Theories of International Relations Research Proposal

Section 2 – Literature Review
What have authors offered as hypotheses to explain the phenomenon? (5-10 pages in length)
You should arrive at 5-6 hypotheses explicitly or implicitly developed by political philosophers and/or political scientists. These may be from books, articles or other sources.
Based on your review you may offer your own unique hypothesis, if you choose to do so.
You should group the hypotheses and make a written determination about which three of the hypotheses are the “best”, most representative, most complete or comprehensive.

Section 3 – Operationalizing Hypotheses
How would you operationalize the three hypotheses selected? (10-15 pages in length)
What would be appropriate quantifiable measures of key concepts included in the hypotheses?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of these measures and why?
How and where would you collect the appropriate data?

Section 4 – Description of Statistical Tests to be Applied
In view of your operationalizations, how should you test the validity of the hypotheses? (1-2 pages in length)
Describe the statistical tests that are appropriate to analyze your hypotheses.

Section 5 – Description of Hypothesis Confirmation Criteria
How will you recognize from the statistical results whether the hypotheses have been confirmed or refuted? (.5-2 pages in length)?
Interpret potential statistical findings in terms of the parameters discussed in class.
Discuss potential future research directions in terms of possible residuals as discussed in class.