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Milestone 2 - Proposal

🎯 Objectives

By the end of this milestone, you should be able to:

  • Clearly state your research question.
  • Formulate a testable hypothesis linked to your question.
  • Identify your dependent (DV) and key independent (IV) variable.
  • Define and discuss key concepts related to your topic.
  • Strengthen your literature review using peer-reviewed research.
  • Outline how your project connects to empirical analysis.

🧠 Tips for Success

  • Choose a clear question. A good research question is specific, measurable, and focused on a relationship between variables (e.g., "Does political trust affect voter turnout in the U.S.?").

Tip

Start keeping track of ANES 2024 variables (e.g., V241043) that could be used as your DV, IV, CV.

  • Define concepts precisely. Avoid vague terms, say how you'll measure them in ANES (include variable names if possible).

  • Revise carefully. This proposal will serve as the foundation of your final paper—clarity and precision now will save time later!

🧩 The Milestone

In this milestone, you will begin drafting the introduction section of your final paper. Think of it as an extended and improved version of your initial project idea. Remember that you will need to leverage the * 2024 American National Election Study (ANES)* dataset to tackle your research question.

Your introduction should include five paragraphs, supported by at least five scientific articles (peer-reviewed journal articles preferred).

You need to :

  • Create a document in Typst that follows the template below to complete the Milestone. Your final document is 1000 words max.

  • Use your Milestone 1 as a starting pooing. You can copy/paste and revise based on received feedback.

  • Use Google Scholar to find 5+ scientific articles. Create a references.bib file that includes the scientific articles.

  • Leverage citations properly. cite sources with @ in your Typst document. Format everything in Chicago author-date style. You show that you can connect your project with the existing scientific literature.

💾 Submission Guidelines

  • Delete any instructions before submitting your work.

  • Export both files from Typst:

    • da-milestone2-group0.typ
    • da-milestone2-group0.pdf
  • Keep file names consistent so submissions stay organized.
  • Submit both files in the General Chat.

Template

Your Paper Title...

Optional subtitle

Group 0

Author 1, Author 2, Author 3

Introduction

Paragraph 1 The Puzzle & Context: Introduce the phenomenon or political question that motivates your project. Explain why it matters for political science and why it's worth studying using ANES data.

Paragraph 2 What We Know: Summarize what previous research has found on your topic. Highlight main theories or approaches. Focus on scientific articles rather than books.

Paragraph 3 The Dependent Variable (DV): Define what you are trying to explain (the outcome). Discuss how this concept is measured, why it's important, and any challenges in operationalizing it.

Paragraph 4 The Independent Variable (IV) & Hypothesis: Explain what you think drives variation in your DV. Clearly state your hypothesis and discuss how your IV might affect the DV. Mention potential control variables if relevant.

Paragraph 5 Next Steps & Challenges: Conclude with what comes next for your project (e.g., testing your hypothesis, exploring data). Discuss any potential challenges and how you might address them.

BONUS Visualize your model:. Add a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to illustrate relationships between your variables (DV, IV, controls), and reference your DAG in where appropriate. You can use a tool like Miro to create and export your DAG.