Research Assignments
Independent Research Project:
W&M and Hong Kong University students will jointly explore political, social, economic, educational, and cultural dimensions of society in the United States, and analyze their practical and theoretical implications from anthropological and historical perspectives. Each student will set up his or her own research design to explore some aspect of society in the United States. Students will discuss their ideas via homepage, an Internet chat room, e-mail correspondence, file exchanges and videoconferences. They will conduct archival research, as well as case studies, using oral histories and ethnographic methods.
Over the
course of the semester, there will be several guest lectures. At the
end of the course, the students will produce multimedia presentations
based upon readings and the findings of their archival research, oral
history projects, and fieldwork in the United States and write a final
term paper.
Possible
Topics of Your Research:
Roles of
NGOs in the United States
Political
Campaign, American Style
Roles of Mass Media
Analysis
of Basic Law
How to overcome Political Apathy
Roles of Foreign Businesses
Tourism
Economic Class Issues
Arts and Democracy
There are several assignments relevant and leading to the final research paper, including creation of a homepage by each research team, consideration of the literature to identify and inform your research project, conducting and analyzing interviews, oral presentation of field research findings, and a final research paper. Details of each requirement are as follows:
Create
a homepage: You will establish a homepage and connect it to the
course homepage. www.wm.edu/cap. This should include an introduction
of your research team and topic. All the subsequent assignments must
be posted on this page.
Bibliography
of three books on the United States: You
will decide on your research theme (a specific aspect of society). Conduct
archival research to substantiate your theme. Identify three books for
bibliographic reference and submit the bibliography.
Initial
Research Design: Create a two page prospectus, describing the theme
of your research, project statement, initial hypothesis, research design,
and time line of research procedure.
Interviews and Report: Identify two experts on your selected topic. Contact them and set up an interview with each person. Conduct each interview for at least 30 minutes (telephone interviews and videoconferences permitted.) If possible, tape the interviews. Compare and contrast the remarks made by these two individuals. Write up your own analysis of the interviews. Upload the oral histories on your web site and submit a hard copy to the instructor.The Interview Report must be a minimum of 7 pages, in addition to an appendix inclusing the abbreviated interview transcripts.
The
format of the interview report is as follows:
Page 1: Title Page. Give a nice concise title that summarizes
this report.
Pages
2-7: Introduction. Describe major analytical questions and
the reasons why you have selected these two individuals for answering
these questions.
Method of Interviews—Describe how you conducted the interviews
Short Description of Each Interview—Q&A Comparison of the
two individual opinions
Conclusion—Describe your own ideas and analysis.
Page 8: Bibliography. At least three books, (five articles of scholarly merit count as one book). You must include contact addresses of the two individuals for verification purposes.
Page 9:
Appendix. You must include the transcripts of the interviews.
If the
interviews were very long, consult with the instructor as to how to
create an abbreviated transcript. An in-class, oral report on your interviews
is required.
Progress Report and Final Research Design: With your research partner, decide on a research theme and ask at least three major analytical questions about American society that you and your partner wish to explore. Gather and critically assess the ideas of experts and the mass media on your theme. Please note that at least three books (five articles=one book) must be included in the bibliography of the Progress Report/Research Design. You may be required to conduct further archival research and revise your research theme, depending on the professor's feedback of your initial work.
The
Report must be a minimum of 6 pages and include:
1) Title page: Give a nice concise title to your project.
2) The main thesis: what areas/issues do you plan to focus and why? What are three major questions you like to pose? Are there possible hypotheses you would like to prove or disprove?
3) Introduction: The theoretical issues involved: How does this particular project fulfill the course objective -- that is, to explore the meaning and future of civil society in Hong Kong.
4) Methodology: The field research methodology. In order to answer your analytical/theoretical questions, what do you plan to do during the field research? Do you plan to conduct interviews, participant observation, or questionnaire surveys? Do you plan to utilize life histories, visual materials, cultural artifact and historical documents? Who do you plan to meet and interview? Where/which institutions do you plan to visit? How do you plan to handle the logistics of the fieldwork?
5) Fieldwork Schedule: The fieldwork is to occur during the HKU students' visit to Williamsburg. Provide the timeline for your fieldwork during the visit.
6) Bibliography:
At least three books (five articles=one book). If you wish, you may
add several Websites in addition to books. Include the contact addresses
of individuals, agencies, institutions, and places you plan to visit.
Mid-term exam (for William & Mary students): Based upon the readings, lectures, and assignments, the mid-term exam will test your knowledge of United States history, political structure and current trends.
Ethnographic Field Research in the United States: You will implement your research design and collect viable field data. You will interview individuals, observe and record phenomena, take photos/ videos, write field notes, collect necessary materials and cultural artifacts, analyze the data,and draw conclusions.
Multimedia Presentation of your research findings: Create a multimedia slide presentation and present your research findings in class.
Final Research Paper: The final paper should be a minimum of 20 pages and should contain all of the sections of the progress report, updated to include what the research team actually did, as well as an additional Conclusion section that details the theoretical issues involved in the research project and how the project fulfills the course objective. Along with the final paper, teams should submit the final draft of the multimedia presentation slides. Both the final paper and slides must be sent to the TA to be uploaded to the course website.
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