Sociology Question

Overview

Now that you're thinking about a topic of interest and have started finding articles, I want you to spend some time more formally delving into it. You need to pick a specific, social science topic of interest. You'll be using this to find some literature, identifying key variables, and constructing testable hypotheses. This topic can be pretty much anything under the sun as long as it's somehow social science in nature. To make sure you're on the correct track, you're to begin the first parts of articulating your interest and really considering the ideas and key variables that are core to a research question of your choosing.

Be sure to format per APA style. OWL@Purdue is a great resource. You can see a sample formatted paper her Links to an external site. and the references list formatting rules can be found hereLinks to an external site..

Important things to note: this doesn't need to be a full page of text, you're able to do this as an outline of sorts but you must hit every requirement listed on the instructions and detail is always important. The more information you give us, the more we can do to give you feedback, which will make the final project easier. Also, make sure that your sources are from peer-reviewed, academic journals (i.e. not newspapers, not magazine, not websites such as Pew Research; these are useful but don't fit this assignment). If you already have some, you can use those

You are to write a one-page description of the research project you are proposing in this class. The final project is an introductory research proposal (i.e. you are developing and articulating the initial stages of a research project). While we get into some aspects of analysis in this course, those are to give foundations.

The purpose of the project you are proposing is: An investigation of the relationship between the DV and three IVs.

Requirements

1. Put your name at the top of the assignment (important) and save the file as Your Name Topic.docx
2. Type your topic at the top. Explain what you're interested in investigating and why you're interested in it. Make sure to note what makes it social in nature and what factors or variables you think are key to it (this aspect can come from experience as well as what you've read on it).
3. Locate three articles on your topic.
   1. Write a few sentences summarizing each journal article you’ve located.
      1. Each article should relate to your DV and at least one IV. The articles themselves may reference more than one of your IVs; this is fine. but look at them and think: which one is the strongest for your interest (i.e. centers more emphatically, makes a stronger case, etc.).
4. Once you’ve done this, please do the following
   1. List your variables
      1. You need to have four variables total: one that is your key dependent variable and three that could be theoretically plausible independent variables.
         1. For example, let's say that my topic is on income gaps and what influences them. I'd start by identifying what can give me insight into whether an income gap exists. In this case, I could use something like one's annual income. That becomes my dependent variable. I then need to think about what factors might be influential. In terms of income gaps, some of the more common items that researchers have looked at are gender, race, age, region, education, and so on. Any of these can be chosen as the three independent variables.
   2. Write out three hypotheses (one for each IV with the DV).
      1. These should follow from the articles you found.
   3. Include an APA formatted reference list with your three articles.