Assignment Instructions

There are two parts to this assignment: a 5 page written literature review and an audio summary. Each is described below. The literature review should be written in Word and uploaded as an attachment within the Assignments section of the classroom.  Use 12 pt. New Roman font and double-space.  Be sure to put your name and class information on the document and put your name on the file.  Insert page numbers on all graduate-level work. The audio portion of this assignment should be uploaded along with the written literature review, and instructions are below. Assignments will be graded using a rubric appropriate for your class level (please see the rubric below for the required number and type of sources, and the other criteria on which you will be assessed).

The Literature Review

The purpose of this assignment is to propose a theoretical perspective that informs your research and assess the scholarly literature that has been written on your research question, including how it informs your research question and hypothesis. It should be 5 pages in length, and accompanied by an audio component (see below).

Content of the literature review:

The literature review should assess (1) which theoretical approach that we have covered in the course best informs your overall argument and hypothesis (e.g., socialization and interest convergence, liberal institutionalism, structural realism, feminist theory, etc.) and (2) evaluate the findings from the scholarly literature that exists on your research topic.  

Structure of the written literature review:

The literature review is NOT an annotated bibliography. Rather, it is an analytical exercise in which you evaluate a body of literature. As such, your literature review should be organized by theme (NOT an article-by-article summary). A good literature review is a thoughtful study of what has been written, a summary of the arguments and findings that exist (whether you agree with them or not), and is arranged thematically. The literature review should be written in coherent narrative style. At the end of the evaluation, there should still be gaps in the literature that you intend to fill with your research. 

Here is a site explaining various ways to construct a literature review

.  Note that a good literature review is not a list of sources with description, but it involves synthesis and dissection of sources, with minimal use of quotes. 

All references must be cited in

Chicago/Turabian format

, which means including page numbers. 

The audio component: this can be typed out and I will do the recording myself.

Along with your written literature review, please submit a 5 minute audio file in which you summarize the main themes, areas of agreement and disagreement among scholars, and any gaps in knowledge that remain that your research can help address. Some options for recording the audio are below. 

– Windows media audio file 

– Audacity (

audacity.sourceforge.net/

) Audacity is an open source digital audio editor.  You can use this tool to create audio files to share.  Compatible across most of the major platforms, Audacity also works with a variety of audio formats.  

GRADING RUBRIC: Literature Review Assignment

Criteria

Accomplished

Sources and Source Quality

(10 points)

10  or more sources, including 8 sources from peer-reviewed material. Includes a variety of sources from high quality journals, and juried publications.

(8-10)

Inquiry Question

(10 points)

Inquiry question and area of study clearly described; significance of the problem is addressed.

(8-10)

Organization

(15 points)

Organization pattern demonstrates understanding of prior literature information on the topic (historical, general to specific, segments of the topic, etc.) and organizational plan enhances the presentation, promoting ease in reading, and clear demonstration of arguments within the literature.

(12-15)

Connection to Defined Problem Area

(10 points)

Shows thorough understanding of the relationship of the sources selected to the problem area.

(8-10)

Incorporation of Theoretical Framework (15 points)

Theory or model is clearly defined and linked to the study.

(12-15)

Synthesis/Summary

(10 points)

Summarizes and shows insightful synthesis of the literature information, including analysis of gaps in and/or limitations of the research.

(8-10)

Style

(30 points)

Contains no spelling or grammatical errors, scholarly/academic tone is used throughout, full citations for all sources mentioned, all listed references used in the literature review, follows Turabian style perfectly, incorporates smooth transitions. (25-30)

