Phase III: The Builder
Phase III: The Builder
Duration: Weeks 5–12 | Points: 250 Construct your research framework and measurement tools
Learning Objectives
By the end of Phase III, you will:
- Understand research ethics and complete CITI certification
- Apply theory to frame research questions
- Understand the full methods landscape (surveys, experiments, qualitative, content analysis)
- Define variables conceptually and operationally
- Build a comprehensive codebook through qualitative immersion
- Design a sampling plan and pilot test your coding scheme
- Document edge cases, coding decisions, and codebook revisions
Phase III Overview
This is the longest and most substantive phase. You move from planning to building: selecting a theoretical framework, learning about multiple research methods, then diving deep into content analysis. The qualitative work you do here — immersing yourself in data, noticing patterns, developing variables — becomes Study 1 of your final project.
Weekly Breakdown
| Week | Reading | Focus | Assignment Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Ch 7–8: Research Question & Ethics | Writing strong RQs; Belmont Report; IRB; ethics in content analysis | Annotated Manuscript (25 pts) |
| 6 | Ch 9–10: Toolkit & Qualitative Methods | Methods overview; interviews; focus groups; thematic analysis | Project Prospectus (25 pts) |
| 7 | Ch 11–12: Surveys & Experiments | Survey design; sampling theory; experimental design (conceptual) | Topic Selection / RQs (25 pts) |
| 8 | Ch 13–14: Immersion & Vibes to Variables | Data immersion; operationalization; conceptual vs. operational definitions | Definitions Practice (25 pts) |
| 9 | Ch 15–16: Rulebook & Sampling Plan | Codebook construction; sampling strategies; pilot testing; reliability | Codebook & Qual Memo (50 pts) |
| 10 | Ch 17: Wrangling the Chaos | R programming begins; data wrangling with tidyverse | Sampling Plan & Pilot (75 pts) |
Assignments
Annotated Manuscript (25 pts) — Week 5
Find and annotate a peer-reviewed research article related to your topic. Focus on the research gap, theoretical framework, method, findings, and limitations. Write a connection statement explaining how this article relates to your project.
Project Prospectus (25 pts) — Week 6
Draft a one-page research plan: Topic, Theory, Data source, preliminary RQs, and a rough timeline.
Topic Selection — Research Questions (25 pts) — Week 7
Submit your finalized topic, formal RQs (and/or hypotheses), a variable preview, and justification for why these questions matter.
Definitions Practice (25 pts) — Week 8
Define at least 4 variables with conceptual definitions, operational definitions, levels of measurement, coded values, and edge case decision rules.
Codebook & Qualitative Memo (50 pts) — Week 10
Submit your complete codebook (study overview, unit of analysis, all variables with decision rules) plus a 200–300 word qualitative memo describing the patterns you observed during immersion.
Sampling Plan & Pilot (75 pts) — Week 11
Design your sampling strategy (search terms, date range, method) and pilot test your codebook on 10–20 items. Document edge cases, coding decisions, and any revisions.
CITI Ethics Certification (25 pts) — Week 15
Complete the CITI Program’s Social & Behavioral Research training and submit your completion certificate.
Key Concepts Across Phase III
Ethics (Week 5): Belmont Report, informed consent, IRB review categories, ethics of analyzing public social media content
Methods Landscape (Weeks 6–7): Content analysis, surveys, experiments, and qualitative methods — what each can and cannot tell you
Content Analysis Core (Weeks 7–11): Immersion, operationalization, codebook construction, sampling, pilot testing, reliability
R Skills (Week 12): Data wrangling, visualization, statistical testing — practice with the unified_music dataset via coursepackR