Overview
ThisFirst Draft (5-6 pages)of your Methods section will outline your research
methods, justifications, and conclusions. Here, you are to describe how you are going to test your hypotheses and answer your research question. What are your basic comparisons? You should be developing an exact detailed plan of action and reasons why you would do what you would do; your question will guide your methods. Be thinking about how you would analyze the data and what control variables you would need to include. In the final paper, you will need to explain what you expect to find – what specific results will support your conclusions or not. Your design will replicate, extend, or improve upon the studies you reviewed (particularly addressing any noted errors, limitations, or deficiencies). You will need to specify the nature of the population and the size of your sample, as well as your research design. Remember to provide a clear nominal and operational definition for each concept. Further specific details will depend on the type of design; use the methods section of the studies you have collected as a guide. You are to describe what you would plan to do in the project. While you will describe the data analysis plan [specified below in brackets], the pre-test/pilot study data collection/analysis/results will be presented in your final paper ONLY as evidence only of the validity of your design (particularly the data collection instruments). NOTE: Mixed Methods designs are not suitable for this course. You must choose and justify ONE of the following designs: Surveys: Specify the population, and justify the sampling frame and sampling strategy. The items in your instrument must be justified (how do they provide the data you need to answer your research question, how will they be validated); specify the order of questions, and the mode of administration. [Code your pre-test data into a statistical package that you already know how to use. Make sure that the response options are coded in a way that makes sense for your concept. Select the proper statistical tests to run and make sure the procedures’ assumptions are met. Include your finalized survey instrument in an Appendix.] Note that existing items/scales used by other researchers are already validated; if you develop your own items, you must specify why this was necessary (particularly because it means the data from your items will not be comparable to existing research) and acceptable procedures concerning how they will be validated.
© Schuster 2025 Qualitative: Specify the population, and justify the sampling frame and sampling strategy. Identify three people who agree to be interviewed for your pilot study; you will keep them anonymous in your paper (relatives or acquaintances are acceptable). Oral history interviews about a specific era/event, or time of life are good examples. While observational studies are sociologically important, they are not suggested for this course given ethical concerns. Specify your interview schedule (a set of core questions that you will ask each respondent). Make sure to include basic background questions as well as questions that allow you to address the issues you have posed for your research. [This requires deciding how you will operationally define each of your concepts (how to code responses). Interview each for about 30 minutes. Provide a full transcription of the interviews (in an Appendix),and describe your analysis process.] Archival/Existing: What available data have you selected, and how will it be used to answer your research question (data transformation and analysis). Specify the source. Discover the types of data available through Langston Library (eg. Special Collections and Archives), ICPSR, BLS and other government agencies, or other online sources. For Quantitative Archival/Existing: Specify the population, and justify the sampling frame and sampling strategy. Make sure the data set includes the variables that will make suitable operational definitions for the concepts you plan to analyze, and the over-time data is available for all the years needed. [Code your pre-test data into a statistical package that you already know how to use. Make sure that the response options are coded in a way that makes sense for your concept, re-code and combine variables as needed. Select the proper statistical tests to run and make sure the procedures’ assumptions are met. Include a printout of the codebook in an Appendix.] For Qualitative Archival/Existing: With archival qualitative data, students should focus on examining differences in social relations over time, so make sure the over-time data is available for all the years needed. You may need to decide on a sampling technique (eg., the front page of a newspaper). Decide how you will operationalize (measure) each of your concepts. [Code each article/person/source for your pilot study. Include the data in an Appendix. What basic patterns do you find between your concepts (you may choose to conduct a simple cross tab). Assess whether or not what you found corresponds to your hypothesis/research question.]
© Schuster 2025 General Resources: https://www.lib.uci.edu/digital-collections (especially Calisphere) https://special.lib.uci.edu/ Direct link to SPSS: https://uci.service- now.com/sp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=348862aadb99c050712f38 9f9d9619f3&sysparm_c ategory=50d8b96cdb67a700712f389f9d961921 Find other statistical package options here: http://licenses.oit.uci.edu For students doing quantitative analysis (surveys): https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?gui... http://ssric.org/node/530 https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/instructors/i... p For students doing case studies: https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?gui... For students doing content analysis: https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?gui... For students doing oral history: https://www.oralhistory.org/web- guides-to-doing-oral-history/