APU SSGS500 Full Course Latest 2019 July
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 1 Forum
Introduction
to Social Science Research
In week 1
we discussed some general purposes for carrying out social science research,
research ethics, and strategies for carrying out preliminary research. Take a look at this video on the APUS Library
to help get you acquainted with the recent updates that have taken place within
our library. To also help you navigate
the library check out the Ask a Librarian Playlist. Here you’ll find information on LibAnswers!,
how to search for books, how to search for articles and more.
Within this
course the assignments are scaffolded in that each of them should help you
complete the final assignment in this course – an 8-10 page research
proposal. To help jump start the
planning process, this week you’ll need to discuss your research interests as
they pertain to your field of study be it criminal justice, international
relations, intelligence studies or etc.
Here the goal of the discussion is to help you narrow in on a possible
research question you’d like to frame out for your week 3 assignment, and will
ultimately come to use in your research proposal.
Using the
online library, navigate to the library’s “articles & databases”
section and look within the Security & Global Studies database list. Using one or more of the databases find 3
peer-reviewed journal articles to help you articulate your research
interests. When talking about the topic
you are interested in researching be sure to reference the articles using the
writing style specific to your field of study.
For those in criminal justice this mean APA, for everyone else, you’ll
need to use the
Turabian
author-date method (also known as the parenthetical or in-text citation method)
as this will be good practice for all future posts and assignments. If you have questions on these writing styles
please review the information presented in the Course Overview section of the
class. In addition to presenting your
research topic, and research question, your post should reflect that you have
read this week’s lesson material and demonstrate that you have a sense of the
research cycle and what it means to carry out ethical research.
What
challenges are you having in coming up with a unique and narrowly focused
research question? Did you have any
challenges findings articles within the library? If so what did you do to alter your search
parameters? Do you anticipate any
difficulties in any of the phases of the research cycle as you pursue research
on your topic?
Please
attach the three peer-reviewed articles you found within the online
library. At the end of your post you
should have a “References” list that lists these using the writing
style that corresponds to a references list or a bibliography.
I know that
the discussion standards for the graduate level can be a bit of a mystery when
you are just starting out. Take a look
at the following blog post to help you get a feel for graduate level discussion
standards. http://inpublicsafety.com/2016/01/sharpening-scholarly-skills-can-enhance-professional-performance/
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 2 Forum
Conceptual
Framework
To what
degree can research within the social science be considered
“scientific”? What are some of
the challenges that coincide with carrying out scientific research? Your posts this week should demonstrate
critical reflection upon the assigned readings.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 3 Forum
Methodological
Theory and Its Role Within Research
Discuss
some of the reasons why we include methodological theory in our research? What purpose does it serve? What role do inquiry paradigms play in
research? Your posts this week should demonstrate critical reflection upon the
assigned readings.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 4 Forum
Substantive
Theory and Its Role Within Research
This week
you were exposed to an array of theories that should help to jump start your
research. What theory have you chosen to
help you answer your research question?
Please take this opportunity to practice discussing your theory in
detail by explaining why you think it’s a good fit for the research project,
the level of analysis it operates at, the variables it acknowledges, whether it
seeks to explain or understand, and if it supports prediction. Your discussion should demonstrate a
reflection upon the peer reviewed literature.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 5 Forum
Qualitative
Research Methods
Please
answer one of the two prompts noted below. Your posts this week should
demonstrate critical reflection upon the assigned readings.
1. This
week we focused on developing an understanding for some different qualitative
methods. What are two or three assumptions that are made specific to
qualitative research? Be specific in
your description of each one. When
considering some of the various qualitative methods that are out there, what
challenges might they pose to a study’s validity, reliability, and
generalizability?
2. A
tremendous amount of research is conducted each year through secondary
analysis. What is secondary analysis and what are the advantages and
disadvantages of using secondary data?
Give an example of a study that was done using secondary data analysis
and summarize the findings briefly. Be
sure the study is peer-reviewed.
Finally,
what are some additional questions that you have about the different
qualitative methods that are out there?
