Assignment 1
Due Monday, Feb 13th. Bring FIVE COPIES.
Research Problems and Justification
In one page only, you will do the following: (1) Provide 1-3 sentences that state a research problem of interest to you. Remember, research problems relate concepts, not specific variables. You should be able to clearly state the "purpose" of your proposed research in this statement. As this is a quantitative research methods course, your research problem should be amenable to quantitative methods. (2) Provide a single paragraph (no more than 150 words) that justifies your research problem. Finally, (3) provide one or more hypotheses that come from your research problem. Remember, hypotheses relate variables, not concepts. You may simply list your hypotheses.
Important Note: I am purposely not giving you examples to work from. I want you to think about what a good problem statement would be for a research topic of interest to you. This does not have to be a real research project that you are doing, but it certainly can be one. As you write this assignment, think about the following statements: Would this make sense to anyone who read this problem/justification? Am I using too much jargon? Would my justification statement convince a non-expert in my area of interest that this is worth doing?
Format and Due Date
Your assignment should be double-spaced, 12-point serif font (e.g., Times New Roman). The entire assignment should fit on ONE SIDE of a single piece of paper. If your assignment is longer than this, then you are writing too much - you are most likely not being clear and concise.
Bring FIVE (5) COPIES of your assignment to class next week (Monday, Feb 13th). Do not staple the copies.