Assignment task: Specifics of the Activity:
Pick one of the following topics for study:
- The disproportionate number of black men in prison
- Dietary practices: food choices, the food industry, cooking & preparing food, and/or eating
- Unequal pay for women in the workforce
- "Hooking up" culture
- The ways in which social class influences consumer practices
- Homophobia
- Homelessness
- The effect of divorce on single parents and children
In a cohesive essay, please answer each of the below questions about your chosen topic. You are not actually doing a research paper; you are only answering questions about how you would go about the research process. In this essay, please cite from materials within Module 2 a minimum of four times.
Q1. How would you study this topic? Would you choose a qualitative or quantitative method? Why?
Q2. Which specific research method would you use to investigate your topic?
Q3. What are the advantages of your chosen method over other possible methods?
Q4. What ethical concerns would you have to observe in order to study this topic with your chosen research method?
Q5. Which of the three sociological perspectives (theoretical frameworks) do you find the most useful for understanding your topic? Why?
Q6. Which of the three sociological perspectives do you feel is the least useful? Why?