Use this as an opportunity to gain some clarity on the research methods
discussed this week.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 6 Forum
Quantitative
Research Methods
Please
answer one of the below prompts. Your posts this week should demonstrate
critical reflection upon the assigned readings.
1. Think
about how you might design a quantitative research project. What methods would you use to collect your
data? What would you need to do to
demonstrate that your study had a high degree of validity and reliability?
2.
Generally speaking, what are some advantages and disadvantages to doing survey
research?
Finally,
what are some additional questions that you have about the different
quantitative methods that are out there?
Use this as an opportunity to gain some clarity on the research methods
discussed this week.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 7 Forum
Mixed-Methods
Research
Consider
the material that we covered this week and discuss when you think a mixed
methods approach should be used in research.
What are some key arguments that are occurring within the discipline
regarding this question? Your posts this week should demonstrate critical
reflection upon the assigned readings.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 8 Forum
Data
Synthesis, Interpretation, and Presentation
As you may
have noticed during the course of your research one key component of a research
paper is the abstract. Often the
abstract is something that scholars put together before they start work on
their research to help them focus their ideas.
Then as the paper develops they come to refine the abstract to ensure
that it reflects what was actually done within the paper. A good abstract sets
the stage for the research topic, explains the method in use, notes the
findings, and mentions important implications of the study. They are typically 150-200 words in length
and allow researchers to quickly see what a paper is about prior to reading the
work in its entirety.
Please post
an abstract that accurately reflects your study up to this point. If you need some examples of abstracts to
help you get started take a look at some of the abstracts found within the
peer-reviewed journals you referenced within your own proposal.
In thinking
about your research, how are you planning to assess your data? How might you code your data? Finally, what
additional insight did this week’s material help provide that we haven’t
covered yet? Your posts this week should
demonstrate critical reflection upon the assigned readings.
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 300 words. Please respond to at least 2
other students. Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct
questions.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 2 Assignment
CITI
Training
During
lesson 1 you were introduced to why its important to carry out ethical
research. For this assignment you will
be carrying out CITI training for researchers specific to Social/Behavioral
Research with human subjects.
Log onto
the CITI Website to complete the training (You will be able to create your own
username and password)
Follow the
instructions for Registering for the CITI Course (PDF)
Complete
the Social and Behavioral Research Investigators Course
The
university pays an annual fee for all AMU/APU users; individual users are not assessed
a fee for the training.
Each module
may take from 10 to 30 minutes to complete, and most contain a quiz. The
modules do not have to be completed all in one login session. A minimum
aggregate score of 80 percent is required to pass. At the end of your training course you’ll be
presented with a “coursework transcript report” which will note that
the training you completed will be valid for three years. This means that you will have one less step
to do should you go on to seek approval from the IRB to carry out human subjects
research for your MA thesis.
To complete
this assignment you need upload your coursework transcript report*. The “reported score” will be the
score that is entered for your grade.
While CITI gives you the option to carry out the training multiple
times, your first attempt is what will be recorded.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 3 Assignment
Research
Question and Hypothesis Exercise
1. Start
your assignment with an introductory paragraph about your research topic and
why it is of interest and a research “puzzle.” You want to guide your reader
from your research area to your research topic, then on to your general
research question, and specific research question.
While there
are many ways to frame a research question, at the graduate level, your
research questions should be 1) open-ended and start with “How,” “Why,” “What,”
or “To what extent;” 2) should incorporate the variables you seek to assess and
their relationship; and 3) should indicate how you intend to test the nature of
that relationship. You want to make sure
that your question has an appropriate amount of complexity so that it requires
a significant amount of research and analysis. A simple Google search should
not be able to answer your research question.
Unclear:
How can the need for power be harmful?
Too simple:
What is Hillary Clinton’s position on Obama Care?
Too simple:
What is Hillary Clinton’s operational code?
Too broad:
To what extent is Hillary Clinton different from Bill Clinton?
Appropriately
Complex and Focused: To what extent is Hillary Clinton motivated by a need for
power by comparison to Bill Clinton, and how might this impact access and
control of information within the White House?
