You will all be conducting your own exploratory research study on how college students understand the idea of race and racialization. Yay! Your mission is to explore students’ personal, yet very socially constructed, beliefs about the nature of race. You will use Ann Morning’s article on racial conceptualization as a much more detailed and extensive example of your simplified project. (We will all read and discuss in class) As a group, you will need to answer the following research question: How do Rutgers University-Newark undergraduate students define and understand the concept of race?
This is a complete and thoughtful version of your preliminary findings paper. It must be organized as follows:
1. Introduction (what is the question and why should we care about it)
2. Methodology: Include your strategy for recruiting participants and the following demographic information for all of your participants (easiest in chart form): • Year at RU • Major • Gender • Age • Place of birth • Location of high school • Parents’ country of origin • How they identify racially or ethnically. Note I said how THEY identify. This is not for you to determine.
3. Results: sometimes called “findings”— What did you learn through this study? Build upon your preliminary findings. You will need to present an argument (or arguments) and use data (interview quotes, examples from your observations, etc.) to prove your arguments. Basically, why do you think that what they said means what you think it does? a. What patterns did you find? b. Are there words or phrases that kept coming up again and again? c. What surprised you? d. What is your answer to the research question in light of your findings? e. Were there differences in responses based upon demographics? For example, did you find that women understood the meaning of race differently from men participants? How about people from different racialized groups?
4. Conclusion: What did you find challenging about the project? What did you like?
