Describe the key variables used and how they were measured, and their relationship with the topic under investigation;

Posted: March 9th, 2022

Complete a research proposal: Link to video that explains this whole paper/proposal in depth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N87SGIbvULs&t=22s.
Your proposal will be divided into two separate sections with each section receiving its own grade (total assignment worth 20%). The final assignment will build on the previous assignment and will be a well-thought-out and planned research proposal; it combines the previous assignment plus my corrections, instructions, and suggestions. All assignments must be submitted by the specified due date. Late assignments (defined as after the due date) will be penalized 10% per day. All assignments should be double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12-point font, and in APA format. All assignments must be turned in as a Word document.
You will be able to select your own research topic. The important thing to consider when choosing a research topic is to find a phenomenon or social dynamic that interests you, and about which you would like to learn more. The more you are sincerely curious about your research, the more enjoyable it will be for you, and the better your eventual proposal will be. Looking at it the other way, if you find your topic superficial and boring, then I probably will too. The topic for the research proposal will be racial profiling. Please come up with a research question and proposal of how you will take a look of what the question will be.
Assignment 1:
Section1-Statement of Research/Thesis Statement: This section should be 1-2 pages in which you state and justify your research question. It should begin with an interesting, broad (perhaps based on statistics/data) discussion about the problem to get the reader excited about the topic and highlight why the topic is important. It should conclude with a specific, concise thesis statement that includes the question you seek to answer through your research. Examples of thesis statements include “This research will examine whether or not drug-using adolescents have lower levels of self-control than those who do not use drugs” or “The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of relationships between individuals serving long-term prison sentences and their non-incarcerated intimate partners.” Your research question will serve as a guide for the rest of your research project and should include both an independent and dependent variable. As you work on this assignment, you should give some thought to how you will measure your variables, how you will find your subjects, and how you would analyze your data. You must provide at least two references.
Section 2-Theoretical Framework/Lit Review: This should be between 3 and 4 pages. For this assignment, you will need to discuss obtain at least 6 peer-reviewed articles and/or books on your topic. These sources should be seminal pieces and/or recent (published after 2010) studies conducted on your topic. These sources should discuss those criminological theories associated with the topic, the methods used to study the topic, and the important variables associated with this topic. In your write-up, summarize the articles in a synthesized manner. Do NOT simply summarize the articles as you would in a book report. Rather, discuss the articles together explaining their commonalities and differences. This assignment will also help you think about what to do and what not to do in your proposed research project. You should pay close attention to how these studies conceptualize and operationalize their variables, as well as how they examine their research question. This will help guide you in the next section of the paper.
Your literature review should provide the following:
1)Describe the key variables used and how they were measured, and their relationship with the topic under investigation;
2)Discuss the theoretical perspectives the authors use to explain the relationships between their variables
3)Discuss the various methods used by the authors of each source, how they collected their data and what they found;
4)Outline the limitations or challenges of this particular area of research;
5)Use subheadings to organize your literature review into meaningful subsections
6)Include an introduction and a conclusion to the literature review;
Here is the link to a 10 minute video that goes more in depth of exactly how the paper should be. PLEASE REVIEW this video before starting the paper, it will extremely help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N87SGIbvULs&t=22s
PLEASE REVIEW the instructions for the assignment in the syllabus that I provided below in additional materials on page 3 and 4 under the title “assignment 1” in bold lettering. I also copy and pasted it on the paper details. PLEASE REVIEW THE TWO EXAMPLES I provided in the additional material as well. If you have any more questions feel free to contact me any time. Thank you so much.