2. Next,
provide a purpose statement that conveys your intentions about what you hope to
produce. See the reference in your Lessons and review that it will usually be
prefaced by some phrase like the following: “This paper examines . .
.,” “The aim of this paper is to . . .,” or “The purpose of
this essay is to . . .”. Remember that a purpose statement makes a promise
to the reader about the development of the argument but does not preview the
particular conclusions that the writer has drawn. Your purpose statement should
demonstrate what you are hoping to find out, and also explain what you want
your readers to understand (motivation or argument of the research).
This
formula and example set from the Baruch College Writing Center may be helpful:
|
I am studying… (Narrowed Topic) |
…because I want (Research |
….so that (Motivation or |
|
Differences in Boston-based and Philadelphia-based abolitionist |
…why Boston-based abolitionists emphasized broad themes of social |
…how previous scholars may have overlooked the role of free black |
|
The origins of the Glass-Steagall Act |
…why lawmakers supported its passage… |
…that their motives resulted not from careful economic analysis but |
(From
Baruch College Writing Center “Focusing Research Topics Workshop” www.writingcenter.baruch.cuny.edu)
3. Pull out
the dependent (DV) and independent variable(s) (IV) that you are interesting it
looking at. This needs to be specific
and you need to discuss ideas for how you might go about measuring the impact
that the IV as on the DV. You need to
focus in on one or two specific variables (and discuss how they are defined),
otherwise your research will quickly spin out of control as you will not have
the capacity to effectively address the relationship between all the
variables. The PRS Group offers a good
list of variables they use in their research.
This list is just an example of variable to show you what a variable
might look like and how it might be defined.
From here
develop a hypothesis that reflects your educated guess as to the relationship
between those variables. You may use an “if” “then” statement or you may
formulate it as a narrative statement.
Hypothesis: A statement for how a change or condition in
one or more independent variables cause(s) a change or condition in a dependent
variable.
Finally,
explain why these are the important variables to look at within this research
project. Why focus on these variables
and not other variables?
By the time
you are done you should have at least 3-4 pages of content (double spaced in
times-new roman font), not including the title page, and a “references
list or bibliography” page. Your writing should be consistent with the
professional/academic writing style. For
a refresher on the conventions of academic writing please refer to the latest
Turabian writing guide or APA writing manual. Since multiple writing styles are
in use within this course, on your title page, please note which style you are
using within your assignment. This will
help me cater my comments to the style you are using. The style you use need to be the one that is
used within your program of study.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 4 Assignment
Literature
Review on a Theory
Writing a
Literature Review
Most
research projects include a literature review to determine what knowledge
exists on the subject under study and to develop the theoretical framework that
will be used in the study. The
literature review sets the context for the entire research project by
explaining what others have found in researching the same or similar specific
research questions. Literature reviews
are also done to help summarize the current state of knowledge on a topic and
the current knowledge gaps up to this point.
In this format they are often published as a pure literature review
within peer reviewed journals. One example
can be found here specific to the literature on psychobiography as a method,
here is another example article.
Students often have a hard time writing literature reviews because it
seems like a foreign way to organize information, however in a way you can
equate the way that an essay is written to that of a literature review. In an essay one will bring in numerous
references within each paragraph, the same would be the case for a literature
review in that literature reviews are organized thematically. NCSU has a
fantastic video (https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/tutorials/litreview/) that helps
explain what a literature review is an how they are written at the graduate and
professional levels, I recommend taking a look as it will help give you some
additional perspective on how these are written. For some additional information on how to
organize your theoretical framework into your paper, check out this USC Library
guide on Theoretical Frameworks.
A
literature review begins with an introductory paragraph in which the writer
frames the research topic and its significance, or the puzzle or topic area
that the researcher is addressing. To do that, the writer will summarize the
major relevant arguments on the research subject, highlighting the main issues
and how schools of thought might differ.
If there are key terms to be defined, the writer would also do that
here, if the literature review is part of a larger research paper.