Running Head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1

Research Proposal

4

Research Proposal

Latissa Butler

American Public University: IRLS503 International Organizations

Dr. Borislava Manojlovic

March 13, 2020

1. IO Selection and Research Question

There are different IOs all over the world. Each IO has different roles which they are supposed to play all over the world, but each organization has its great achievements and also failures. One of the international organizations which I opted to choose is the International Labor Organization. This is one of the United Nation’s Agencies that are responsible to promote social justice and appropriate work through setting international labor standards. It is also responsible for the creation of coordinated policies and the publication of different works on social and labor issues. This organization has different challenges which it has been facing for the prior years but one of the main problems is that it has been accused of being ungrateful and out of touch, undesirable regulations and finally failing to ensure that its principles and guidelines are taken literally by official member states. Then in terms of research question regarding this problem is that, “why do you think that international labor organization is not able to ensure that its principles and guidelines are taken literally by the official member states?” (Salkind, 2012).

2. Dependent Variable Identification

There are different variables one of the variables is the dependent variable which is usually the variable that is being examined and it depends on the independent variable. Then according to my research question, the dependent variable is the “seriousness of international labor organization principles and guidelines” this is because the seriousness principle and guidelines are the ones that are being examined, thus depending on something else therefore becoming the dependent variable. Since there are different levels and criteria of measuring dependent variables, then the best criteria to measure my dependent variable is via categorical criteria which is the nominal variable and a dichotomous because it needs more than one response.

3. Independent variable

On the other side, there is the independent variable that is self-governed and they can be changed for the experimenter to test the dependent variable. According to the research question, the first independent variable is the members of the states. This is because they are the ones to determine whether to take the principles and guidelines seriously or not. The next independent variable is the international labor organization leadership. This is because it does not depend on anything else and also it can be changed by the experimenter and finally it is the one to determine how seriously the principles and guidelines will be taken by the members of states (Walliman, 2010).

4. Hypothesis

Next, there is the hypothesis about both the variables regarding the research question. This is a way of speculating about the future of the situation in the international labor organization. I hypothesize that the strictness of the leadership of the international labor organization will influence the seriousness of the members of the states towards the organizational principles and guidelines. This is because if the leadership fails to be strictly enough about its principles and guidelines then in future they shall not be taken seriously by the official members of states. If the other side of the leadership decides to be stricter, then there is a high possibility of the organizational principles and guidelines to be taken more serious. The next issue is that the attitude of the members of the state also determines how they take the issues. This is because the members of the public have a positive attitude towards the labor organization and its policies. They shall be able to take adhere to the seriously unlike when they have a negative attitude toward the organization. Finally, there is the nature of policies; this can determine how the principles and guidelines will be received. For example, if there are consequences if a member fails to take them seriously then the members can take the principle and guidelines seriously because they can be afraid of the consequences (Anne Collins, 2014). 

5.

Research Method and Proposed Data Sources

There are different research methods which are used to test different hypothesis. According to the hypothesis above, I opt to use the inferential statistical method to test these hypotheses to answer the research question. This method of the testing hypothesis is used to determine if the findings from the sample can generalize and if it can be applied. It is also used to give a trustful conclusion of the study. Then finally there are different ways of investigating the hypothesis such as quantitative and qualitative data methods. To the above hypothesis, I opt to use a qualitative research method to investigate it. This is because this kind of method is highly associated with emotions, words and feeling thus making it best for me since the research question need the qualities of this method for it to be answered, tested and investigated. This method also is focused on enabling a greater level of a high grasping of the research question. Then in terms of analysis of the data I prefer to use an interview to collect the data. This is because I believe through this I can get first-hand information and then I use the case study to analyze the data. This is because this method can generalize the data, it also provides mush detailed information compared to other methods and finally it provides an insight for further research (McAneney, 2018).

References

Anne M. Collins, P. (2014). Expressions and Equations Leveled Problems: Dependent and Independent Variables: Dependent and Independent Variables. Teacher Created Materials.

McAneney, C. (2018). Make a Research Plan. The Rosen Publishing Group.

Salkind, N. J. (2012). 100 Questions (and Answers) About Research Methods. SAGE Publications.

Walliman, N. (2010). Research Methods: The Basics. Routledge.