysis, historical and comparative sociology. Students should also include a brief rationale for the selection of the particular method. There are four videos in Class Session 2 Learning Activities folder, three of which have sociologists discussing their research, and the fourth, the paradox video, discusses the research cycle, and these videos contain helpful material regarding the research process. Students are encouraged to view these videos prior to creating the research proposal. This portion of the term paper research project is pass/fail; all students submitting the research proposal component of the term paper research project will receive the 10 points. General comments and guidelines from the instructor will be provided for each research proposal indicating the best way to proceed with the literature review and research.
Refer to the Course Tour video, located in the Resources tab, for a tutorial on using the Journals tool located in the Communications & Tools tab.
Component Submission: Each of the first two components will be submitted through a journal in the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. The research proposal should be submitted through the Term Paper Research Proposal journal, which can be accessed through the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 3 folder, and through the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. The literature review should be submitted through the Term Paper Literature Review journal, which can be accessed through the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 7 folder, and through the Journals tool in the Communications & Tools tab. You may submit them either as a text submission or as a file attachment. The third component will be submitted through the Term Paper Research Project assignment located in the Assignments and Assessments folder inside Class Session 14 folder. All three components need to be submitted in order to receive the grade, but there will be no grade until the final completed term paper is submitted. For further information on using Journals, refer to the Journal video in Blackboard Help.
Individual Discussion: Students may use course messages or e-mail, whichever your instructor prefers, to discuss the term paper or any other topics.