Posted: November 12th, 2015

Assignment #4: Research Design

Assignment #4: Research Design
DUE DATE: Thursday, November 19th no later than 5:00pm

Write the research design section of your proposal including a detailed plan for how it will be carried out. Remember, this is one section of the larger research proposal. This is not a stand-alone paper.

Below are the details that you need to include in your design or plan. Please DO NOT simply list answers to these questions—this assignment should read like a section of your proposal, not like a list. The research design should be no less than 3 pages and no more than 4 pages (plus Appendix A) and should be well organized. Use subheadings to help with organization. Note: If you are proposing inductive, qualitative research, review Chapter 9. If you are proposing deductive, survey research, review Chapter 7.
1. Begin by reminding the reader what the research question is and your specific hypotheses that you will be testing.
2. What specific population are you proposing to study? A specific age group? Specific family types? Individuals who have specific characteristics?
3. What are the units of analysis?
4. Where are these individuals/groups/organizations located? Louisville? Chicago? Multiple cities? Multiple States? Why this (or these) location/s? How do you intend to obtain access to these individuals/groups/organizations?
5. Is the proposed research inductive, deductive, or descriptive? Explain why.
6. What type of design will you use, cross-sectional or longitudinal (keep in mind that even if you are proposing in-depth interviews instead of surveys, you can still follow people over time, if it makes sense to do so). If longitudinal, what type and for how long will you follow respondents? Why this period of time? Why is a longitudinal design best for the study that you propose?
7. What sampling technique will you use and why? Be very specific here.
8. How will you collect data? Will you do in-depth interviews? Surveys? How many interviews or surveys? Why this number?
9. If you are using a survey approach, how do you intend to conduct the survey? By phone? Mailing? In-person? How do you intend to maximize your response rate? (for deductive approaches)
10. What are the independent and dependent variables (for deductive)? How will you measure (for deductive) or understand (for inductive) the key concepts?
11. For deductive: what about measurement validity? Generalizability? Causality? What are the major sources of causal invalidity?
12. What are the ethical considerations for the proposed data collection? How do you intend to address them?
13. Will participants receive some type of incentive to join the study, such as a gift certificate or cash?
14. APPENDIX A (attached to the end): If you are proposing in-depth interviews (inductive, qualitative), write out the list of 10 questions to guide the proposed interviews. If you are proposing a survey (deductive, quantitative), submit the survey you propose to administer. Remember, in-person interviews allow for both open-ended and closed-ended questions—not true for phone interviews.
15. If you are borrowing a survey question or measurement from another study, be sure to include citations and a reference page. You do not need a reference page for this assignment if you do not include citations.