Editing Statistics and Statistical Programming (Fall 2020) (section)

==== Research project planning document ====

;Due date: October 30, 2020, 5pm CT
;Suggested length: ~5 pages

The project planning document is a shell/outline of an empirical quantitative research paper. Your planning document should should have the following sections: (a) Rationale, (b) Objectives; (b.1) General objectives; (b.2) Specific objectives; (c) (Null) hypotheses; (d) Conceptual diagram and explanation of the relationship(s) you plan to test; (e) Measures; (f) Dummy tables/figures; (g) anticipated finding(s) and research contribution(s). Longer descriptions of each of these planning document sections (as well as a few others) can be found [[CommunityData:Planning document|on this wiki page]].

I will also provide three example planning documents via our Canvas site (links to-be-updated for 2020 edition of the course):
* [https://canvas.northwestern.edu/files/9439380/download?download_frd=1 One by public health researcher Mika Matsuzaki]. The first planning document I ever saw and still one of the best. It's missing a measures section. It's also focused on a research context that is probably very different from yours, but try not to get bogged down by that and imagine how you might map the structure of the document to your own work.
* [https://canvas.northwestern.edu/files/9421229/download?download_frd=1 One by Jim Maddock] created as part of a qualifying exam early in 2019. Jim doesn't provide dummy tables or anticipated findings/contributions, but he has an especially phenomenal explanation of the conceptual relationships and processes he wants to test. 
* [https://canvas.northwestern.edu/files/9439379/download?download_frd=1 One provided as an appendix to Gerber and Green's excellent textbook, ''Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation'' (FEDAI)]. It's over-detailed and over-long for the purposes of this assignment, but nevertheless an exemplary approach to planning empirical quantitative research in a careful, intentional way that is worthy of imitation.