Research Memo
Finish the already started research memo using the requirements, example and the first part attached. I already have about a half completed. All you have to do is to revise/edit my part as well as add evidence # 4,5,6 and the Open Issue Part (about 3 pages in total). Please see the examples and the requirements provided. TOPIC: Same Sex Marriage
Overall requirements for the paper:
Complete a research consisting of the following three parts.
(1) One Sociological Questions: the memo should identify one “sociologically interesting” question or hypothesis, related to the upcoming special topic. Ideally, these should go beyond simple descriptive issues, to get at larger themes that link the topic to the rest of the course material. For example, rather than asking a simple descriptive question like “How many lawyers are there in America?” you should ask more theoretically-grounded questions like “Does the number of lawyers in a society exert a positive, negative, or nil effect on that society’s economic prosperity?” These questions/hypotheses will be evaluated, in part, on their sociological significance and their linkage to the course material. Consequently, you should include a brief (1-2 sentence) explanation of why you feel that each question/hypothesis is important to the sociology of law.
(2) Six Pieces of Evidence: For each sociological question/hypothesis provide 6 pieces of empirical evidence, beyond the evidence contained in the assigned readings. Typically, the evidence in Research Memos will consist of numerical statistics and “factoids.” However, you may also include narrative evidence, if you wish (e.g., a summary of an interesting research study). In general, though, you should avoid simply summarizing individual court opinions. This section of the Memo will be evaluated, in part, on the quality of your research efforts. Consequently, you should be careful to draw your information from at least two different sources and to fairly represent the various sides of the underlying debate. In general, Research Memos should strive to be objective and even-handed. Don’t try to “over-sell” a position; be attentive to the existence of counter-arguments, and only paint a one-sided picture if you find that the evidence really is one sided. If necessary, you should also provide a brief (1-2 sentence) explanation of why each piece of evidence bears on the question/hypothesis that you have posed. Note: In counting your “six” pieces of evidence, be aware that it often takes more than one “fact” to make a piece of evidence. For example, to address the question of whether the U.S. has experienced a litigation explosion, you would probably want to present data from several years –and these time-points would all count, together, as one “piece of evidence.” A second piece of evidence might be a comparison between the U.S. and a few other countries, and so on. Additionally, relevant court cases may count for only two of the six pieces of evidence.
(3) One Open Issue: For each question/hypothesis, after providing evidence, you should also identify one issue that your data-search could not resolve. In a paragraph or so, (a) identify the missing evidence, (b) explain why it is important, and (c) briefly suggest what kind of research one would need to conduct in order to obtain it. This section of the Memo will be evaluated, in part, on the creativity and perceptiveness of your methodological thinking. Consequently, you should be sensitive to the practical constraints of data gathering. Try to propose reasonable research projects, and if the study that you propose is likely to be unusually challenging, explain what the challenges are and how one might address them. This research does not have to be actually possible for you, as an individual undergrad, to be able to accomplish on your own. You may assume that you have the resources of a researcher at a large university or research institute.
