As you should expect in a research methods course there are multiple measures to assess student learning, including assignments, discussions, and exams. Most of the course learning outcomes (listed below) are demonstrated in this assignment. In addition to integrating much of the course content in this specific assignment, this assignment is designed to help prepare students for the capstone project (sociology majors, as well as students in a number of other majors, will be required to complete a senior research project). (Just for your information a copy of the requirements for the Sociology Senior Project can be found in Course Resources, Shared Documents. You can see what is expected for the project and how this assignment fits in. You may also want to view the presentation in Lecture 4.3 under the Week 4 tab. This presentation describes the relationship between the basic principles in research design, the Research Design Project assignment, and the Senior Project.)