• University of the People

• SOC 1502

Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you must pass your Milestone before you submit it. Once you've submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score. This Touchstone provides an opportunity for you to practice developing a research plan for a real world topic that interests you. Throughout this course you will read about the results and conclusions of many different sociological studies; this Touchstone is where you can practice the skills of conducting such a study. You will use the materials you develop for this Touchstone for a later Touchstone. This Touchstone will further strengthen your problem solving skill, while reinforcing the content from the lesson. You will analyze your research topic of choice, while applying the problem solving skills from the unit. By considering the dynamics of community groups, you will also strengthen your relationship building and self and social awareness skills. SOC 1502 Touchstone 1: Developing a Research Plan SCENARIO: Imagine that you work for a nonprofit organization that is focused on increasing diversity in community groups in your area. Your supervisor asks you to develop a sociological study concerning topics of diversity and collaboration in a specific community group of your choice. Eventually you will prepare to share your research with colleagues. ASSIGNMENT: For this Touchstone, you will begin by formulating a question about diversity in a community group that you have access to. Then you will use the steps of the scientific method to prepare a research plan, including a bibliography for a literature review. As you learned, sociologists follow the scientific method so that their results are both scientifically valid and useful to the greater sociological community. A literature review allows researchers to learn from completed studies and to build upon their conclusions. Use the following Touchstone template to fill in your research plan as you develop it. When you have finished, submit this template to move on to the next unit. Touchstone 1 Template Touchstone 1 Sample A. Directions Step 1: Pick a Topic Select a community group to study. Some examples of community groups you might explore include:  An activity-based group like a book club, a soccer team, or a community choir  A religious or ideological community such as a church congregation or a local political party  A community organization like a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), a neighborhood association, or the volunteer committee at a local soup kitchen  An identity-based organization such as a social club for veterans or a fraternal type organization It should be a group in which membership is voluntary and recreational. Avoid:  Families  Workplaces  Ethnic or racial categories  Friend groups You might wish to choose a group that you are a part of, or you might not. You can use your personal experience with the group to form the basis of your research question. Or you can ask members of the group about their experiences, which will help you develop your research question