Construct a research design. The purpose of this project is to teach you how to organize your research ideas for research papers. You will be writing a research paper based on this work. For the design you will be constructing a single country study; the country must be a Latin American country but does not have to be any of the countries that we are focusing on in this class. This is not a paper on an individual person; however, you can focus on the influence of a person.
Some topic examples that can be used for your design are:
1. examining how a country’s party system affects voting turnout and behavior;
2. examining how social movements in a country affect government decision-making;
3. analyzing the effects of a country’s executive and/or legislative structure;
4. analyzing the effects of the media on the political system in that country;
5. analyzing the changes that are occurring in a country due to globalization/ideological shifts/religious influence.
These are only examples so you can be somewhat creative. However, remember you will be writing a research paper based on this design so be realistic.
Your research design should be in essay form, approximately 1 to 2 full pages in length, typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, and using an appropriate font (10-12).
1. What is the subject of your research?
2. Why did you pick the country that you did?
3. What questions will you address in this research? Write these in question form.
4. What are some of the sources that you will use to gather your information? In other words, you will have to check the library and internet (JSTOR) for sources and list specific books and articles. Make sure to include the name of the book, chapter or article, the author’s name, date of publication, and publisher. You need AT LEAST five sources here; three of them must be books. Do not include websites.