How did the author operationalize(measure) the dependent variable and main independent variables?

Introduction to Social Research

Assignment 3 Instructions

 

Assignment 3: Annotating and summarizing academic articles: general structure, measurement, and sampling

For this assignment, you will learn how to read scholarly articles.

 

  1. To begin this assignment, please select one scholarly article.
  2. You can select one article from Blackboard “reading materials” folder.
  3. Or you can pick one on your own, but it must be related to your previous research topic that has been discussed in Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. In this case, you must email me to get approval for the article.

 

The article must come from one of these journals: American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Social Problems, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Gender Studies, Gender and Society, Criminology, Demography, Sociology of Education, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Science and Medicine, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Perspectives, Crime and Public Policy, Work and Occupations, Crime and Delinquency, British Journal of Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and Social Science Research.

 

  1. Now, read the article and answer the following research questions. You can answer your questions in paragraphs or leave your answers next to each The answers can be short, but they should be answered in full sentences. Your answers should not be copied directly from the article.  

 

The general structure question [10 pts]:

please quickly skim-read the article and understand the general structure of the article.

Find the pages of…

  1. Introduction: from p. [     ] to p. [     ]
  2. Literature review: from p. [     ] to p. [     ]
  3. Data collection/analysis: from p. [     ] to p. [     ]
  4. Results: from p. [     ] to p. [     ]
  5. Discussion/conclusion/implication: from p. [     ] to p. [     ]

 

Introduction [5 pts]

  • [3 pts] What is the main research question?
  • [2 pts] What is the main motivation/background of the study?
  • Is there any historical context of the study?

 

Literature review [10 pts]

  • Is there any theory that the author relies on?
  • What are the main hypotheses of the study and how it is related to the theory that the author discussing?

 

Data Collection/Analysis [15 pts]

  • Study design
    1. [3 pts] Is it quantitative research or qualitative research? How can we know that?
    2. [3 pts] Is it a cross-sectional study or a longitudinal study?

 

  • Data/Analysis Method
    1. [3 pts] What is the target population? What is the sample size of the sample?
    2. [3 pts] Which sampling method was used? Probability or nonprobability sampling?
    3. [3 pts] What is the larger target population that the researcher wishes they examined?

 

Results [15 pts]

  1. [6 pts] What are the main dependent variable and independent variables?
  2. [6 pts] How did the author operationalize(measure) the dependent variable and main independent variables?
  3. [3 pts] What are the main findings of the study?

 

 

Discussion [15 pts]

  1. [5 pts] What would be the main contribution of this study and why?
  2. [5 pts] Do you think the finding is still valid today?
  3. [5 pts] What could be the possible limitations of the study?

 

Requirements:

Formatting: Times New Roman, 12 point font, double spaced, and with 1 inch margins.

Submission: You will submit an electronic version to Blackboard. A penalty will be applied if submitted late.

Plagiarism: Your paper will not be plagiarized in any way. This means that your paper will be exclusively your work, it will not be fabricated in any way, and all work will be produced specifically for this assignment. Plagiarism includes making minor alterations to large chunks of text, and submitting it as your own work. A large portion of this assignment is to demonstrate that you understand the material, that you can apply the material in the real world, and that you are capable of thinking and writing about sociological concepts and processes. Plagiarizing the work of others does not do any of these things.