Overview
Essential Components and Suggestions
Your assignment will be evaluated on the inclusion and correctness of the key components listed below, as well as the overall quality of your proposal. Here are the key components (I recommend a separate slide for each component): Research question and motivation Your proposal must be grounded in a clear and appropriate sociological research question that addresses the call for proposal. You may choose either a quantitative research question (question about the relationship between 2 or more variables) or a qualitative research question (a question about social processes or meaning and cultural significance of people’s actions). • If you pose a quantitative question, you must clearly specify an independent and dependent variable. For example: “What is the effect of extra-curricular participation (independent variable) on academic success in high school (dependent variable)?” • If you pose a qualitative question, you must clearly specify a guiding question that identifies the process or meaning you intend to study. For example: “How do students seek help from teachers? And do these processes differ by social background?” You do not need to review previous literature for this project, but you must explain the motivation for your research question. Why should your audience care about this question? And do you have a hypothesis or any expectations? Research approach You must pick a research approach for your project (experiment, survey research, field research, or analysis of existing data) and describe the key decisions for that approach. Examples: • For an experiment, how many variables will you manipulate, and how many conditions? • For survey research, how will you conduct the surveys (in person, online, etc.), and will you conduct a cross-sectional or longitudinal (panel/repeated cross-section) study? • For field research, will you conduct observations (cover/overt? participant/non-participant?) and/or in-depth interviews (individual or focus groups)? • For existing data analysis, what form will you use (existing statistics, content analysis, comparative historical, etc.)? You must also explain why your chosen approach is appropriate for your research question. Sampling/Recruitment Who/what will be in your study? How will you select and recruit your cases? The details of your sample will depend on your research approach, but most researchers collect data from individuals. Will you choose a random sample (if so, what is the target population, sampling frame, and sampling procedure?), purposive sample (if so, what are the targeted characteristics and what is the recruitment strategy?), etc. You must explain how your sampling strategy is appropriate for your question. Data collection Describe the procedures for data collection, including experimental procedures, survey questions, observation/interview protocols, and/or existing data sources. Measures are an important component of data collection. For quantitative (variables-focused) questions, you should clearly describe the operational definition of your measures. For qualitative questions, you should explain how your procedures will allow you to learn about your topics of interest (such as an interview guide).
Analysis How do you propose to analyze your data? Will you test for statistical associations between variables? If so, will you control for any other characteristics? Will you code field notes, interview transcripts, or other narrative data? If so, how will you search for connections and themes? It can be hard to know all of the details of an analysis in a proposal, but you should explain in enough detail so that your reader knows what you plan to do.
Conclusion No research is perfect. Critically evaluate your proposal. Are there any notable limitations for your proposed methods? Are any elements especially critical? Remember that you are trying to persuade your audience that your research project deserves funding. It is always a good idea to end with the specific unique strengths of your proposed research
I do Analysis part, so you only help me answer analysis question, below is our research questions.
How does the increased use of remote learning technology (Zoom, Discord, fully online classes, etc.) post-COVID impact UCI students academically and socially in the 2024-2025 school year?