The primary goal for this assignment is to explore and assess the methodological choices that social researchers make. No research design is perfect; researchers try to select the most appropriate method for the questions or problems they are studying, the resources they have available, the adequacy of previous work in the field, etc. Here you evaluate the particular methodology chosen by a researcher and propose an alternative methodology that reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the original. This assignment is due on Tuesday, November 20th.
In this assignment, you will need to do the following:
Find an empirical social science research article from a journal in the library. Make sure it describes an original empirical study; many articles do not, as the Babbie reading mentions. For a list of acceptable journals to find articles for this assignment, click here. You may use this article for your literature review in the literature review component of your research proposal, so choose wisely. Read the article so that you become familiar with its research questions, conclusions, and methodology.Critique: Analyze the method(s) used by the researchers in the article, exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the research desing as an approach to the question(s) that the researchers seek to answer. Why (or why not) is this method appropriate? Why have they selected the particular method? What do the researchers gain and/or lose by employing this method?
Comparison: Explain how a different methodological approach would explore the same research question. Would different data be required? Would new concepts be necessary? What would you gain or lose by redesigning the project in this way? Does this shed new light on the validity of the methodology used in the original study? How might your methodological change influence your findings?
This paper should be approximately 5-6 pages long. Attach a copy of the article you evaluate (but not your only copy if you are going to use this article in your research proposal).