Social media and young kids

For this assignment you will be essentially writing how you how you will answer the research question you posed for your topic proposal, and that you looked for previous research on in your literature review.  In an actual research article, the methodology would be the section after your literature review, so you can think of this assignment as an extension of the literature review assignment.  As such, you do not need to have an introduction section for this assignment.  However, you may include an introduction if you would like.  Here your goal is basically to provide as much detail as possible about how you will collect and analyze data to answer your research question.  Your paper should be a minimum of 1750 words, and you should make sure address all of following sections:

Methodology: This section highlights the proposed methods to be used in this study (Use subheading: METHODOLOGY).  It may also be helpful to read the methodology section of articles that you found for your literature review. The information that is provided in the methodology sections of scholarly articles is similar to what I am looking for in your research proposal.

Some things to highlight include:

Whom or what will you study in order to collect data? (Population and sample).
How will you actually collect the data for your study? (Research method/design, sampling method, units of analysis, units of observation) What is your desired sample size?  Why?
What are the key variables in your study (x and y)? How will you define and measure them. Organize it by dependent variables, independent variables, and control variables.
How will you ensure reliability and validity with your variables?
How will you ensure that you follow the ethical principles of social science research?
YOU MUST CONCEPTULIZE AND OPERTIONALIZE YOUR VARIABLES.  If you are doing an exploratory project, you may not have be able to identify independent and dependent variables, but you should still be able to clearly describe the variables or concepts you are interested in looking at, and how you will measure them.

Societal Implications/Applicability:

Describe the bigger picture that your two variables/concepts belong to.
Studying X and Y is important because they tell us more about __________.
Describe this connection in some detail, using as many citations as you can.
You can make the case for your research in two ways:
If a LOT of research has been done connecting X and Y, you can say that it is already established as an important topic of study.
If there is very LITTLE research connecting X and Y (or even in the area, with other similar concepts), you can make the case by quoting government statistics, newspaper articles, etc. that illustrate the problem. Then you can talk about the wide gaps in scholarly literature about the problem (do this by discussing several studies and stating some of the problems they DONT address).
Suggest two ways that activists, social workers, government policymakers, school administrations, or others could use your research to help fix the societal problem your research question addresses. Spend more time on this if the literature you cite focuses on the activist component or if this is especially applicable to your topic. 
This is an opportunity to be creative. Think about the knowledge youre creating the information your proposed study is generating, and then think about who could use that information to help solve the problem.

Conclusion:

Briefly restate your research topic, and fit it into the literature you outlined in previous literature review assignment. How will your research contribute to what has been done in the past?
Recap the methods youll use to address this research question.
Briefly restate the societal implications of your research project.

Finally, your paper should have a works cited page (bibliography) as well as in-text citations for any sources you draw on. Please make sure that you follow a standard reference format (e.g. APA, MLA, ASA, etc.).  I am not concerned with which reference style, but you must use it correctly, and use the same style consistently throughout the semester.  Your paper should be a MINIMUM of 1750 words. Remember, this paper will be revised and become part of your final portfolio.

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