Create a document that proposes two to three potential research projects that you are interested in studying as part of the course. Topics should be focused on studying one particular phenomenon or design, as opposed to projects that might span an entire thesis. However, students are encouraged to pick a topic that might form a subset of their thesis research.
Contents: Each topic’s description should include the following details (not necessarily sections, as each could simply be comprised of a few sentences):
- Introduction – describe the context of the research space briefly
- Related Work – without doing a thorough literature review, what do you know about this space? what has been done that you know of? (If you don’t know anything about this topic, that is fine, but be sure to state that.)
- Research Problem – describe what the research problem is in this space and why it needs to be addressed
- Research Method – what will you do to solve the problem, e.g., conduct a study, create a design
- Outcome – what will be the outcome of your project? a design? a set of study results? if study results, what will they illustrate?
Length and Format: The document should be between 2 and 3 pages in length. You may choose any format you wish. I am less interested in your document’s format and length and more interested in ensuring you pick the right topic to study and that it is doable within the term.
Submission deadline: Third lecture. Email the proposal to Carman as a PDF and in its source file (e.g., Word) and also bring a printed copy to class.
Evaluation: You will be evaluated on your ability to concisely document a research problem and method for solving or addressing it. You will not be graded on whether or not you have chosen bad project ideas (so don’t be afraid to be risky).