Editing Designing Internet Research (Spring 2022) (section)

==== 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]].