Junior Seminar for Sociology Majors (note: first class is September 24 and last class is February 14) Professor Sara Curran curran@princeton.edu Meeting Times Group X Tuesdays, 8:30-9:20am Group Y Wednesdays, 8:50-9:50am Location 165 Wallace, unless otherwise indicated Purpose: This mandatory seminar is intended to introduce juniors to the art and science of doing research in sociology. Attendance is required and each unexcused absence will result in a 1/6 th grade deduction in the calculation of the final grade of the junior independent work. The seminar will provide juniors with the intellectual and emotional space to begin and complete their junior independent work. Included in the curriculum will be information about using the library, getting access to secondary data for analysis, collecting your own data, lived experiences of last year s juniors, reading techniques for writing in sociology, and opportunities to present your own research question and writing. All written assignments should ALWAYS have your name and the date. Required Readings and Resources: Booth, Wayne, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. 1995. The Craft of Research. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago. Massey, Douglas S. 2002. A Brief History of Human Society: The Origin and Role of Emotion in Social Life. American Sociological Review. 67(1): 1-29. Lee, Jennifer. 2002. From Civil Relations to Racial Conflict: Merchant-Customer Interactions in Urban America. American Sociological Review. 67 (1): 77-98. Ainsworth-Darnell, James W. and Douglas B. Downey. 1998. Assessing Racial/Ethnic Differences in School Performance. American Sociological Review. 63(4): 536-553. Exchange on Minority Students and Oppositional Culture. American Sociological Review 67 (1). Blackboard Independent Course Website Purchase a bibliographic software (Endnote or Procite)
Schedule Week 1 September 24/September 25 Class Topic: Introductions Pre-class Preparation: written assignment (see below); read Chapter 1-4 in Booth et al. ; purchase a calendar/scheduler/ or familiarize yourself with Microsoft Outlook calendar, tasks, etc. on your pc. ; purchase an accordion folder or loose leaf notebook that will be devoted to your junior paper (either must have dividers). In class activities: Discuss Booth et al. deconstruct a few students research questions; assignment of students to core groups; discuss how to get your work done and a schedule. Written assignment: A. Submit initial research questions to Professor Curran by Monday, September 23, at 9am. This initial research question should take the following form (as in Booth et al. chapter 3) a. I am studying.. b. Because I want to find out who/what/when/ where/whether/why/how. c. In order to understand how/why These three parts name your topic (a), imply a research question (b), and state the rationale for the question (c). Keep in mind your audience when you think of this question. Who should/would cares about the answer? The answer to the audience should influence how you state these three components. B. Bring a printout of monthly calendar pages from Microsoft Outlook or Bring your calendar Week 2 October 1/October 2 Class Topic: Doing research in your community Visitors: Trisha Thorme, Community Based Learning Initiative; John Webb, Teacher Preparation
Pre-class Preparation: visit the CBLI website, read about the groups that are associated with cbli and the descriptions of prize winning theses. www.princeton.edu/~cbli ; written assignment (see below) In-class activities: Presentation by Thorme and Webb; Discussion of students research ideas. Written assignment: Write a two-paragraph description of how your research question might be answered with a study in your community. Submit this via email to Professor Curran by September 30. Week 3 October 8/October 9 Class Topic: Library Resources (Social Sciences Research Library, A Floor, Firestone) Visitors: Sue White, Social Science Reference Library and Ann Gray, Data and Statistical Services Pre-class Preparation: written assignments (see below) Written assignments: A. Submit revised research questions to your core group, Professor Curran, Sue White (sbwhite@princeton.edu), and Ann Gray (agray@princeton.edu) by Monday, October 7, 9am. B. Core group members read revised research questions and submit written reactions to each persons research question by Friday October 11. Copy Professor Curran and all core group members on the email reaction. Week 4 October 15/October 16 (paperwork indicating advisor due to Cindy Gibson) Class Topic: Thinking about your audience Pre-class Preparation: Read Booth et al. Chapter 5-6, read Lee 2002, written assignment (see below). In-class exercise: deconstructing and anticipating an audience (30 minutes); discussion in core group (30 minutes). Written assignment: A. Revise your research question and statement B. Provide answers/comments regarding how your revised research question and statement responds to each critique offered by members of your core group. Bring one copy of all written material to each of your core group members and Professor Curran.
