The class I’ve enjoyed working for the most as a teaching assistant is my department’s research methods class.  By the end of the class the students have picked a research question to answer, found out what work has already been done on it and modified their question accordingly to make it “new,” written up a basic literature review, chosen research methods to answer their question, designed their research tools (survey, interview questions, etc), pre-tested and modified their research tools, and speculated on where the research might take them if they were to actually pursue the rest of it.

It’s a difficult task but some of the students get really excited about their projects, and learn a lot about scholarship in the process.  The “Big Assignments” listed below were designed by the professor leading the class, Gabby Sandoval, and appear here with my edits.  Some of the “lab assignments” listed below I adapted from the research design class I took with Katherine Masyn when I was a Master’s student at UC Davis.  The important thing is to help the students break down what can be an overwhelming project into manageable weekly tasks, especially during the first half of the class as they are getting started with their projects.

The lab plan below was designed around a teaching workload that involved students going to lecture twice a week with the professor, and then attending a 2 hour lab once a week with me.  I was responsible for two labs of twenty students each.  Students each sat at their own computer, enabling me to combine lectures, group-work, and time for students to work on their projects individually while I moved around the room to consult with them individually.  During individual work time, I made an effort to check in with each student instead of only those that sought my help, which helped nip problems with their projects in the bud.

Week 1 – No Lab

Week 2 Lab

1. Students bring first draft of their research question to lab
2. Mini-lecture: Research methods are cool!
3. Mini-lecture: What is the difference between a research proposal and a term paper?
4. Go over handout: Common Problems With Research Questions and How to Fix Them
5. Peer review of draft research questions
6. Introduce Lab Assignment 1: 5 new and improved versions of their research question
7. Individual and partner work on Lab Assignment 1
8. Turn in first draft of research question and peer-review sheet

Week 3 Lab

1. Students get back the first draft of their research question with my feedback on it
2. Mini lecture: Operationalizing research questions
3. Demo: Read aloud my first and final drafts of “key terms” for my thesis research, discuss significance of the changes made on my findings
4. Demo: 2-3 students volunteer their research questions and we work on operationalizing them as a group
5. Lab Activity: Individual and partner work to revise and operationalize research questions
6. Mini-lecture: review literature review assignment
7. Introduce Lab Assignments 2 and 3: find 20 sources and fill out one article summary table
8. Hand back first draft of research question and peer-review sheet
9. Individual work and student-TA check-ins
10. Students turn in lab activity and lab assignment 1

Week 4 Lab

1. Hand back lab assignment 1 and week 3 lab activity – review operationalization
2. Conduct ungraded Literature Review Quiz and review answers
3. Check in on progress on lab assignments 2 and 3 – discuss common problems with finding sources
4. Introduce Lab Assignments 4 and 5: literature review outline and more article review tables
5. Workshop literature review outlines for 1-2 student research questions
6. Individual work and student-TA check-ins
7. Students turn in lab assignments 2 and 3

Week 5 Lab

1. Mini lecture: Review Big Assignment #1 – Literature Review
2. Guided discussion: trouble-shoot literature review problems
3. Mini lecture: In-text citations
4. Individual work and student-TA check-ins: Hand back and discuss lab assignments 2 and 3 while students work on literature reviews
5. Students turn in lab assignments 4 and 5

Week 6 Lab

1. Students hand in Big Assignment #1: Literature Review
2. Peer review: literature review drafts
3. Review requirements for Big Assignment #2: Methods Section
4. Review class calendar
5. Introduce Lab Activity: methods worksheet
6. Introduce Lab Assignment 6: research tool
7. Workshop methods that could be used to answer research questions for several students
8. Groupwork: divide by method students plan to use, and discuss how they could design research to answer their question

Week 7 Lab

1. Conduct ungraded Methods Quiz and review answers
2. Workshop: discuss ways to pre-test the methods of several students’ research questions
3. Mini lecture: filling out Institutional Review Board forms
4. Mini lecture: assessing the ethical implications of your proposed research
5. Students get back graded literature reviews
6. Individual work and student-TA check-ins: students work on methods section

Week 8 Lab

1. Students hand in Big Assignment #2: Methods section
2. Mini-lecture: Pre-testing
3. Individual work and student-TA check-ins

Week 9 Lab

1. Review requirements for Big Assignment #3: Final Research Proposal
2. Hand back graded methods sections and research tools
3. Individual work and student-TA check-ins: Students work on revising literature reviews, methods sections, or research tool as needed

Week 10 Lab

1. Students conducting surveys as their pre-test of their research tools conduct surveys in class and get feedback from the rest of the students
2. Hand out and review Editing check-list
3. Individual work and student-TA check-ins

Finals Week

1. Students turn in Big Assignment #3: Final Research Proposal

Other resources for students:

• Accessing the library catalog from an off-campus computer
• How to find articles online
• How to find articles from search results in any database
• What is a literature review?
• Sample literature review
• How to distinguish between popular and scholarly journals
• Formatting in-text citations and reference pages - American Sociological Association style
• Institutional Review Board – forms
• Institutional Review Board – Frequently Asked Questions
• Ask a librarian!