Help designing a hypothesis or research question

[StudentofMyWorld]

I am an undergrad student who is in a class a little outside of my wheelhouse - Public Safety RESEARCH and Technology. I'm a great writer and analyst. I'm not so good at research, I mean primary research. I'm trying to work up a hypothesis on the effects of climate change on emergency planning or emergency preparedness or emergency mitigation efforts. Or,hell, even how one of the latter three relates to the first. I really don't know. Once I have the hypothesis, I'll be able to do any necessary additional research, but I'm having a total mental meltdown and block trying to design a research question. I don't know if anyone can help with this or if this is too high of an aspiration, but I have to ask. I need to write a 2 page research proposal by Sunday (which I can do if I nail down a hypothesis or research question) and I've already written an annotated bibliography with tons of sources, but I don't know what to do with them that makes sense. I'm just stuck. I have no one with whom I can talk this out and I really think that dialogue could shake something loose. Thank you in advance.

[Country Boy]

 You've written "an annotated bibliography with tons of sources" on what?  How can you research enough to have "tons of sources" if you do not yet know what you are researching?

[StudentofMyWorld]

HallsofIvy,

I did basic research on how climate change is impacting natural disasters and, by extension, emergency management. The problem was that I thought I was gearing up to write a paper on the subject. Boy, was I wrong. The next phase of the project required me to design an experiment. My original track involving how climate change impacted emergency management didn't stand up to the criteria for the next phase, so I had all of this research and no direction. Eventually, I abandoned it and chose a brand new route - how are states applying the PETS Act of 2006 in their current emergency management plans? I had to do all new research, but designing a research study was possible with the new direction I'd chosen. I'm a great student, but misunderstood the end-game of this multi-step project. I got a 100% on the phase of the project that prompted this post and 96% on the following phase - a 10-12 page paper on the methodologies of my study. I'm about to enter my last week of this semester and only have to write a 3-5 page Executive Briefing on these two parts and that'll be a breeze. Thank you for your reply; it's nice that anyone took the time to read my panicked plea.

Gratefully,

StudentofMyWorld

[interested]

On 2/2/2018 at 11:23 PM, StudentofMyWorld said:

I am an undergrad student who is in a class a little outside of my wheelhouse - Public Safety RESEARCH and Technology. I'm a great writer and analyst. I'm not so good at research, I mean primary research. I'm trying to work up a hypothesis on the effects of climate change on emergency planning or emergency preparedness or emergency mitigation efforts. Or,hell, even how one of the latter three relates to the first. I really don't know. Once I have the hypothesis, I'll be able to do any necessary additional research, but I'm having a total mental meltdown and block trying to design a research question. I don't know if anyone can help with this or if this is too high of an aspiration, but I have to ask. I need to write a 2 page research proposal by Sunday (which I can do if I nail down a hypothesis or research question) and I've already written an annotated bibliography with tons of sources, but I don't know what to do with them that makes sense. I'm just stuck. I have no one with whom I can talk this out and I really think that dialogue could shake something loose. Thank you in advance.

I could be wrong, but climate change is going to happen slowly so as normal people do not really realize its happening in their lifetime, the global disasters will be in areas like Bangladesh where the best part of an entire country could find itself under water.

Which countries will accept huge numbers of people from very different cultures as refugees, and which countries have the capacity to do it.

etc

Its sunday tommrw you are screwed  unless you get your finger out.

 

[interested]

1 hour ago, interested said:

I could be wrong, but climate change is going to happen slowly so as normal people do not really realize its happening in their lifetime, the global disasters will be in areas like Bangladesh where the best part of an entire country could find itself under water.

Which countries will accept huge numbers of people from very different cultures as refugees, and which countries have the capacity to do it.

etc

Its sunday tommrw you are screwed  unless you get your finger out.

 

I just realized you posted 2nd feb if you havent come up with some thing by now you have had it already.

[StudentofMyWorld]

Interested,

If you read my reply to HallsofIvy above, you'll see that I already made the deadline, though not with climate change anywhere near the topic. I also killed it! And the next phase of the project. And next week, I'm doing the Executive Briefing for this little adventure, which I fully intend to knock out of the park. 

On the topic of climate change, while it seems to be only slowly happening to most folks, to those in emergency management it has many high profile markers. Longer, hotter, more damanging fire seasons, bigger, stronger, longer-lasting hurricanes, and higher, further inland, more devastating flooding are all issues being encountered right now. The warming of the oceans is especially troubling because it's causing higher sea levels, warmer warm months, more rain, and even unexpected cold further south than previously common. I wish I had the time to cite all of these sources, as they are, of course, peer-reviewed and worth the read, but I'm overwrought with my last 10-12 page paper that's due tomorrow and I've only just now finished reading the research for it. Luckily, I'm a quick writer once I have all of the information in front of me.

So, all that being said, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my plea. I would have closed the thread by now, but I wanted to reply to HallsofIvy and then before I got back, here you are!

So this is me, completely wiped and getting up early to write all day long so I can have it polished and turned in by midnight EDT tomorrow. 

Wish me luck!
StudentofMyWorld