The body of
the literature review tells readers what others have found in their studies about
your specific research question, or topic under investigation (the extent of
existing knowledge on your specific research question/current state of the
research on a particular topic), critiques what is right or wrong with these
other studies, and discusses how the body of knowledge needs to be moved
forward (and/or how the work is distinguishable from the research study you are
proposing). Your review should organize material by theme or method or what
makes sense for the project.
The
conclusion should summarize the primary “sense of the literature”,
encapsulating for the reader where the existing literature ends and if carrying
out a study, where your research will start.
Assignment
Instructions:
This
assignment serves as a building block for your final thesis proposal. For this literature review you need to select
a substantive theory, either something that we discussed in the lesson, or
something outside of the course, and focus your literature review around that
theory. Your theory selection should
make sense with the research question you intend to assess within your final
research proposal. Since this is a
literature review focused on a particular topic (i.e. the substantive theory)
you will need to discuss the current state of the literature specific to that
theory (for example, deterrence theory, social identity theory, and etc). You’ll want to start with a discussion on the
early conceptualizations of the theory and how it has developed overtime. your conclusion should include a discussion
on where the research on that theory needs to go next. What are some questions that remain? What new ways should it be applied?
Format:
Standard academic format will suffice: 1-inch borders on all four sides, double
spaced, with times new roman 12-point font. As with all academic assignments
(unless otherwise specified) you must include a references section and list
your references.
This
literature review should include a critical review of at least 9-10
scholarly/peer-reviewed articles.
Since
multiple writing styles are in use within this course, on your title page,
please note which style you are using within your assignment. This will help me cater my comments to the
style you are using. The style you use
need to be the one that is used within your program of study.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 5 Assignment
Qualitative
Article Reviews
Assignment
Instructions
Select two
articles from the list below and in 1-2 pages single-spaced (per article)
address the following:
Include the
full reference for the article using the writing style specific to your program
on the title page.
Criminal
Justice = APA
International
Relations, National Security, Military Studies, and Intelligence Studies =
Turabian.
Since
multiple writing styles are in use within this course, on your title page,
please note which style you are using within your assignment. This will help me cater my comments to the
style you are using. The style you use
need to be the one that is used within your program of study.
State the
main goal(s) of the study
Summarize
the research design, and discuss the research method(s) used to answer the
research question or assess the hypothesis.
Summarize
the results of the study.
Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of the study’s research design.
Provide a
discussion on how the study can be moved forward. For example, how can the methods be used in
your own research proposal? In what other research might these methods
apply? Include two well phrased research
questions that could be used in follow-on studies to the one reviewed.
Format: You should have 1-inch margins on all 4 sides
of your papers; your title page should include your name and date; you should
use 12-point times new roman font throughout.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 6 Assignment
Quantitative
Article Reviews
Assignment
Instructions
Select two
articles from the list below and in 1-2 pages single-spaced (per article)
address the following:
Include the
full reference for the article using the writing style specific to your program
on the title page.
Criminal
Justice = APA
International
Relations, National Security, Military Studies, and Intelligence Studies =
Turabian.
Since
multiple writing styles are in use within this course, on your title page,
please note which style you are using within your assignment. This will help me cater my comments to the
style you are using. The style you use
need to be the one that is used within your program of study.
State the
main goal(s) of the study
Summarize
the research design, and discuss the research method(s) used to answer the
research question or assess the hypothesis.
Summarize
the results of the study.
Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of the study’s research design.
Provide a
discussion on how the study can be moved forward. For example, how can the methods be used in
your own research proposal? In what other research might these methods
apply? Include two well phrased research
questions that could be used in follow-on studies to the one reviewed.
Format: You should have 1-inch margins on all 4 sides
of your papers; your title page should include your name and date; you should
use 12-point times new roman font throughout.
SSGS500 Research Design and Methods
Week 8 Assignment
Research
Proposal
Assignment
Instructions
This
assignment requires you to write a proposal that states your research question
and your research strategy for addressing it.
Research
Proposal:
The
research proposal must be between 8-10 pages in length not including title page
or references.
Your title page should include the working
title of your research project, your name, date, and course title. You should also have an abstract on your
title page.
