Editing Designing Internet Research (Spring 2022) (section)

== Assignments ==

The assignments in this class are designed to give you an opportunity to try your hand at using the conceptual material taught in the class. There will be no exams or quizzes. Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are due at the end of the day (i.e., 11:59pm on the day they are due).

=== Reflections ===

;Deliverables: (1) Post a message in the <tt>#reading-reflections</tt> channel on the course Discord server; (2) Respond to at least one of your classmates before class.
;Due Date: (1) the day before class at 6pm (on any day with reading); (2) the day of class by 10:30am (on a day with reading)
;Maximum length: 500 words

For every day that we have readings (i.e., every day except for the consulting weeks and and the final presentation week), I'm asking everybody to reflect on the readings by the day before class and to share their reflections with everybody else.

Reflections should be no more than 500 words (equivalent about half a page single-spaced page). So everyone will have a chance to read the reflections before class, response papers should be posted to the <tt>#reading-reflections</tt> channel on the course Discord server the day before by 6pm (i.e., on Sundays and Tuesday) so that we can all read, think, and respond. Please also pose one or two open-ended discussion questions that may serve as jumping off points for our in-class conversation. Don't bother with summarizing (we've all done the reading after all) and focus on engaging with ideas.

In terms of content, response papers offer you an opportunity to engage the readings by identifying common or conflicting premises, thinking through potential implications, offering political or cultural examples, posing well-supported objections, or outlining critical extensions. In my experience, the most thought provoking reflections go beyond pointing out things that one wonders about or finds interesting and explain why you find it interesting.
 
Turn in your response paper to Canvas by posting a new message in the appropriate day in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1546906/discussion_topics the course the discussion board].

I'd also like everybody read over everybody else's responses and respond to at least one person—evening things out so that not everybody response to one person would be nice, but use your judgement.

=== Research Project ===

As a demonstration of your learning in this course, you will design a plan for an internet research project and will, if possible, also collect (at least) an initial sample of a dataset that you will use to complete the project.

The genre of the paper you can produce can take one of the following three forms:

# A draft of a manuscript for submission to a conference or journal.
# A proposal for funding (e.g., for submission for the NSF for a graduate student fellowship).
# A draft of the methods chapter of your dissertation.

In any the three paths, I expect you take this opportunity to produce a document that will further your to academic career outside of the class. If none of these approaches work for you, I'm willing to discuss other possible deliverables.

==== Project Identification ====

;Due Date: April 15
;Maximum paper length: 800 words (~3 pages)
;Deliverables: Turn in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1546906/assignments the appropriate Canvas dropbox]

Early on, I want you to identify your final project. Your proposal should be short and can be either paragraphs or bullets. It should include the following things:

* The genre of the project and a short description of how it fits into your career trajectory.
* A one paragraph abstract of the proposed study and research question, theory, community, and/or groups you plan to study.
* A short description of the type of data you plan to collect as part of your final project.

==== Final Project ====

;Paper Due Date: June 10
;Maximum final paper length: 8000 words (~27 pages)
;All Deliverables: Turn in in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1546906/assignments the appropriate Canvas dropboxes]

Because the emphasis in this class is on methods and because I'm not an expert in each of your areas or fields, I'm happy to assume that your paper, proposal, or thesis has already established the relevance and significance of your study and has a comprehensive literature review, well-grounded conceptual approach, and compelling reason why this research is so important. Instead of providing all of this details, instead feel free to start with a brief summary of the purpose and importance of this research, and an introduction of your research questions or hypotheses. If your provide more detail, that's fine, but I won't give you detailed feedback on this parts.

Whatever you choose to turn in for your final project should include:

* a statement of the purpose, central focus, relevance and significance of your project;
* a description of the specific Internet application(s) and/or environment(s) and/or objects to be studied and employed in the research;
* key research questions or hypotheses;
* operationalization of key concepts;
* a description and rationale of the specific method(s), (if more than one method will be used, explain how the methods will produce complementary findings);
* a description of the step-by-step plan for data collection;
* description and rationale of the level(s), unit(s) and process of analysis (if more than one kind of data are generated, explain how each kind will be analyzed individually and/or comparatively);
* an explanation of how these analyses will enable you to answer the RQs
* a sample instrument (as appropriate);
* a sample dataset and description of a formative analysis you have completed;
* a description of actual or anticipated results and any potential problems with their interpretation;
* a plan for publishing/disseminating the findings from this research
* a summary of technical, ethical, human subjects and legal issues that may be encountered in this research, and how you will address them;
* a schedule (using specific dates) and proposed budget if applicable

I also expect each student to begin data collection for your project (i.e., using the technical skills you learn in the class) and describe your progress in this regard this in your paper. If collecting data for a proposed project is impractical (e.g., because of IRB applications, funding, etc), lets talk. I would love for you to engage in the collection of public dataset as part of a pilot or formative study. If this is not feasible or useful, we can discuss other options.

I have a preference for you to write this paper individually but I'm open to the idea that you may want to work with others in the class.

===== Outline / Draft =====

;Due Date: May 20
;Presentation Date: June 1
;All Deliverables: Turn in in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1546906/assignments the appropriate Canvas dropbox]

I want you all to turn it an outline or draft 2-3 weeks before the final project so that we can discuss this in our final set of one-on-one consulting meetings. Although the specific format will vary based on the nature of your project and your progress on it, it should demonstrate major progress on your final deliverables for the class and provide an answer—in outline form—to every applicable item on the list in the [[#Final Project]] section above.

I you're looking for an outline format that is useful for writing papers, I typically use what my groups calls [[Matsuzaki outlines]] (and which are described in details on our wiki). The Matsuzaki outline is particularly well suited to quantitative social scientific work, and probably less good for others. That said, folks have used it successfully for a range of projects.

If you're looking for information on how to organize a quantitative academic paper in the social sciences, check out my page on the [[structure of a quantitative empirical research paper]].

=== Participation ===

The course relies heavily on participation and discussion. It is important to realize that we will not summarize reading in class and I will not cover it in lecture. I expect you all to have read it and we will jump in and start discussing it. The "Participation Rubric" section of [[User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Assessment| my detailed page on assessment]] gives the rubric I will use in evaluating participation.

=== Assessment ===

I have put together a very detailed page that describes [[User:Benjamin Mako Hill/Assessment|the way I approach assessment and grading]]—both in general and in this course. Please read it carefully I will assign grades for each of following items on the UW 4.0 grade scale according to the weights below:

* Participation: 30%
* Reflection: 15%
* Proposal identification: 5%
* Final paper outline: 5%
* Final Presentation: 10%
* Final Paper: 35%