Requirements
How your final grade is calculated
Attendance and class participation 10% Student CHIP assignment 15% Survey instrument evaluation 10% Poughkeepsie survey essay 15% Fieldwork exercise 10% Research proposal 25% Take-home final exam 15%
Special note
Academic accommodations are available for students with disabilities who are registered with the Office of Disability and Support Services. Students in need of disability accommodations should schedule an appointment with me early in the semester to discuss any accommodations for this course which have been approved by the Office of Disability and Support Services, as indicated in your DSS accommodation letter.
Attendance and class participation
Attendance in class is mandatory. Missing more than two classes will affect your final grade. Class participation involves (a) doing the readings by the day they're assigned, (b) joining in class discussions, and (c) bringing to class a set of empirical questions or interests that you'll refine and pursue through the assignments, class discussions and Moodle forums.
A note about using technology in this course: I'm happy to let you use laptops and iPads to do the electronic readings and to take notes in class. Please be conscientious when using these devices. If you find your reading comprehension suffers because you don't have a hard copy to write notes in, then print the electronic readings out. And please limit your use of laptops and iPads in the classroom to note-taking and internet browing of course materials only. If your use of these technologies distracts yourself, other students or me, you'll be asked to turn off your wi-fi or your device.
Student CHIP assignment
You'll select one of the chapter sub-sections (except for the one we did in class. i.e., #2-29) in Carter's Doing Sociology with Student CHIP and answer all of its questions. Also, complete the Exploratory Exercises section that accompanies the chapter with your section; be sure to do either parts V-VIII or parts IX-XII (but not both) when it tells you to. Hand in or reprint the perforated pages of the textbook with final answers and all required crosstabulations and graphs.
Survey instrument evaluation
You'll propose empirical hypotheseds and write a set of survey questions to test them. You'll bring these survey questions to class, exchange them with another student, and evaluate their work by giving constructive criticism and writing alternate wordings on survey questions/responses that need it. You'll be graded for your evaluation of the other student's survey instrument.
Poughkeepsie survey essay
With a partner, you'll administer 25 surveys in the City of Poughkeepsie over two weekends as part of Hudson River Housing's "Resident Experience in the Neighborhood" evaluation survey. Using this experience, you'll write a 4-5 page essay discussing the effectiveness of structured survey, the practical issues surrounding random sampling in urban neighborhoods, and the ethical issues raised by survey administration.
Fieldwork exercise
You'll conduct field research in an open public setting and turn in a report containing detailed field notes, several hypotheses based on your observations, and a discussion of Your fieldwork's sociological relevance. (Further instructions will be given out in class.)
Research proposal
In a 10-15 page paper, you'll propose an original research project. You'll explain its sociological relevance; discuss the existing scholarship on your topic by finding and reviewing two sociology journal articles; formulate testable hypotheses; discuss questions of objectivity, ethics, and sampling; and design a measurement instrument (e.g., a survey, fieldwork methods, experiment, content analysis) that could actually be used to carry out the research.
For specific instructions on this assignment, click here.
Take-home final exam
A take-home exam will be distributed on the last day of class, May 7, to be turned in on May 15. |