Week 5 October 22/24 MID TERM WEEK No class Week 6 October 29/October 30 FALL BREAK (this is when you start researching your topic and collecting literature) Week 7 November 5/ November 6 Class topic: Claims and evidence Pre-class Preparation: Read Booth et al. Chapter 8-10. Re-read Lee 2002. Written Assignment (see below) In-class Activities: Brief discussion of Booth et al. Chapter 8-10, discussion of the claims and evidence in Lee 2002 (30 minutes); discuss your sociological reading with your core group (30 minutes). Written assignments: Summarize one sociological reading that you have done while researching your junior paper. Abstract the reading (i.e. Summarize it What is the research question? Who is the audience? What are the data? What are the claims? What is the evidence (specifically)? What are the conclusions?), critique the research (i.e. Do you believe the evidence, do you agree with the claims?). Put the research into context (i.e. Where does this reading fit into your research topic/question? How does it help? If this research was the basis of the beginning of a research project in which directions would the next research steps go? Which references that are referenced in this publication will you pursue next and how do you think these next references will help define your project s contribution to sociology? How central is this research to your topic?) If this is a central or critical reading - conduct a social sciences citation search to follow the development of the ideas that are initiated by this research article list the set of references that result from this search. Submit this to your core group and Professor Curran by Monday November 4. Week 8 November 12/ November 13 Class Topic: Reading Quantitative Data Analysis Results Pre-Class Preparation: Read Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey 1998. Written assignment (see below) In-class activities: Discuss Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey. Written Assignment: Send me two of the most important questions or queries that come to your mind about the Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey reading. They could be about something you don t understand or about the research itself. To
do this, you should jot down lots of questions as you read and then decide among the list of questions you ve generated which two questions are absolutely central for helping you understand the content of the article. Week 9 November 19/November 20 Class Topic: Data Statistical Services in Firestone Library (Class held in Firestone, not Wallace. Meet at main entrance of the Social Science Reference Center, Firestone, A Floor). Pre-class Preparation: Re-read Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey 1998. Written assignment (see below) In-class activities: Presentation by Daniel Edelstein and Ann Gray of Data Statistical Services. Meet at main entrance of the Social Science Reference Center, Firestone, A Floor. Written Assignment: Construct an outline of the Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey article in the following way (always identify the page, column, and paragraph of any key sentence or phrase that calls your attention to the following items in this outline): 1. In your own words state the research question 2. In your own words state why this question is interesting 3. Who are the specific audiences for this study? 4. What are the claims? 5. What is their evidence? Submit this to Professor Curran and your core group on the day of the seminar. Week 10 November 26/November 27 Class Topic: The making of a JP. Pre-class Preparation: Read Booth et al. 155-258; See assignment below; In-class Activities: Discussion of what goes into a JP (15minutes); presentation from two seniors getting from here to there (15 minutes); Break out into core group discussion (30 minutes). Assignment: Provide a detailed outline of the introduction and literature review (each section should have at least two-orders of detail in the outline headings, sub-headings, sub-sub headings). There should be enough detail to indicate the logical flow of the ideas in your research project. Submit this to your core group and Professor Curran on Monday, November 25. Core group members should prepare 2-paragraph to 1-page long constructive critiques of the outline. These will be handed in during class.
Week 12 December 3/December 4 (Dec. 2 -Annotated Bibliography due to Cindy Gibson) Class Topic: Research Ethics, Human Subjects and the Conduct of Research in Sociology Visitor: Andrew Sylvester and Kathy Niebo, Office of Research and Project Administration Pre-Class Preparation: Read the Belmont Report (see assignment); Complete Questionnaire A or B for your particular research project; Complete the NIH training module. Assignment: Go to the compliance page on the ORPA web page (http://www.princeton.edu/~orpa1/grants/irp.htm) and download the forms for Questionnaire A and Questionnaire B (found after the meeting schedule). If you are doing primary data collection, fill out Questionnaire A. If you are conducting secondary data analysis, fill out Questionnaire B. Also, read the Belmont Report which established the human subjects guidelines that we are required to follow (http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/mpa/belmont.php3). After reading the Belmont Report, take part in the NIH Human Subjects Training module (this will take 1 hour to complete): http://cme.nci.nih.gov/. Bring all material to class. Week 13 December 10/December 11 Class Topic: The practicalities of survey design Visitor: Ed Freeland, Associate Director, Survey Research Center, Princeton University Pre-class Preparation: Bring your own questionnaire to class, or questionnaire items you would like to discuss, OR bring a questionnaire that you have received in the mail or have found, about which you had serious reservations concerning measurement validity and reliability. Week 14 February 4/February 5 Class Topic: Revisiting Claims and Evidence Pre-class Preparation: Re-read Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey 1998, read Farkas et al. 2002 and Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey 2002; written assignment (see below). In-class Activities: Discuss the Ainsworth-Darnell, Downey and Farkas debate (30 minutes); Discussion in core group (30 minutes).
Written Assignment: A. Detailed outline of your junior paper the outline should indicate your research question, a statement about why the research question is interesting and to whom it is interesting, a clear and logical organization of the literature you review, a statement of the claims you are making, and the evidence you are providing. Submit this to your core group members and Professor Curran by Monday, February 3. Each section of the JP outline should have at least three layers of headings headings, sub-headings, and sub-sub-headings. B. Core group members should prepare written feedback to each person in their group regarding the detailed outline. The feedback should be constructive? Does the logic of the argument flow? Is there something missing? What is it? How would you re-organize the outline? Week 15 February 11/February 12 Class Topic: Writing a literature review, making the case for a field of study Pre-class Preparation: Read Massey 2002. In-class Activities: Discuss Massey both content and organization (30 minutes); Discussion with core group members (30 minutes). Written Assignment: Revise your outline according to the comments you have received from your core group members and fill in where each item in your literature review would fit into that outline. Resubmit this revised outline and provide a written and detailed response to the core group s review of your outline. Submit this revision and comments to your core group and Professor Curran on the day of your seminar.