Introduction to Social Research Methods

Introduction to Social Research Methods. This assignment offers you a second opportunity to apply concepts from this course to an aspect of social life. In this case, you will do a content analysis of an “old” TV show that is available on YouTube. Choose one of the four humourous programs linked below, and then put together a paper of 1,400 – 1,600 words, with subtitles identifying each section. Utilize your textbook regularly. Fully define textbook concepts, use parenthetical citations, and quotation marks, where needed. Please notify me immediately about any dead links or access problems.

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Introduction to Social Research Methods

Formatting: This Covid 19 semester requires simplicity so that I can avoid email overload and formatting problems with student essays. That means you won’t be sending any attachments. Instead, you will be sending me a standard email only, with your double-spaced paper as the contents inside of it. Your paper will be 1,400 – 1,600 words, the equivalent of a four to five-page, double-spaced essay; but these are just the guidelines, as you’ll be sending a standard email only — no attachments. Plan and edit carefully – you need to be concise, as 1,600 words is the maximum. Please use subtitles to identify each section. APA style for parenthetical citations and references section at the end of your paper. No title page is needed.

Structure of Assignment and Use of Textbook

Aside from the TV episode, the only sources you need are your textbook, and if it helps, a minimal overview of the show (eg., the years it aired, its basic premise). Chapter 9 has an excellent discussion of content analysis, and you are expected to reference it, and to pull out some key quotations that help frame your topic and analysis. Integrate textbook material in a way that defines/explains key terms, explicitly connects those terms to your findings, and helps you communicate the general rationale of the content analysis method. Thoughtful and regular use of quotations is expected in my classes. APA style citations are required. If a few terms in the content analysis section in Chapter 9 seem strange, that’s because we omitted them in previous chapters; and so such terms can be ignored altogether here.

Sections: Structure your assignment via the subtitles “Units of Analysis and Observation,” “Manifest and Latent Content,” and any other subtitle that seems appropriate (eg., “Introduction”). Within these sections, you will the reasoning for your choices, eg., why you think this or that theme is important. Give a brief synopsis of the TV show early in your easy. Your unit of analysis is fixed for this assignment (the TV show you picked); so you just have to talk about the units of observation. (See chapter 9.) You need at least two notably different examples each for manifest content, and here you shouldn’t get overly worried about repetition. In other words, searching for a program in which the exact same word or action is repeated five times may not be the most practical way to proceed. Also, since latent and manifest content are intertwined, your examples of manifest should also be suggestive of meanings; two examples of latent content should be easy to find. The discussion of manifest and latent content is the most important part of your essay, and your textbook should be used repeatedly here. End with a section subtitled “Conclusion.”