Assignment:
Length: 4000 words, NOT including references, protocols or any other appendices Format: 12-Point Times New Roman; Name, Date, Section; References in APA Goal: To present a final report of your project work.
Instructions:
Your papers should include 6 sections:
1. Research Question
2. Methods
3. Research Findings and First Analysis
4. Second Analysis and Addressing the Research Question
5. Summary and Ideas for Future Research
6. References
Section 1, Research Question: should derive from previous work you have done in the course:
1. State your research question: What did you want to find out? (1-2 sentences)
2. Describe how you arrived at your research question, citing the five scholarly sources you found that helped academically justify your research question in terms of a "gap" or "puzzle piece" that called for empirical investigation. (10-12 sentences)
Section 2, Methods: should comprise the following:
1. State the types of interviews and observations you employed, and why you chose them. (7-8 sentences)
2. Describe the types of interviews and observations you employed in detail. (25-30 total sentences in this part)
a) Interviews: tell us how many people you interviewed and who they were (gender, race/ethnicity, class, location). In a few sentences only, say why you chose these people to interview?
o If you created a formal interview protocol of 5-10 questions, describe the protocol, and explain why you chose to ask those questions. (5-8 sentences).
Include this protocol after the References section in a section called "Formal Interview Protocol".
o If you conducted a semi-structured interview guided by 5 themes, list what those themes were, and then provide 2-3 examples of questions that came up while you discussed each theme. (5-8 sentences)
b) If you conducted participant observation, describe the settings and interactions you had. Describe your "informants" i.e., the people with whom you interacted, in the same way you described your interviewees. (5-8 sentences per setting)
c) If you conducted direct observation, provide a description of your observation process, including the settings of each observation, and what you were looking for vs. what you found. (5-8 sentences per setting)
Section 3, Research Findings and First Analysis: will include a descriptive presentation of your research results: what you saw, heard, and/or learned in as much detail as possible. (35-40 sentences)
1. Your chief mode of analysis will be the categorizing strategy of thematic development, per Chapter 5 of Maxwell.
• You will work with the written data you have: notes, transcriptions or both.
• Practically speaking: I am asking you to read Maxwell's categorizing strategy to mean, basically, organizing the data by patterns. You start by marking any patterns in the data (coding), then naming them, then seeing if they become larger, dominant patterns called themes.
• Not all important data is patterned, though. If there are significant meanings in the data that were marked ("coded") but don't fit into any
patterns, describe them and explain their possible importance, and use the section on connecting strategies in Maxwell.
2. Practical advice:
• When describing the significant themes in (1) above, use relevant quotations, either from your own field notes or transcriptions, so that we can hear participants in their own voices.
• If you record the interview, be sure to record a clear verbal consent to interview about the specific subject matter. If you wish, you can include transcribed interviews as an attachment. All data should be kept anonymous, unless clear verbal consent is given otherwise.
Section 4, Second Analysis and Addressing the Research Question
This section will 1) deepen the first analysis by connecting it to the academic literature and 2) address the research question. In Section 3, you were reporting what you found, not interpreting it; here are you are interpreting it, namely: how do your data from Section 3 help make a "puzzle piece" to help us resolve a research problem? In other words, how do your data agree or disagree with the scholarly research on the youth culture and with what other sources say ("the literature")? Based on your findings, what claims are you prepared to make? If your research findings suggest something different from what you learned from your scholarly sources, how do you account for that difference? What conclusions have you drawn about your youth culture? What led you to them? (30 sentences)
Section 5, Summary and Ideas for Future Research: should include a summary of your conclusions, how they relate to the course questions, and some suggestions for further research in the area. How do your responses for the youth culture you studied lead you to draw conclusions about youth cultures in general? What's next? (10 sentences)
Section 6, References: Only includes works you are actually using in your final paper.
You need a minimum of five scholarly sources of the three approved types (academic book, article or reference text). APA format required.
Attachment:- Qualitative Research Final.rar