POLSCI 2NN3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Free Trade, Design Of Experiments, Dependent And Independent Variables
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Political science 2nn3 2016 lecture 3b: designing a research proposal continued . Your literature review allows you to situate your research in an existing conversation. It allows you develop a refined research question whose answer can contribute to the conversation. Use a database and its search features (in-class group exercise on finding a research topic and literature) (approx. took 20mins) Having developed a clear research question: your research proposal will ultimately contain one (or several) hypotheses. Bad research questions contain: fictional (can"t gather empirical evidence, assumptions within questions, dependent and independent are the same. For hypothesis in positive research there are usually relationships. Independent - causes something to happen (the dependent variable: dependent - is the effect - what you"re interested in understanding, answers that you will then test against the evidence. The form of your hypothesis might vary depending upon the specifics of your research question (see halperin and heath on the different types of research questions)