Short Paper: Researching Race/Ethnicity in America
In this assignment you will analyze how race/ethnicity is defined by researchers. It will help you to understand how you can use different methodology in sociology, and how the methodology helps to identify and define social problems. Before starting this assignment first review the article, How Americans see the State of Race Relations in America. Pay careful attention to the race/ethnicity groupings and definitions. Next, review Race and Ethnicity and consider how the U.S. Census defines race/ethnicity.
Using one of the following sociology journals:
Find an example of research on your final project topic that also addresses race and ethnicity or uses it as a variable in their research. Include the link to the article that you selected.
- Summarize the research you found and how it relates to both your final project and race/ethnicity.
- Compare and contrast how the researchers defined race/ethnicity with the How Americans see the State of Race Relations in America article and the Census Bureau definitions of race and ethnicity found in the Race and Ethnicity article. Is this different than how your article defined race/ethnicity? Why or why not?
- Explain why you think there are differences between the articles and how they ask about race/ethnicity? Do you think the research topic determines how the researcher defines race/ethnicity? How does this have implications for future research and social policy?
Based on your specific final project topic, explain if one of the ways of asking about race/ethnicity is more useful as you think about your topic? Why do you think that it is more useful?
To successfully complete this assignment, view the Module 5 Short Paper Rubric.
