Overview
Professionals in the social sciences investigate human behavior and society for the purpose of understanding why people act the way they do. This investigation can help address a wide variety of social issues, such as the role of social media in the Arab Spring protests, the impact of social skills on future success, racial factors in police violence, and how partitioned grocery carts can help shoppers purchase healthier foods. Social scientists can help address issues such as these through research and investigation.
The summative assessment for this course has two parts. In Project One, you will conduct a research investigation that examines an issue in the social sciences. You will identify appropriate resources for investigating the issue you select, use these resources to apply social science principles to the issue, and develop a question related to the issue. In addition, you will identify an audience who would be interested in the selected issue. In Project Two, you will develop a presentation for the audience you identified in Project One. In your presentation, you will explain how social scientific thinking has affected you and discuss the impact of the issue on your audience, supporting your claims with evidence.
Project One addresses the following course outcomes:
Illustrate the impact of social scientific thinking on personal and professional experiences
Select appropriate and relevant social science resources in investigating contemporary issues in the social sciences
Communicate effectively to specific audiences in examining fundamental aspects of human behavior
Apply essential principles of the social sciences in addressing critical questions related to human behavior
Prompt
In Project One, you will select a contemporary issue in the social sciences to investigate. You may select an issue discussed in the course, or you may select your own with instructor approval. You could consider using your question from SCS 100 if it is something you would like to investigate further for this assessment. After selecting an issue, you will conduct a research investigation, identifying appropriate resources for researching the issue, applying social science principles to your issue, and developing a question related to the issue. You will submit your research investigation as a written report.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Introduction: In this section, you will discuss your social science issue and select resources that you can use to research the issue. Specifically, you should do the following:
Describe the issue in the social sciences that you have selected to investigate. Why is this issue significant?
Describe at least three social science resources that you could use to investigate the issue you selected. Your sources must be relevant to your issue and must be of an academic nature appropriate for the issue. In your description, consider questions such as these: What are the similarities and differences in the content of your sources? What makes them appropriate and relevant for investigating your issue? What was your thought process when you were searching for sources? How did you make choices?
Body: In this section, you will use the social science resources that you selected to investigate your issue, focusing on an appropriate audience and the social science principles related to the issue. Be sure to cite your sources. Based on your research, address the following:
Identify the social science principles that apply to your issue. In other words, which principles of social science apply to the issue you selected?
Explain how the principles you identified apply to your issue. In other words, how are the social science principles you identified relevant to your issue?
Identify an audience that would be interested in your issue. For example, who would benefit most from hearing your message? Or who could best help in addressing the issue?
Describe how and why you can tailor your message to your audience, providing specific examples. For example, will your audience understand social scientific terminology and principles, or will you need to explain these? How will you communicate effectively with your audience?
Conclusion: In this section, you will conclude your research investigation by discussing future directions for research. Specifically, you should do the following:
Based on your investigation, develop a research question related to the issue you selected. In other words, what would you like to know more about?
Explain how a social scientist would go about investigating the research question you developed. In other words, what would the next steps be if a social scientist were to continue researching your question?
Provide a reference list that includes all of the social science resources you used to investigate your issue and question. Ensure that your list is formatted according to current APA guidelines (or another format with instructor permission).
What to Submit
Your research investigation should be submitted as a 3- to 5-page Microsoft Word document and should use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Any citations should be formatted according to APA style.
