SSC211e Social Science Research Methods Tutor-Marked Assignments 01-02 July 2017 PresentationSSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 2 of 8 SSC211e TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENTS 01-02 Assessment Strategy There are 2 Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMAs) for SSC211e. TMA01 and TMA02 are each worth 20% of the overall assessment score. Together, they constitute 40% of the final mark (Pre-class Quiz constitutes 10% and the End-of-Course Assessment constitutes the other 50%). This booklet contains details of the TMAs. Please read these notes and carefully consider the specific advice given for the TMA question when writing your answers. Note: To pass the course, you will need to pass both the continuous assessment component (i.e., the assignments) and the examination. TMA Due Date Please upload the TMAs to Turnitin by: TMA01: Monday, 7 August 2017, 11:55pm TMA02: Monday, 28 August 2017, 11:55pm Resubmissions are allowed before this cut-off time. It is strongly recommended that you make an early submission to check the originality report and, if necessary, make amendments to your document for resubmission. Note that the Turnitin report is usually generated immediately after the first submission, however, subsequent reports may take up to one day to generate. Do note that Turnitin will not accept any further submissions AFTER the cut-off time. There is a 12-hour grace period after the cut-off time, which is not an extended deadline but solely meant for solving any technical problems that you may encounter while attempting to make a submission before the cut-off time. Please email Blackboard Support immediately (with relevant screenshots and your TMA attached) and follow up with BB Support first thing in the morning to ensure that the problem is resolved before the grace period is over. One late submission is allowed only if no prior submissions were made before the cut-off time. Do note that the Blackboard system will automatically deduct penalty marks for every day that your assignment is late. With this automatic deduction, there will be no need to request for extensions from your tutor because your tutor does not have the mandate to override the Blackboard system settings. You will need to form your own judgement as to how many marks you are willing to forego for each extra day that you gain to work on your assignment. Take care to ensure that you upload the correct TMA document to the correct folder of the correct course. Requests to transfer incorrectly uploaded documents to the correct folder will require an official appeal (and an administrative fee).SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 3 of 8 Backup your TMA at all times. Once you have uploaded your TMA (in Word document format only), retain the Turnitin digital receipt as evidence of a successful submission. View your submission to ensure that the entire document has been uploaded successfully. Plagiarism and Collusion The assignment is to be completed on your own. You may discuss the TMA with your course-mates, however, the assignment must be written independently. Do not share your notes, draft or final TMA with anyone before the marked TMAs are returned to you. Avoid plagiarism by giving yourself sufficient time to research and understand the material so that you can write up your assignment in your own words. Quotations should be used sparingly. Simply citing the source of ‘copied’ chunks of text does not excuse it from plagiarism. Do ensure that any paraphrasing is done appropriately, (even if you use text from your own work that you have submitted as part of another assignment of the same or another course). The University takes a very serious view of plagiarism (passing off someone else’s ideas as your own, or recycling of contents from your own earlier marked TMA from the same course or another course) and collusion (submitting an assignment which is the same or very similar to another student’s). Both are very serious academic offences. Please refer to the Student Handbook on the penalties of plagiarism or collusion. You are strongly advised to submit your TMA early, check the plagiarism report yourself, and if needed revise and resubmit your TMA before the submission deadline. Providing references for ideas At this level of study you are expected to reference the arguments, evidence and ideas utilised in your answer. This involves inserting brief references in the body of the essay itself (given as: author’s surname, date of publication and, where appropriate, page numbers) and adding a detailed list, organised alphabetically by authors’ surnames, of all the references used, at the end of the essay. If you are not familiar with or are unsure of referencing, detailed guidance can be found in Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide by Peter Redman (2001) published by Sage Publications (London) in association with The Open University. Plagiarism of material — that is, direct and unacknowledged copying of course material or the work of any other author — is regarded as cheating by the University, and may result in a ‘Fail’ grade. Any indication of plagiarism in your assignments will be dealt with immediately and severely. It is essential that you present answers in your own words (while acknowledging the source) and acknowledge any quotations you use from other sources.SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 4 of 8 Writing to length There is a word limit for each TMA question. These limits are meant to get you to think carefully about how to organise your answer and keep a sharp focus on the question. It means concentrating on the ideas and issues that the TMA question requires. Course materials are often written with slightly different questions in mind and some broadly relevant material will include points that have less bearing on the question, so it is necessary to work from the TMA question to the course materials and not from the materials to the question. The word limit is there to help you focus your answer, although it may feel restrictive. Students should not exceed or fall below the TMA word limit by more than 10 per cent or they may be penalised by up to 30 per cent of their final grade. You are asked to ensure that you provide a word count at the end of each assignment.SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 5 of 8 TMA01 (1,500 words) This tutor-marked assignment comprises ONE (1) 1,500-word essay (excluding bibliography/references) which is worth 20% of the final mark for SSC211e Social Science Research Methods. Please upload this assignment to Turnitin by Monday, 7 August 2017, 11:55pm. Resubmissions are allowed before this cut-off time. Remember to provide in-text citations as well as a list of references at the end of the essay. You should have a minimum of four peer-reviewed academic references in addition to the textbook. Assignment 1 (100 marks) You are required to answer all questions of this TMA01. In your answers, please make specific references to the case study scenarios provided. 