Example of Assignment 6 Research Design outline
Scott Campbell

Tuesday, February 3, 2004

 

title The Changing Role and Identity of Capital Cities in the Global Era
overview

This analysis is part of a larger project examining the changing role and identity of national capital cities in an era of the "information city," threats to the monopoly power of nation-states, the rise of a transnational network of global economic cities, and the replacement of spatial with virtual networks. These forces will likely not eliminate the need for capitals; but they will reshuffle the current hierarchy of world cities, shift the balance of public and private power in capitals, and threaten the current dominance of capitals as the commercial and governmental gateway between domestic and international spheres.
research question Is the economic status of global cities (that are not capitals) increasing relative to the economic status of national capital cities?
hypotheses

1. Global cities that are not national capitals (e.g., Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Toronto, Los Angeles) are growing faster than administrative-oriented capital cities (e.g., Washington, D.C., Ottawa, Canberra, Rome, Beijing, etc.).

2. Global cities that are also national capitals (e.g., London, Paris, Tokyo) are doing economically as well as global capital cities that are not national capitals.
unit of analysis city and/or metropolitan region
data required and sources city-level data from at least two time periods on population and employment (both total and in specific sectors such as finance). Plus contemporary data on income, rank-size order and measures of a city's economic status (e.g., presence of a stock exchange, number of banks, corporate headquarters, air traffic levels, trade data, etc.). Sources include data bases at the World Bank, UNDP, and the Globalization and World Cities Network at Loughborough University.
methodology

1. Select at least 15 cities from each of three types: (a) non-capital global cities; (b) capital cities that are NOT the largest economic city in the nation; (c) global cities that are also capital cities.
2. Collect data and input into Excel spreadsheet. Identify missing cases and inconsistencies in the data.
3. Develop an initial quantitative profile of the cities as a whole
4. Contrast the 3 types of cities (in table and graph format). Calculate the statistical significance of the differences (using ANOVA).
5. Use partial correlation and regression analysis to isolate the specific role of capital city status in determining the economic growth and status of cities.
6. Write up the data analysis in narrative form, addressing the initial research question and hypotheses. Discuss the internal and external validity of the results. Note where the results (a) confirm the initial hypotheses; (b) conflict with the initial hypotheses; (c) are inconclusive. Propose ways to improve the research results and suggest areas for further study.

anticipated results The answer will likely be complex, with some capitals indeed losing out to economic centers (Washington to New York, Bonn and Berlin to Frankfurt, Ottawa to Toronto), while those capitals with combined political and economic dominance actually benefit from these public-private partnerships (London, Tokyo).
selected bibliography

Campbell, Scott. 2000. The Changing Role and Identity of Capital Cities in the Global Era. paper presented at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, April 4-8.

Castells, Manuel. 1990. The Informational City. London: Basil Blackwell.

Eldredge, H. Wentworth, ed. 1975. World Capitals: Toward Guided Urbanization. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

Gottmann, Jean. 1983. Capital Cities. Ekistics 50 (299):88-93.

Knox, Paul L., and Peter J. Taylor, eds. 1995. World Cities in a World-System. Cambridge, UK and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Sassen, Saskia. 1991. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Taylor, John, Jean G. LengellŽ, and Caroline Andrew, eds. 1993. Capital Cities / Les Capitales: Perspectives Internationales / International Perspectives. Ottawa: Carleton University Press.

 

Note: this is likely a more complex project than you may undertake for the class assignment, but it does provide a template for a research proposal outline.