Introduction
Welcome to the course guide for Sociology 401:Capstone Experience taught by Dr. Richards. This guide is meant to assist students in SOC 401 for their capstone research project. Please use the tabs at the top to find information for your research and interest. If you have any questions or comments about this guide, please let me know!
Beginning Your Research
The purpose of sociological research is to investigate and explain how human society functions.
"Although claims and opinions are part of sociology, sociologists use empirical evidence (that is, evidence corroborated by direct experience and/or observation) combined with the scientific method or an interpretive framework to deliver sound sociological research. They also rely on a theoretical foundation that provides an interpretive perspective through which they can make sense of scientific results. A truly scientific sociological study of the social situations up for discussion in the cafeteria would involve these prescribed steps: defining a specific question, gathering information and resources through observation, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis in a reproducible manner, analyzing and drawing conclusions from the data, publishing the results, and anticipating further development when future researchers respond to and retest findings."
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Choosing & Narrowing Your Topic
A Research Question will be neither too broad or too narrow
General Topics/Areas of Interest
- Student Loan Debt
- Gun Policy
- Social Media
Too Broad
- Who owns guns in America?
- Does social media help you in college?
Too Narrow
- What would it take to make American's value caregiving?
- Do millennials have a lot of student debt?
Narrow(er) Research Question/Guide of Inquiry
- Do children sent to Head Start enter kindergarten with more highly developed language skills?
- Does your peer exposure on social media widen the STEM gender gap?
Creating a Research Question
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Creating a Research Question |
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What is your general topic? |
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Research Questions
Ask the following 8 questions to evaluate the quality of your research question and the ease with which you should be able to answer it:
- Does the question deal with a topic or issue that interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions?
- Is the question easily and fully researchable?
- What type of information do I need to answer the research question? E.g., The research question, "What impact has deregulation had on commercial airline safety?," will obviously require certain types of information:
- statistics on airline crashes before and after
- statistics on other safety problems before and after
- information about maintenance practices before and after
- information about government safety requirements before and after
- Is the scope of this information reasonable (e.g., can I really research 30 online writing programs developed over a span of 10 years?)
- Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow, or okay?
- What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer the research question (journals, books, Internet resources, government documents, people)?
- Can I access these sources?
- Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research?
Electronic Reference Encyclopedia
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SAGE Handbook of Action Research (2nd ed.)An essential resource for scholars and professionals engaged in social and political inquiry, organizational research, and education.
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SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ StudiesFocuses on LGBTQ issues and identity primarily through the lenses of psychology, human development and sociology, emphasizing queer, feminist and ecological perspectives on the topic.
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International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2nd Ed.)This revised and updated edition includes coverage of overarching topics, methodology, and disciplines in social and behavioral sciences.