1) Sampling strategies Case study scenario: A presidential election was about to take place in a geographically large country with 15 million residents. The two presidential candidates were popular among different segments of the country's electorate. In attempting to predict the result of the election, a researchbased consulting company called Dewey developed and carried out a public opinion poll. The poll derived its sampling frame through contacts obtained from a local telephone directory, as well as those who visited government websites and registered their contact information there. The targeted total sample size amounted to 1000 individuals. a) Discuss issues of accuracy in relation to the sampling frame that was used by Dewey to represent the electorate. (10 marks) b) Describe with substantial details the sampling procedure that you would apply in order to obtain the sample, assuming the above sampling frame is appropriate. What sampling strategies will you apply in order to improve the representativeness of your sample? (15 marks) 2) Experimental designs Case study scenario: As lead investigator of a group of researchers, you have been given the resources to plan and carry out an experimental research design to investigate the impact of the learning environment on the academic performance of primary school students in Singapore. a) Formulate a theoretically-driven hypothesis. Discuss the key variables/constructs implied by the main hypothesis, as well as the operationalisation and measure of each variable. (20 marks) b) Describe the procedures of your experiment, such as the recruitment and assignment of participants to groups and various experimental controls. Discuss potential issues of internal validity and external validity that you anticipate will arise from your experiment. Describe how you aim to address them. (30 marks)SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 6 of 8 c) Explain how you will analyse and interpret the anticipated findings of your data. Discuss the practical implications that can be derived from expected findings of the study. (15 marks) Additional Requirements a) Accurate and coherent writing with appropriate citation and referencing. (5 marks) b) Participation in discussion forum topics as directed by your instructor. (5 marks) Student notes You are encouraged to include other sources of credible research and/or academic studies to support your answers. For example, in your discussion of sampling strategies, issues of reliability and validity, formulation of hypothesis, identification of variables, and experimental research designs, you should furnish your answers with citations and references from work published in journals, textbooks, or academic books. Please also ensure that your answers are relevant to the case study scenarios. You are strongly advised to take advantage of those intentionally vague aspects of the case study scenarios to add details/information that would facilitate your analyses and arguments. When describing your research design, you should be as specific as possible when discussing the measures/variables that you will use to operationalise your constructs (i.e. the type of assessments you will use as an indicator of academic performance). Your essay will be marked holistically. The allocation of marks for each part of the question is a general guide to the relative importance of each part. Write your answers in not more than 1,500 words. Please remember to provide the word count, and list of references. — End of TMA01 —SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 7 of 8 TMA02 (1,200 words) This tutor-marked assignment comprises ONE (1) 1,200-word essay (excluding bibliography/references) which is worth 20% of the final mark for SSC211e Social Science Research Methods. Please upload this assignment to Turnitin by Monday, 28 August 2017, 11:55pm. Resubmissions are allowed before this cut-off time. Remember to provide in-text citations as well as a list of references at the end of the essay. You should have a minimum of three academic peer -r eview ed references in addition to the textbook. Assignment 2 (100 marks) You are required to answer all questions of this TMA02. Case study scenario: The United States have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Although men have a higher likelihood of being imprisoned, the number of women finding themselves behind bars are rising. Consequently, the children of these inmates are affected by the imprisonment of one or both of their parents. Research has shown that children of incarcerated individuals are more likely to be involved in criminal activity; face problems in school; exhibit behavioral problems; and may end up being substance abusers at a young age. While the impact of having either parent in prison is detrimental, the incarceration of female convicts is especially problematic for children and families due to the tendency for women to bear most of the childrearing responsibilities. Additionally, most women in prison in the US are mothers with 65 to 80 percent of them having children below the age of 18. a) Assuming you are a researcher that has been tasked with qualitatively exploring how imprisoned mothers manage their roles as parents, identify one possible research question that may be addressed through a qualitative study. Explain the academic (theoretical) and practical significance of your research question. (10 marks) b) If you had the cooperation of the authorities and prison services in Singapore to grant you access to potential informants, describe in detail how you aim to choose field sites, prepare yourself for entry, gather and record data, as well as exit the field. (35 marks) c) Describe how you would collect and code the qualitative data generated by your fieldwork. What strategies would you apply to ensure the validity of your qualitative data? (30 marks) d) Discuss potential ethical concerns arising from your field strategies. How would you intend to address them? (15 marks)SSC211e Tutor-Marked Assignment 01-02 July 2017 Semester SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 8 of 8 Additional Requirements a) Accurate and coherent writing with appropriate citation and referencing. (5 marks) b) Participation in discussion forum topics as directed by your instructor. (5 marks) Student notes When explaining the significance of your research questions, be sure to support your answers with academic sources particularly from the literature on familial/parental roles, motherhood, and coping strategies of families/parents labeled as deviant or who are under economic stress. As the weightage of marks is highest for part (b), please be as detailed and critical as possible when elaborating on the process of gathering data in the field. Remember to illustrate your answers with examples that are relevant to the case study scenario. Your essay will be marked holistically. The allocation of marks for each part of the question is a general guide to the relative importance of each part. Write your answers in no more than 1,200 words. Please remember to provide the word count, and list of references. — End of TMA02 —