Your
proposal should have the following sections:
Introduction:
The introduction is where you identify your specific research question and
where you set the general context for the study. In this section you need to
include:
a statement
of the problem or general research question and context leading to a clear
statement of the specific research question;
background
and contextual material justifying why this case or topic should be studied;
and
a purpose
statement.
Literature
Review: This short preliminary literature review section reviews the literature
important to your specific research question. The literature review focuses on
discussing how other researchers have addressed the same or similar research
questions. It introduces the study and places it in larger context that
includes a discussion of why it is important to study this case. It provides
the current state of accumulated knowledge as it relates to your specific
research question. In this section you should:
Summarize
the general state of the literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific
research question. For example if you discuss other studies that have been
conducted you would summarize the researcher’s findings, how those findings
were obtained, and conduct an evaluation of biases in the findings.
This
section should provide a broad overview of the primary arguments related to the
topic and organizes the general views on the main aspects of the topic by
theme, which could be the prevailing arguments or schools of thought, or
commonly held beliefs that your particular topic may challenge.
Include a
short conclusion and transition to the next section.
In your
literature review you should also discuss the theoretical framework to be used
in the study. You should ensure you
cover the following in your discussion:
a summary
of the theory or model to be used in the study, including a diagram of the
model if appropriate;
comment on
the kinds of questions this theory has been used to answer in the past and why
it is appropriate to use in this proposed study
To really
drive this home you want to end your literature review with a discussion of the
current knowledge gaps. This is an opportunity to once again promote the
importance of your own research. How will your research fit within this larger
body of knowledge? What are you doing differently? What gaps will your research fill?
For some
additional information on how to organize your theoretical framework into your
paper, check out this USC Library guide on Theoretical Frameworks.
From here
you would then include a transition into your methodology section.
NOTE:
Literature reviews can be a bit tricky to write. Think back to how you wrote your short theory
lit review in week 4. Chances are you
already started to write in a style similar to what one does when completing a
literature review. Check out this video
(the same one you were guided to in week 4) to help you further prepare to
write this section of your proposal.
This will not be the last time that you are asked to write a literature
review in your academic career so its important to master this skill.
Research
Design and Methods: Describes how you will answer your research question or
test the hypothesis. This section describes your overall research design and
how you plan to collect, synthesize, and interpret your data. It should
include:
identification
and operationalization (measurement) of variables;
Having Trouble Meeting Your Deadline?
Get your assignment on APU SSGS500 Full Course Latest 2019 July completed on time. avoid delay and – ORDER NOW
a sampling
plan (i.e., study population and sampling procedures, if appropriate);
justification
of case studies used;
data
collection/sources (secondary literature, archives, interviews, surveys, etc.);
a summary
of analysis procedures (pattern-matching, etc.); and
the
limitations of study and bias discussion.
Conclusion:
Reemphasizes the importance of your study and ties the proposal together.
Reference
List: As with all academic papers you need to references the works that you
have cited (direct quotes or paraphrases) in the text of your document and
incorporate a complete reference list or bibliography at the end. This list
needs to be in the style used within your field. APA= Criminal Justice, Turabian
for all others in this course.
Remember
that the references you use demonstrate your knowledge of the topic area. This research proposal is meant to convince
your professor that you not only have identified a worthy question in need of
investigation, but that you are also capable of carrying out the research
involved to successfully answer that question.
At the very least you should have referenced 12-15 peer-reviewed sources
in this proposal.
Since
multiple writing styles are in use within this course, on your title page,
please note which style you are using within your assignment. This will help me cater my comments to the
style you are using. The style you use
need to be the one that is used within your program of study.
Format:
Standard
academic format will suffice: 1-inch borders on all four sides, double spaced,
with times new roman 12-point font.
As you
proof read your assignment I encourage you to work with Belcher, Wendy Laura.
2009. “Editing Your Sentences” In Writing Your Journal Article in 12
Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. Sage. This resource has a nice
step by step process for enhancing your writing.
The
research paper must be submitted as a Word Document Attachment in the
Assignments section of the classroom by Sunday, 11:55pm EST at the end of week
8.
Entitled
(NameFINALW8.doc) and upload in the Assignments sections.
