Sociology 521: Social Statistics and Quantitative Methods I Spring 2013 Mondays 2 5pm Kap 305 Computer Lab Instructor: Tim Biblarz Office: Hazel Stanley Hall (HSH) Room 210 Office hours: Mon, 5 6pm, F, 10 11, and by appointment Contact: (213) 740 3547; biblarz@usc.edu Teaching Assistant: Megan Carroll Office: HSH 221 or 321 Office hours: Tues, 10am 1pm, and by appointment Contact: megan.carroll@usc.edu Course Website http://blackboard.usc.edu Introduction Sociology 521 is a first graduate course about how sociologists apply statistics to different kinds of data to answer questions about their social world. Social statistics are tools that allow researchers to find mathematical regularities, substantive meaning, and interesting social scientific stories in data that on first glance usually look nonsensical. Quantitative research methodologies typically involves a set of steps: 1) developing a conceptual model of our tentative answer to a question that we are interested in; 2) developing a research design and instrument, like a survey questionnaire or experimental treatment, to measure the dimensions portrayed in our conceptual model; 3) generating a study sample; 4) administering the survey or treatment; and then 5) inputting the results in coded form to create a dataset, or data matrix. We then statistically analyze the dataset in search of answers to our original question and to test whether our tentative answer is supported by the data (a process both deductive and inductive). The types of statistics covered in Soc. 521 will allow us to describe the distribution of variables; describe relationships between variables; estimate general characteristics of populations based on the characteristics of samples; and test hypotheses about the nature of relationships among variables in the population, based on the relationships among variables observed in samples. These topics comprise the areas of univariate, bivariate, and some multivariate descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics. For those interested, Soc. 521 s companion class is Soc. 621, where we focus on more types of multivariate models that allow us to mathematically express and statistically explore the interrelationships among a large number of variables. 1
Throughout this semester, we will make distinctions between: 1) statistics for the analysis of quantitative variables; 2) statistics for the analysis of categorical, or qualitative variables; and 3) statistics for the analysis of quantitative and qualitative variables in combination. Soc. 521 spends relatively more time on statistics for the analysis of categorical variables, with a special section on loglinear models for count data. In this class, each of you will have access to small and large datasets that researchers have published on. Among other things, homework assignments will require that you apply the statistics presented in class to these data using SPSS statistical software. I ll also try to allocate some time to showing you how to get around in STATA. Course Materials 1) (recommended) Agresti, Alan and Barbara Finlay. 2008. Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc. This introductory statistics text is written by a statistician (Agresti) and sociologist (Finlay) who specialize in the presentation of statistical ideas to non statisticians. The book s main emphasis is the application and interpretation of statistics for the social sciences. 2) (required) OpenIntro: Statistics, by David Diez, Christopher Barr and Mine Cetinkaya Rundel. Copyright 2012. Second Edition: August 2012. This textbook (OpenIntro Statistics) is available online for free and is released by Open Intro under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY NC SA 3.0) United States license at openintro.org. 3) (required) Articles and chapters posted on Blackboard (check each Monday for readings relevant to the following Monday s class) Requirements 1) Weekly Homework Assignments There will be 11 homework assignments over the course of the semester. The homeworks are exercises I have constructed that ask you to apply statistics to data to shed light on concrete research problems. Homeworks will help you internalize the materials and get comfortable with the software, actively engage you in the research process, strengthen your ability to calculate and interpret statistics, analyze, apply, and criticize statistics, and provide feedback to the instructor. 2) Student Presentation Projects (more about these early in the semester) 2
Grading Assignment Percentage of Total Grade 11 Homework Assignments 80% Presentation project 20% Total 100% Statement for Students with Disabilities Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to our TA Megan) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740 0776. Statement on Academic Integrity USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another s work as one s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook, contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/scampus/gov/. Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found at: http://www.usc.edu/studentaffairs/sjacs/. 3
READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS SCHEDULE, SOCIOLOGY 521, SPRING 2013 All Homework Assignments Will Be on the Course Blackboard Site. Submit All Homework Assignments Electronically on Blackboard. Check Blackboard each Monday for more Readings. Week Date/Time Topics Assignments Basic Readings 1 1/14/2013 2 1/21/2013 3 1/28/2013 4 2/4/2013 5 2/11/2013 6 2/18/2013 7 2/25/2013 8 3/4/2013 I. What are statistics and what are they doing in sociology? II. Introduction to conceptualization and measurement III. Statistics for describing the distribution of categorical variables, grouping, graphing. Homework #1 Finlay Chs. 1, 2. OpenIntro Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4. Martin Luther King's Birthday Homework #1 Due Finlay Ch. 3 I. Statistics for describing Homework #2 relationships between categorical Finlay Chs. 4, 5, variables, and measuring 6, 7. association in two way contingency tables. 6. II. Inferential statistics: Significance tests and confidence intervals for a percentage (or proportion), and for difference between two; chi square test of independence. I. Spuriousness and the importance of controlling for variables (or holding variables constant). II. Simpson s Paradox, and conditional relationships. III. The whole thing played out in multi way contingency tables. Introduction to Loglinear Models for Contingency Tables Presidents' Day Introduction to Loglinear Modeling. Elaborations and extensions of Loglinear Models. Homework #2 #3 Homework #3 #4 Homework #4 Due Homework #5 Loglinear Modeling Project. Homework #5 Finlay Chs. 8, 10 Agresti (2007), Ch. 7 Fienberg (1980), Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4 Fienberg (1980), Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4 4
9 3/11/2013 10 3/18/2013 11 3/25/2013 12 4/1/2013 13 4/8/2013 14 4/15/2013 15 4/22/2013 16 4/29/2013 17 5/6/2013 18 5/13/2013 Loglinear Modeling Project Workshop. Spring Break I. Statistics for describing the central tendency and dispersion of quantitative variables. II. Inferential statistics: Confidence intervals for estimating quantitative characteristics of populations based on samples. III. Descriptive and inferential statistics for comparing means across groups. IV. Hypothesis testing. #6. Homework #6 #7 (Project Proposal/Outline) Homework #7 #8. ANOVA, Two Way ANOVA. Homework #8 #9. I. Statistics for describing Homework #9 Due covariation, association, relationships among quantitative variables: Correlation and ordinary least squares regression. II. Inferential statistics for correlation and regression. Multiple Regression Homework #10 Reading tables from journal Homework #10 articles. Due Student Presentations (Last Day Student of Class) Presentations #11 Study Week (no class) No Class Homework #11 Due Finlay, Chs. 4, 5, 6, 7. OpenIntro Chs. 4, 5. Finlay, Ch. 12. 5. Finlay, Chs. 9, 10, 11. 7. Finlay, Chs. 10, 11. 8. 5