Research project

Goals

  • learn the process of research
  • explore specific questions of law and ethics online in depth
  • discover legal and ethical issues within an applied arena

Specifics

  • small groups of students will conduct a collaborative research project
  • each group will propose a project exploring some question of law or ethics (or both) within the context of a specific online issue
  • your research must include:
    • a sufficiently narrow focus(for instance, examining non-expert medical advice online is likely too broad while studying non-expert advice about medicinal marijuana is appropriately narrow)
    • specific research questions
    • a literature review of relevant social scientific scholarship
    • primary source materials
  • you will report your findings through a digital hub about the issues and community you studied
  • you may choose any kind of hub, but it must cover all of the research elements above through at least 3 distinct digital elements, including:
    • text
    • audio
    • data
    • video
    • graphics
    • commenting
    • polling or other interactivity
    • other creative elements
  • for instance, you might create a site on WordPress that includes:
    • a set of posts in which you describe your research findings and get comments from people in the community you studied
    • a hyperlinked and annotated bibliography of related research
    • audio files of interviews with experts related to your topic

Assessment

  • 30 percent: evidence of research quality (narrow topic, specific questions, appropriate methods, thorough literature review)
  • 30 percent: clear and convincing conclusions related to legal or ethical theories and issues, supported by evidence
  • 40 percent: clarity and creativity in relaying your findings through your digital hub for a general public audience (I will consider private sites for exceptional cases)
  • the full research project accounts for 25 percent of your final course grade

Deadlines

  • Research proposal: Week 5, class 1
  • Annotated bibliography of at least 5 social scientific sources: Week 7, class 1
  • Research questions: Week 9, class 1
  • Primary sources: Week 11, class 1
  • Thesis statement and outline: Week 12, class 1
  • Presentations: Final three classes
  • Project completed and hub public: Final exam time, 7:45 p.m. Dec. 19 (we have no in-person final)

Formats

See our Google Drive for suggested formats for all of the required research project elements.