HBC201 ECA (End-of-Course Assessment) SUSS : July Semester 2024 – Research Methods for the Social and Behavioural Sciences, Singapore

Question 1

Case Study

According to a recent news article in The Straits Times, fatal road traffic accidents in 2023 rose by more than 25% compared to the previous year, claiming close to 140 lives.

This is the highest in almost a decade and is largely attributable to negligent or reckless behaviours of motorists. Motorcyclists, pillion riders and the elderly accounted for most of the lives lost.

To quickly tackle the surge in road traffic accidents, the Traffic Police announced that they will be implementing harsher penalties for road traffic offences and will ramp up deterrent measures for speeding. A campaign to encourage responsible road use is also slated to be launched in the latter part of 2024.

The Traffic Police is confident that these initiatives would deter irresponsible driving behaviours among motorists, thereby reducing the rising trend in road traffic accidents.

Suppose the Singapore government would like to find out more about road traffic accidents in Singapore. You are tasked to submit a research proposal that will elaborate on how you can apply relevant concepts and research methods to study the topic. Your proposal should be written as an essay and include the following five parts.

Title and Abstract of Research Proposal
Propose a title that fits your research proposal. Also, include an abstract that properly describes and summarises your proposed study. The abstract must not exceed 150 words.

•  Both the title and abstract should be included in your total word count.
• The title should clearly indicate what your proposed study is about.

Background and Literature Review

Examine relevant literature on an issue related to road traffic accidents in Singapore that you would like to study. Analyse the identified literature, examine the research methods used in the existing studies, and critique the strengths or weaknesses of these studies.

Following your literature review, you should propose a specific and clear research question that you would like to study. The research question should be about road traffic accidents in Singapore. You should also discuss the importance of the study you have proposed.

• You can choose to study any topic related to road traffic accidents in Singapore. The key is that you clearly describe the topic you would like to study based on your literature HBC201 Copyright © 2024 Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) ECA – July Semester 2024 Page 5 of 6 review. Examples of possible topics include the following: factors that lead to an increase in the number of road traffic accidents in Singapore, impact of an initiative that aims to reduce the number of road traffic accidents in Singapore, etc.
• For your literature review, you need to include at least five academic journal articles that are relevant to the topic of your choice. It is acceptable if one or more journal articles that you have selected are not done in Singapore. The key is that you should explain explicitly how the selected journal articles inform your proposed research.
• In your literature review, you should critically evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of the selected journal articles, rather than merely present the methods or findings of these previous studies in a descriptive manner. Based on your literature review, discuss the importance of the study you propose, such as how your proposed study addresses a specific limitation of the past studies, any theoretical or practical contribution(s) your research finding(s) may make, etc.