Writing 2: Social Science Experiment
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
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Instructor: Melissa Stevenson
Length: 4-5 pages typed double spaced in 12 point Times or similar font. This length does not include the reference page, appendix, or graphs.
Topic: An issue of interest to the campus community. To be approved by me.
Survey: Each person should collect at least 20 responses to surveys of at least 10 questions. All surveys should be anonymous, but may contain information such as the participant’s age, gender, year in school etc.
Title: A clear and succinct description of your experiment.
Abstract: A brief summary of your experiment, results, and conclusions. This is best written after the essay, as it is not an introduction, but a discrete unit for marketing your research.
Introduction: Introduction to your experimental topic. State the problem, issue or behavior you are studying. Why was it selected? Why is it important? Are you aware of any previous work in this area? Make sure to present the specific question you are researching within the larger issue. Also include your hypothesis: the results you expected when you began your research.
Methods: Describe the survey procedures you followed. How did you choose subjects? What population are you surveying? Where? What are the questions? What are they intended to measure? The point of this section is to enable other social scientists to duplicate your work. Include a blank survey as an appendix.
Results: The results should present the results of your survey in text form. You should also record numerical and percentage results here. You must also include graphs of specifically important information. This section should simply present the information impartially. Do not interpret the information in this section. Open the section by stating whether your results supported or disproved your hypothesis. Many experiments prove inconclusive and this is also a valid result.
Discussion: Analyze the meaning of your results. What have you discovered? Relate these results to the problem or issue you presented in the introduction. Discuss the relation of the findings to your hypothesis. Can you account for any discrepancies? What surprised you? Any relation to other writing and research on this topic? Raise questions for future research in this area. Present limiting factors to your research and how you might restructure your method to avoid ambiguity or error and to explore new facets of your topic.
Conclusion: Close your research paper by summing up your results. Relate your study to larger principles, and raise questions for the larger debate.
References: Cite your resources using APA documentation (see Hacker 365).
Ethics: You must complete the Ethics Certification on the web at http://hstraining.orda.ucsb.edu
Extra Credit: To earn extra credit on this assignment you are encouraged to include and cite at least one significant article from the both popular and professional sources. The articles in the reader may be cited, but will not provide extra credit.
