Your research proposal must include the following:
1) Name of the Movement or Social Movement Organization. State which social movement or social movement organization (SMO) you will research,
2) Importance. A brief statement that explains why studying this movement/SMO is important,
3) Focus. Suggest on what specific aspect of the movement (or organization) you will concentrate on (do not pick more than one of the following: ideology, strategy/tactics, membership base, leadership, organizational structure, factors causing movement emergence, factors behind continuing activity, factors behind decline, reactions to movement/countermovement, relationship with the media, political parties, or some other aspect),
4) Research Question. Remember, your research question has to be about some aspect of a social movement that is little understood or not known, otherwise, there is no need to do research. Make sure to narrow your research question down to something that is feasible and make sure your research question contains two variables.
5) Hypotheses. Based on your research question, formulate two hypotheses and indicate which variables are independent and which ones are dependent,
6) Theory. Pick a specific social movement theory (one of the specific social movement theories discussed during lectures) that you will use in your paper/presentation,
7) Research Method. Describe how you are going to collect the information to test your hypothesis. For example, are you going to use secondary data analysis (newspapers accounts, documentary films, peer-reviewed journals articles) or are you going to collect your own data (in-person interviews, participant observation, content analysis of documents on the website of the SMO), or a combination of the above methods,
8) Bibliography. of at least three preliminary sources you have consulted that is properly formatted(MLA or APA format), (you can use one of the sources assigned in this course). Remember, there are many different sources of information besides newspaper or scholarly journal articles. For examples of different sources see the “Basic Research Concepts and Steps” PowerPoint.
9) Organization, clarity, grammar, punctuation. Make sure you use paragraphs for different parts of the proposal. Make sure you write legibly and use proper grammar and punctuation. Instructions for finding sociological journal articles: Library databases, electronic journals link, or the web to located sociological journals. (NO CREDIT will be given for articles from business journals, psychological journals, medical journals, or law journals!)
To find newspaper articles, you can use Nexis Uni database
Important: ALWAYS EDIT your document before submitting it. Make sure you write clearly and there are no grammatical or punctuation errors.
