Final Project A: Problem Statement
Prepare a 1-2, double-spaced, page write-up of a policy or political issue that you propose to
study throughout the semester. This assignment will serve as your final paper’s Introduction and
Research Question. If you want to work in a group, find your group members. Only one student
of the group members submits this assignment. Thus, no group member change will be permitted
after submitting this assignment. When writing a problem statement, please include:
- Title, Name(s)
- The problem or issue
- Why this is an important issue to examine
- Causal inquiries to be examined
- The study’s unit of analysis
- The tentative dependent and independent variables in the causal inquiries
Note: Please also look for datasets that contain your proposed variables for research proposal,
though you may not need to include the data information in this assignment.
A few suggestions:
Here are some things to consider in choosing a topic. (1) Your proposed study should make
sense to others; if available, get feedback from others before submitting your proposal. (2) You
should study something that you find interesting. (3) Study something that others will think is
important. (4) Choose a topic and variables for which data are available.
This assignment is worth a total of five (5) points of your final grade. Be clear about
expectations before you turn in this assignment.