the instructions given by the prof are below
i will add two additional pictures which include a rubric and an example for the interview guide section of the assignment.
If you need any help to clarify any sections just reach out
SOC
2206 — Assignment 2
Instructions
for Option B (In-depth interview)
Overview
The goal of the second assignment is to
provide some hands-on experience for students, specifically in crafting a plan
for data collection. The due date for this assignment is as follows:
Option
B: Qualitative research—Develop a semi-structured interview guide.
Due
date: Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at 11:55pm EST
Please keep in mind the important points
below:
·
The assignment is about
planning. Imagine that you are preparing the interview guide before talking to
the actual interview participants. This means you need to specify your plan
(for example, say that you intend to have a sample of 10 respondents), but you
do not create the sample or collect the actual interview data.
·
The instructions in this
file have been edited to enhance clarity, as compared to the previous document
which was given before students decide between option 2A and 2B. Please follow
the instruction here.
·
If you change your mind
& would like to work on Option A (Survey), submit your work on OWL using
the Assignment named “Spillover, B to A.” Note that option 2B has an earlier
due date & different instruction. It is student’s responsibility to follow
the instructions.
Content of the assignment
In this assignment, students will develop a
data collection plan for their research project on the topic of climate
change mitigation and adaptation. In 2022, the city of London has adapted a
Climate
Emergency Action Plan, pioneering several
strategies and actions that support climate change mitigation and adaptation.
One of the three main goals in the city plan is to bring everyone along,
including individuals, households, businesses, and more.
Imagine that you are a social science
researcher seeking to contribute new knowledge to support the Action Plan,
draft a research plan that consists of the following elements:
1- Research
questions or research goals (approx. 2 pages double-spaced)
·
Develop a specific
research question under the broad topic of climate change mitigation and
adaptation.
·
You are free to narrow
down to any specific topic, with one requirement: your research question must
be answerable with data collected from human research subjects. This
excludes non-human subjects, e.g., such as policy documents, newspapers.
·
Make a case for the
study: Why is it important? What new knowledge will be created from this study?
To lend support to your claim, include a small literature review on your topic.
The literature review should also help with conceptualization and operationalization.
How have existing studies conceptualize and operationalize the concept that you
will be examine? Will you use the same or different interview questions? Use at
least three (3) references from scientific research directly relevant to your
proposed study.
·
The research question or
the set of research goals should be concrete and helpful for readers to
understand your expected findings (that is, the new knowledge that you seek to
create).
·
Ensure that the research
question or goal is suitable for in-depth interview research.
2- Target
population & Sampling strategy (approx. 2 page double-spaced)
·
Discuss your target
population. To answer your research question, who should participate in the
interview?
·
Discuss your sampling
strategy. How will you recruit people to participate in your study?
·
Briefly discuss the
ethics implications of your research. What ethical issues could arise? What
safety precautions will you take?
3- Interview
guide (no page limit)
·
Develop an interview
guide. The guide should include all interview questions, meaning the
actual questions you will ask the participants in the interview. You should
also include probing questions. For an example of semi-structured interview
guide, please see Appendix below.
·
Generally, the
semi-structured interview guide is the document that researchers will bring to
the field & look at it to ensure that they are leading the conversation
appropriately. As such, the guide should be compact & clear. Strive to fit
everything into one page (and max 2 pages). You can switch into single-spacing
here.
4- Justifications
for the interview guide (approx. 1 page double-spaced)
ü Explain
how you came up with the interview questions. including what you were trying to
measure, and what went into your thought process when designing them.
ü This
section should demonstrate how you use knowledge from the course. Note: the key
is to demonstrate a relevant application of knowledge, not to list all
course concepts here!
ü For
example, I am looking for something along the lines of “Questions 1 asks
participants about their work and general daily routine. I do this to help
create rapport with the participants.”
ü Similar
to Assignment 1, you should paraphrase the course concept to say how you
understand & apply it. Do not cite the lecture or the textbook. Citing the
textbook is only appropriate when you use a direct quote (in quotation marks)
from it.
Suggestions for the write-up
This assignment is not meant to be a long,
essay-style paper. Instead, think of it as a “marketing pitch” to the
university, the city of London, or any funder to convince them that your study
is worth conducting.
As such, we recommend that you take time
to organize and edit your work as a professional write-up with the following
sections:
1. Research
questions or research goals (approx. 2 pages double-spaced)
2. Target
population and sampling strategy (approx. 2 pages double-spaced)
3. Justifications
for the interview guide (approx. 1 page double-spaced)
4. Appendix
(no page limit, but try to keep it within 1 page)
·
The interview guide.
·
Remember, this is what
you will bring to the interview. Make it short and practical! You can switch to
single-spacing here.
5. Bibliography
or references using APA referencing style (no page limit)
Beware: All the sections described above
should be presented in one single document. Do not submit separate
files!
General
Expectations
·
Use font Times New Roman,
font size 12 pt., regular spacing of characters, borders, and margins.
·
Proper grammar and
spelling are expected, and necessary for the effective communication of your
thoughts. Write in complete sentences and paragraph form.
·
The maximum length for
the write-up is five (5) pages double-spaced. This maximum does not include the
Appendix (required), Bibliography (required), and the title page (optional).
There is no minimum length requirement.
·
Note that the maximum
length represents the longest acceptable proposal, meaning that there will be
no tolerance for exceeding the limit.
·
Use APA
Referencing style for both the in-text
citations and the Bibliography.
·
Anything that is not
listed here is optional, for example: title page, header, footer, number for
sub-sections, etc. Include them if you’d prefer, no harm if you do not.
·
Submit your assignment as
an attachment, ideally a Word document (.doc or .docx file). Do not submit a
link or in-line texts.
·
Basic computing skills
are a requirement for university-level learning, so students should take
responsibility for saving their work (final paper or draft documents) and
submitting the correct file.
·
Violation of the general
expectations may incur a penalty up to 20% of the assignment grade,
depending on how bad it is.
·
Students should consult
the Syllabus for the specific policy for late work & late penalty. Extensions
will only be granted with formal approval from Academic Counselling. Extensions
will not be granted in the event of technical difficulties. Responsible
computing habits include backing up your work, saving files in different
versions and names, etc.
Referencing
·
Incorrect referencing
techniques can get you into serious troubles. Plagiarism is an academic
misconduct that will result in severe outcomes, so we strongly recommend
students to learn the proper skills for: (1) in-text citations and (2) making
the full list of references at the end.
·
Please consult the online
style guides available on the University’s
library website for detailed information
on these reference formats. Another useful resource that we highly recommended
are the Purdue
University’s APA Guidelines (completed with
many useful examples and tips).
·
Do not over-cite. You do
not need a citation for every single word mentioned in your write-up. Three
highlights here:
o The
lectures should never be cited as an academic source (Why? Because it is not
written. Nobody can verify the exact things being said in a lecture, so it has
no value as scientific or practical evidence to support your claim.)
o Knowledge
covered in the lecture and textbook should be treated as common sense, that is,
things that any researcher should know. Use your own words to paraphrase the
idea or process. No citation is needed for that.
o Cite
the direct source: If a study mentioned in the textbook/lecture is relevant for
your write-up, you should cite the study (not the textbook).
