Final Project Assignment - One-Pager Research Question
FINAL PROJECT
Fall 2018
One-Pager Research Question
(25 points; 2.5%)
Due: Thursday, September 27, 2018
DESCRIPTION
This assignment[1] is intended to help you articulate and focus your research question. You will turn a one-page document that answers the four questions listed below as precisely as you can. You will need to do some research in order to answer these questions, and you will need to talk through these questions with a friend or classmate: Nothing clarifies your thinking better than trying to explain your project to someone else.
- WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? (Substantive Problem)
- What larger issues or concerns first drew you to this problem? (originating question)
- How is your way of posing the problem different from the way other have posed it? (specifying question)
- WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW IT? (Intellectual Rationale/Contribution to the field)
- Why should anyone care what you find?
- What difference does it make, theoretically or practically?
- WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ANSWER IS? (Working Hypotheses)
- What answers have others provided, and in what ways are their answers insufficient?
- What is your tentative answer, being sure to spell out the reasoning behind your working hypotheses and the logical interconnections between them
- HOW DO YOU INTEND TO FIND OUT? (Research Design)
- What methods and data have others used? Why did you choose this way to look for the answer, rather than another?
- How will you know if your answer is correct or not?
FORMAT AND GRADING
See the “Final Project: Overview” assignment for details on format and grading. This assignment is called a “one-pager” but can be up to 2 pages in length.