Task+Description

<<EDC 529 - Summer 2008

For this assignment, you and the members of your team will construct a basic design for a hypothetical research project. This project is collaborative in nature, and will be completed on line using wiki technology. Wikis are tools for collaborative composition in a real-time, dynamic fashion. They allow users, with appropriate permission, to input new content, and edit existing content from any networked computer. This is the same tool used to create and maintain the Wikipedia online resource.
 * Description:**

The web site for this assignment is: http://adamy.wikispaces.com. In order to input and edit work on this web site you will need an invitation from me. Once you receive an e-mail indicating that you’ve been added to the site, you can access the project and begin inputting and/or editing content.
 * Task:**

__Your finished research design must include several components:__


 * 1) Research question(s): begin with an introduction to your research design, and include your research question(s) which should follow the model presented in class. If your proposed study is quantitative, be sure to identify your independent and dependent variables.
 * 2) Hypotheses: State your null hypothesis and your research hypothesis or hypotheses. Be sure to use language similar to what we’ve used in class, and indicate whether your hypotheses are directional or non-directional.
 * 3) Literature review: Your team must search the relevant literature associated with the phenomenon you are studying or the question you are researching. While this literature review and does not need to be comprehensive, it should reflect a substantial effort on your part to become familiar with the basic research that has been done in this area. This review should be organized in such a way that your reader can make sense of the argument you are presenting and how it is based on what you found in the literature. You must use APA style for citing your sources in the body of your review, and for listing your references at the end of your proposal.
 * 4) Sample: Indicate who your participants will be, how they will be identified, how they will be sampled, and, if appropriate, how they will be assigned to groups.
 * 5) Data collection: You must decide whether your study will be quantitative or qualitative in nature. If it is quantitative, you need to find an appropriate instrument for your data collection. This could include a test, survey, observation protocol, etc. the instrument that you select must be created by someone other than you or your team members. Such instruments could be found in the research literature or other appropriate sources. If you use a quantitative instrument for your data collection you must include information on the reliability and validity of the instrument. If your study is qualitative, you must indicate what qualitative instrument or technique you will be using to collect your data. Possibilities include interviews, observations, and/or document collection and analysis.
 * 6) Data analysis: In your proposal you must describe the technique/techniques you will use to analyze the data you collect. If your proposed study is quantitative, indicate to what you believe is the most appropriate statistical technique for your analysis. If your proposed study is qualitative, indicate which qualitative methodology you will use to analyze your data.
 * 7) Validity and reliability: Discuss potential threats to the validity and reliability of your study. Be sure to address specifically some or all of threats that we have discussed in class. How does your design address these possible threats (for both qualitative and quantitative studies)?
 * 8) Strength of design: Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your proposed study. If you’re study is quantitative, what would be the potential benefits of doing a qualitative study instead? For qualitative proposals, discuss the potential benefits of a quantitative study.

Again, this is a collaborative effort. It is up to you how you and your team members split up the work. However, each team member must do his or her share. The final element of this assignment is a brief reporting from each team on how the duties for this assignment were distributed. Please remember that the wiki technology is open and collaborative. This means that any work you submit to your online proposal can be edited, and even deleted by someone else. The only people who have editing access will be members of this class. Please do not work on any other team’s proposal without explicit permission from that team.

The grade you and your team receive for your finished proposal is dependent upon the thoroughness with which you complete the assignment. Make sure that you have adequately covered each of the assigned components described above.
 * Grading:**

<<EDC 529 - Summer 2008