The assignment is writing a proposal for a research paper. If I will find the proposal good and so do my TA’s and professor you will be hired to do the research paper later on. I have indicated I would like 4 sources for the proposal but this is just an approx. Let me know if you have any other question and would like me to upload anything else. The details for the proposal are below and I will also attach a word doc.
As you have seen in the first few weeks of this course, sociological research often seeks to address hot-button social issues that are subject to acrimonious debate, by remaining value-neutral as much as possible, and using tools of sociological analysis (the ideas of value-relatedness, ?the definition of the situation?, self-fulfilling prophecies, the unanticipated consequences of purposive social action, and social structure, among others) to clarify: What is the controversy about? Why is it taking place here and now? Why have the lines of opposition been drawn in the way they have? Who is most likely to be on either side of the issue, or even to become an activist? What values, interests, worldviews and structured differences in social position and experiences are at play besides the most obvious issue at hand?
In the two assignments for this course, you are asked to take a similar approach regarding the very fraught controversy about guns. You will begin, in the first assignment, by preparing a research proposal using the instructions below. In the second assignment, during the latter half of the course, you will carry out the project you proposed.
– In order to begin assignment 2, however, you must have the first assignment, the proposal, not only graded but approved by your TA.
– While you certainly may discuss or consult your friends in the course about the assignment, each project is individual and should be written and executed only by you. No group projects will be permitted.
– The assignment is due back in electronic format (PDF only please!) 2/26, by 10:10am. Please upload it to the ?assignment 1? Drop Box on CourseWorks AND bring a hardcopy with you to lecture (if you can?t make it to lecture, the electronic copy will suffice to prove you submitted it on time, and you can give us the hard copy later).
– We will take off a third of a grade for each day you are late (i.e. if your exam earned the grade of B+ but you were two days late, your grade will be B-).
– Again for emphasis, please make sure you submit BOTH an electronic copy on CourseWorks AND a hard copy in class!
Begin by reading carefully the sources listed at the end of this assignment (you can find them on CourseWorks in ?assignment 1? folder). These sources are useful as background material. They provide you with some information about the history of gun legislation and the political struggles over guns.. They are not authoritative studies of the debate, and they do not contain the answers to the questions below, but you can use them to get a sense and a sampling of the issues and arguments involved. You do not necessarily need to read all of them, but they are not meant to be exhaustive either. We encourage you, as you work on the assignment below, to use more sources as you see fit .
Answer the following questions in project proposal format (you do not need to write separate answers for these questions, but they are useful to organize your work and thinking about the project, and you need to address all of them in order to write a complete proposal). Your proposal should be about 5 pages long, double-spaced, 12 font.
1. How do the sides to the debate present what the debate is about (for simplicity sake, you can treat the debate as if it is between two well defined camps, and ignore the differences and nuances within each camp)? Are they in agreement about the ?definition of the situation? and if not, what is the significant disagreement between them about how to frame the debate?
2. How do observers and commentators frame the debate? Are they in agreement with any of the sides about what the debate is about, or do they present a different interpretation of what is at the core of the dispute?
3. Propose your own interpretation of what the debate is about by taking into consideration the following questions: how old is the gun control debate, and how has it changed over time? What precipitated it and why is it taking place here and now? Are there social factors that influence who is most likely to be on either side of the issue? What values, interests, worldviews and structured differences in social position and experiences are at play besides the most obvious issue at hand? [Note that ? as was the case in the abortion debate ? the very words used to describe what the debate is about ? is it about ?gun control? or about ?gun rights?? – can be part of the controversy, so try to come up with a language for describing and analyzing the debate that does not already frame it from the point of view of one of the sides.]
4. What would you need to know in order to test your interpretation? Propose a research design meant to find out data that could potentially validate or refute at least some parts of your interpretation. Projects may be quantitative, using survey data for example, or qualitative, using interviews, archival research, or ethnographic study. Keep in mind that in the second half of the semester, in assignment two, you will be asked to carry out this project, so keep it doable within this short time-frame. If you propose an ethnographic study, do not say you are going to spend the next 6 months among NRA activists in Montana, but perhaps think about a local chapter or shooting range in NYC, and no more than 15 hours of observation and/or interviews. If you intend to use survey data, do not propose a multi-variable, multi-level analysis, but focus on just a few variables. Mixed methods projects, while theoretically desirable in terms of the light they may shed on the phenomenon at hand, and certainly not prohibited, are not advisable. They may be too ambitious for a one-semester course.
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