Research Methods & Data Analysis

Drs. Steven W. Peuquet & Danilo Yanich

 

Group Assignment

 

For this assignment, the class will be divided into the following five topic groups: historic preservation; environment & energy; social policy; urban planning and community/economic development. Each group will be responsible for developing a detailed outline of a full empirical research proposal. Groups will have broad discretion in deciding the nature of their research project within each of the topic areas. Importantly, this assignment does not include the actual execution of the proposed project, but rather a description of the project in outline form. The research described in the proposal outline should be designed without regard to limits on time or resources and should address all key aspects of the proposed research project. A group’s detailed outline of a full empirical research proposal must include the specification of the following components:  

• the research question(s) and any related sub-question(s) to be pursued;
• any hypotheses to be tested;
• an appropriate research design;
• the type of primary and/or secondary data needed, their source(s), and, if appropriate, the sampling frames and techniques to be employed;
• the specific variables to be examined and how they will be operationalized; and
• the method(s) by which data will be analyzed.
  

Successful completion of this assignment requires the following:

• On December 2nd each group is to make a prepared 15-20 minute presentation of its research proposal outline during class, and at that time is to provide the instructors with a printed (hard) copy of its reseach proposal outline.
• By 9:00 a.m. on the due date, each group is to email a file to Dr. Peuquet (speuquet@udel.edu) containing all audio/video material needed for that group's in-class presentation. This file will be pre-loaded on to the course webpage for use during class.
• Also on the due date, each student is to submit a printed 2-3 page report to the instructors in class. This report is to contain the student's own reflections about how difficult or easy it was for the group to develop the individual component parts (listed above) of the group's research proposal.  

Grading: Each student's grade will be determined by a combination of the overall performance of the student's group, the quality of the student's reflective report, and an assessment of the student's contribution to the group made by the other members of the group. The grade for this assignement will count for 15% of an individual student's overall course grade.