SOCIOLOGY 5394 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS

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1 SOCIOLOGY 5394 SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS Spring, 2014 Dr. Alden E. Roberts Office: 63 Holden Hall Office Hours: 1:00-2:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and by appointment Book: TRICKS OF THE TRADE: HOW TO THINK ABOUT YOUR RESEARCH WHILE YOU RE DOING IT (Howard S. Becker) COURSE OUTLINE PART I: RESEARCH AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD A. Class Preview January 16 B. Freedman, David A Statistical Models and Shoe Leather. Sociologial Methodology, 21: January 21 C. The Scientific Approach to Knowledge 11 January Kuhn, 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Ch 3 (the nature of normal science), Ch 6 (anomalies), Ch 11 (the invisibility of scientific revolutions). 2. Cohen, Jacob "The earth is round (p <.05)." American Psychologist 49: ) D. Concepts (Becker, Howard S., Tricks of the Trade. Pp. 1-66; ) January 28 E. Basic Elements of Research January 30 (Becker, Howard S., Tricks of the Trade. Pp ) F. Formulation of a Research Problem 1. Becker, Howard S Terrorized by the Literature. Pp in Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2. Hargens, Lowell Using the Literature: Reference Networks, Reference Contexts, and the Social Structure of Scholarship. American Sociological Review, 65 (6): ) February 4 TEST ONE February 6

2 PART II: EXPERIMENTS A. Experiments February Aronson, Elliot, Timothy D. Wilson, and Marilynn B. Brewer "Experimentation in Social Psychology." in The Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. 2. Sniderman, Paul M. and Douglas B. Grob "Innovations in Experimental Design in Attitude Surveys." Annual Review of Sociology 22: Ganong, Lawrence and Marilyn Coleman, Multiple segment factorial vignette designs Journal of Marriage and the Family, 68, B. Pre-Experiments and Quasi-Experiments February Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley "Factors jeopardizing validity..." Pp PLUS pp Quasi-experimental designs and pp regression discontinuity in Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2. Campbell, Donald and David A. Kenny Graphical Introduction and Frequently Asked Questions about Regression to the Mean. Pp 1-20, in A Primer on Regression Artifacts. New York: Guilford. 3. Hennigan et al., "Impact of the introduction of television on crime" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982, 42(3): C. Student Preparation of Experiments February 18 D. Student Presentations of Experiments I February 20 E. Student Presentations of Experiments II February 25 TEST TWO February 27 PART III: ETHNOGRAPHY, OBSERVATION, SAMPLING AND MEASUREMENT A. Participant Observation and Field Research March 4 1. Maxwell, Joseph A "Validity: How Might You Be Wrong?" Pp in Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

3 2. Burawoy, Michael "The Extended Case Method." Pp in Ethnography Unbound: Power and Resistance in the Modern Metropolis. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 3. Strauss, Anselm, Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists. NY: Cambridge University Press. Ch 1 & 2 (Introduction and Two Illustrations) pp B. Sampling March 6 1. Becker, Howard S., Tricks of the Trade. Pp Miles, Matthew B. and A. Michael Huberman "Sampling: Bounding the Collection of Data." Pp in Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 3. Cohen, Jacob "A power primer." Psychological Bulletin 112: C. Student Preparation of Participant Observations March 11 D. Student Presentations of Particpant Observations I March 13 No Class Southern Sociological Meetings March 25 E. Student Presentations of Participant Observations II March 27 F. Measurement April 1 (Judd, Charles M. and Gary H. McClelland "Measurement." in The Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.) TEST THREE April 3 PART IV: QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION AND SURVEY RESEARCH B. Questionnaires April 8 1. Schaeffer, Nora Cate and Stanley Presser "The science of asking questions." Annual Review of Sociology 9: C. Survey Research April Stanley Presser et al Methods for testing and evaluating survey questions Public Opinion Quarterly. 68 (1): Lee, Raymond Recording Technologies and the Interview in Sociology, Sociology, 38 (5):

4 3. Lewontin, Richard. [1995] Sex, Lies, and Social Science. Pp in It Ain't Necessarily So: The Dream of the Human Genome and Other Illusions. New York: New York Review Books. D. Unobtrusive Measures April 15 (Eugene Webb and Karl E. Weick, Unobtrusive Measures in Organizational Theory: A Reminder Administrative Science Quarterly. Vol. 24, No. 4, Qualitative Methodology (Dec., 1979), pp ) E. Student preparation of Survey Research April 17 F. Student presentation of Survey Research I April 22 G. Student presentation of Survey Research II April 24 TEST FOUR April 29 PART V: DATA PROCESSING, INDEX CONSTRUCTION AND ETHICS A. Index Construction and Scaling Methods May 1 1. Jeffrey Katzer, Wayne W. Crouch, Kenneth H. Cook. Evaluating Information: A Guide for Users of Social Science Research. 1997, McGraw-Hill, Chpt. 6, 7, and 9. B. Ethics of Social Science Research May 6 1. ASA code of ethics is online at ASANET@ORG. 2. Hoeyer, Klaus, Lisa Dahlager and Niels Lynöe Conflicting notions of research ethics: The mutually challenging traditions of social scientists and medical researchers, Social Science & Medicine, 61(8): Christopher Shea, Don't Talk to the Humans: The Crackdown on Social Science Research Lingua Franca 10 (6) FINAL TEST: TAKE HOME GRADING AND STUDENT OUTCOMES: Students are expected to learn the scientific method, experimentation, participant observation, sampling, measurement, constructing questionnaires, survey research, and research ethics. This will be assessed through tests, several individual research projects, and class discussion. There are 600 possible points in the course. There are four regular tests worth 100 possible points each. The final is worth 100 points. There are also several required research assignments worth a total of 100 points. There will be one percentage point deducted from your final score for all unexcused absences after three. As an example, if you have seven absences and a final score of 73%, four percentage points will be deducted so you will end up with 69% or a D. Excellent attendance and class participation will be

5 taken into account in the event your grade is on a "borderline". Grading is one the ten point percentage grading scale: A=90% to 100% (540 to 600 points) B=80% to 89% (480 to 539 points) C=70% to 79% (420 to 479 points) D=60% to 69% (360 to 419 points) F=59% and below (359 and fewer points) *Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.