SOCIOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
January 21
First day of class.
January 25
Babbie, Earl. 1992. "Theory and Research." Pp. 39-65 in The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Reported internet usage for individuals 3 years and older, by state: 2009.
scientific method
theory
hypothesis
observation
empirical generalization
theory building
concepts, variables and indicators
operationalization
falsification
deduction vs. induction
objectivity
intersubjectivity
paradigm
January 27
Abbott, Andrew. 2004. Pp. 13-15, 42-79 in Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. New York: W.W. Norton.
Reasons for buying certain foods.
description
explanation
causality
understanding
positivism vs. interpretivism
narration vs. analysis
behaviorism vs. culturalism
individualism vs. emergentism
realism vs. constructivism
contextualism vs. noncontextualism
transcendent vs. situated knowledge
unit of analysis
PROPOSING AND TESTING HYPOTHESES
February 1
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: "A Primer on Critical Reading."
Racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. population: 1990-present.
independent variable (x)
dependent variable (y)
relationships between variables: positive, negative, linear, independent
intervening variable
categorical variables: nominal, ordinal
numerical variables: interval, ratio
February 3
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: "A Primer on Elementary Data Analysis."
"The Joy of Stats" (2010 documentary, dir. Dan Hillman).
Americans Split on Desired Influence of Organized Religion (Gallup, February 2, 2011).
Time spent in primary activities, 2005-09 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
validity
reliability
error: random vs. systematic
measures of central tendency: mean, median, mode
correlation coefficient
statistical significance
crosstabulation
to control variables
relationships between variables: spuriousness, multivariate model, intervening variable, interaction effect
February 8
Meet in the library's electronic classroom (room 160, before the 24-hour space). Bring the Carter textbook or your online password to access the eTextbook.
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: "A Primer on Critical Reading." Construct the tables and perform the calculations that this chapter asks you to do. Check your answers in the footnotes to this chapter.
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: chap. 1.
SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS ON RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
February 10
Meet in the library's electronic classroom (room 160, before the 24-hour space).
Benson, Janel E. 2006. "Exploring the Racial Identities of Black Immigrants in the United States." Sociological Forum 21: 219-47.
The Personal Well-Being Index.
The F Scale.
cross-sectional, trend and panel analysis
secondary data analysis
regression analysis
dummy variable
adjusted r2
index
scale
STUDYING ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR WITH SURVEY RESEARCH
February 15
Student CHIP assignment due.
Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2001. "Survey Research." 246-89 in Social Research Methods. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
survey research
questionnaire vs. interview schedule
closed-ended vs. open-ended questions
response rate
INTERVIEWING SINGLE MOTHERS ABOUT HOW THEY MAKE ENDS MEET
February 17
Edin & Lein, Making Ends Meet: Foreword, chaps. 1-2, Appendix A.
February 22
Edin & Lein, Making Ends Meet: chaps. 3-6.
CPI inflation calculator.
2009-10 federal poverty guidelines.
February 24
Bring your original survey questions to class.
Edin & Lein, Making Ends Meet: chaps. 7-8.
SAMPLING
March 1
Survey instrument evaluation due.
Schutt, Russel K. 1996. "Sampling." Pp. 147-85 in Investigating the Social World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.
sample
population
elements
probability vs. nonprobability sampling methods
sampling frame
availability sample
snowball sample
purposive sample
stratified random sample
March 3 Take-home midterm handed out in class; due via e-mail by March 5, 12:00 pm.
SPRING BREAK: March 5-20
ETHICAL ISSUES IN STUDYING PEOPLE AT FIRST-HAND
March 22
Adler, Emily Stier and Roger Clark. 2003. "Ethics and Social Research." Pp. 39-68 in How It's Done: An Invitation to Social Research. Belmon, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Fitzgerald, Robert and Linda Fuller. 1982. "I Hear You Knocking But You Can't Come In: The Effects of Reluctant Responders and Refusers on Sample Survey Estimates." Sociological Methods & Research 11: 3-32.
open vs. closed settings
covert research
voluntary participation
informed consent
honest reporting
March 24
This weekend (March 25-26): administer surveys for Building Bridges community food assessment of Poughkeepsie.
Kylie Cannon et al., "Report to Building Bridges: Preliminary results of household survey and analysis of the City of Poughkeepsie's food system," January 6, 2011.
OBSERVING INFORMAL GROUPS ON THE STREET
March 29
Duneier, Sidewalk: Introduction, Parts 1-2. Read the footnotes!
March 31
Poughkeepsie survey essay due. Also, turn in your completed surveys and checklists if you haven't already.
Duneier, Sidewalk: Part 3.
qualitative research
ethnography
field research
participant observation
inductive research
exploration
triangulation
April 5
Duneier, Sidewalk: Parts-4-5, Afterword and Appendix.
DOING OBSERVATIONAL FIELDWORK
April 7
Lofland, John and Lyn H. Lofland. 1995. Pp. 16-69, 89-98 in Analyzing Social Settings. 3d ed. New York: Wadsworth.
Leonard Nevarez's fieldnotes, March 19, 2003.
unstructured interview
field notes
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
April 12
Fieldwork exercise due.
Leavitt, Fred. 2001. "Experimenting: Two Groups." Pp. 90-107 in Evaluating Scientific Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Pager, Marked: Introduction, chaps. 1-3.
Experiments: a typology.
experiment
treatment
experimental vs. control group
field experiment
pretest vs. posttest measures
internal vs. external validity
posttest distortion
reactivity
Hawthorne effect
Solomon four-group design
posttest-only control group design
EXPLAINING RACIAL & CRIMINAL STIGMA USING SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
April 14
Pager, Marked: chaps. 4-5.
April 19
Pager, Marked: chaps. 6-8.
April 21
Berg, Bruce L. 2001. "An Introduction to Content Analysis." Pp. 238-67 in Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
CONTENT ANALYSIS
April 26
Class cancelled. Instead, make a 10-minute office hour appointment this week to discuss your progress on the research proposal.
EXAMINING MEDIA BIAS WITH CONTENT ANALYSIS
April 28 Research proposal due.
Adkins-Covert, Tawnya et al. 2000. "News in My Backyard: Media and Democracy in an 'All American City.'" Sociological Quarterly 41: 227-44.
content analysis
manifest vs. latent content
intercoder reliability
SOCIAL INQUIRY AS A DAILY PRACTICE
May 3 Take-home final exam handed out in class.
Mills, C. Wright. 1959. "On Intellectual Craftsmanship." Pp. 195-226 in The Sociological Imagination. New York: Grove Press.
May 11 (finals week)
Take-home final exam due.
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