soci111—–Research Proposal—–at least 1 page

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, 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, i.e. what sources are to be used. 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. 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.