Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper that answers the following questions:

·        What information about diversity in the United States has helped you better understand or relate to others in ways that you may not have in the past?

·        Have you learned something new about your own racial, ethnic, or cultural history?

·        Trends in immigration will continue to shape the demographics of the United States. What will the U.S. population look like in the year 2050? Why do you think so?

·        What challenges does the United States face due to the diversity of its people?

·        What are the benefits of such a diverse society?

·        How can we foster a climate of acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States?

·        In what ways does the media perpetuate stereotyping and prejudice? Provide examples to support your assertion.

·        In what ways does the media help foster appreciation for diversity? Provide examples to support your assertion.

·        How might individuals and the United States work together to reduce prejudice and increase appreciation for diversity?

•             How might you change your own behaviors to be more inclusive and pluralistic?

Final Project: Early Methods Section

Due Wednesday, February 18, 2015.

In your final paper for this course, you will need to write a Methods section that is about 4 pages long where you will assess and evaluate the methods of research.  

In preparation for this particular section, answer the following questions thoroughly and provide justification/support. The more complete and detailed your answers for these questions, the better prepared you are to successfully write your final paper.

Please submit your answers as a single 4- to 6-page document as a numbered list; this will ensure you do not inadvertently miss a question.

Additionally, please submit a title page and a reference page in proper APA format.

1. What is your research question?

1. What is your hypothesis or hypotheses? What is the null hypothesis?

1. How many participants would you like to use and why? What are the inclusion characteristics, i.e., what must they have in order to be included in your study (for example, gender, diagnosis, age, personality traits, etc.)? Are there any exclusion characteristics, i.e. are there certain characteristics that would exclude them from being in your study? Does the sample need to be diverse? Why or why not?

1. What sampling technique will be used to collect your sample? What population does your sample generalize to?

1. What are the variables in your study? HINT: Refer back to your hypothesis or hypotheses.

1. Provide operational definitions for each variable.

1. How will you measure each variable? Discuss the reliability and validity of these measures in general terms.

1. What technique will be used for data collection (e.g., observation, survey, interview, archival, etc.)?

1. What type of research design is being used?

1. Briefly discuss the procedure that would be followed when conducting the research.

1. What are some POTENTIAL ethical issues? How might they be addressed?

Interpersonal Relationships Project

There are six well defined stages in interpersonal relationships, including:

Contact:  the initial stage of the relationship that includes a perceptual stage where the individuals simply become aware of each other, and an interactional stage that includes the exchange of basic information and where each individual decides if a relationship is worth pursuing.

Involvement:  increased contact which allows the individuals to learn more about each other, a sense of being connected begins to develop and the individuals begin to spend more time together doing things that suggest an intensification of the relationship.

Intimacy:  Each individual feels a sense of commitment to the other and some type of defined relationship, usually divided into two stages—the interpersonal commitment which is a private commitment and the social bonding which is more public.  Both individuals identify individually as part of a unit or pair, and the public also identifies them as such. 

Deterioration:  the weakening of the bonds of intimacy due to dissatisfaction that ultimately leads to withdrawal from contact, decreasing self-disclosure and increased deception.  This stage may or may not include arguing and quarreling.

Repair:  one or both individuals make attempts to analyze what is wrong and try to find ways to solve the problems by changing own behaviors or changing the expectations of the other’s behaviors.  The goal of this stage is a return to the intimacy stage.  This stage may be skipped.

Dissolution:  completely severing the bonds that held the relationship together in the intimacy stage.

Watch the 2006 movie “The Break-up.”  Watch for signs and examples of the six stages of a relationship.  Keep in mind that the initial stages may be represented in incidents from the past that are being remembered or retold by the characters. 

Write a short, 1 1/2 to 2 page, double spaced essay addressing all six of the stages of interpersonal relationships.

Remember that although the above components are being demonstrated and studied with a romantic relationship in this particular move, the same processes occur in other types of relationships (friendships, work relationships, etc.) as well.