SOCIOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
January 29
First day of class.
February 3
Assigned reading:
Abbott, Andrew. 2004. Pp. 13-15, 42-79 in Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. New York: W.W. Norton.
Babbie, Earl. 1992. "Theory and Research." Pp. 39-65 in The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
February 5
Assigned reading:
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: "A Primer on Critical Reading."
PROPOSING & TESTING HYPOTHESES
February 10
Assigned reading:
Carter, Doing Sociology with Student CHIP: "A Primer on Elementary Data Analysis."
"The Joy of Stats" (2010 documentary, dir. Dan Hillman).
February 12
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.
Assigned reading:
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.
STUDYING ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOR WITH SURVEY RESEARCH
February 17
Assigned reading:
Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2001. "Survey Research." 246-89 in Social Research Methods. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
UNDERSTANDING URBAN POVERTY WITH OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS
February 19
Student CHIP assignment due.
Assigned reading:
Harding, Living the Drama: pp. 20-25 ("Fieldwork Neighborhoods"), chaps. 2-3.
February 24
Assigned reading:
Harding, Living the Drama: chap. 4, pp. 135-141 ("Explaining Neighborhood Effects" and "Neighborhoods, Culture, and Individual Behavior"), pp. 162-188, chap. 7.
February 26
Assigned reading:
Harding, Living the Drama: chap. 1, Appendix.
EXPLAINING URBAN POVERTY WITH CLOSED-ENDED INTERVIEWS
March 3
Essay on Living the Drama due.
Assigned reading:
Sharkey, Stuck in Place: chaps. 1-2.
Browse the latest Panel Study of Income Dynamics questionnaire.
March 5
Assigned reading:
Sharkey, Stuck in Place: chaps. 4-5.
March 10
Take-home midterm handed out in class.
Assigned reading:
Sharkey, Stuck in Place: chap. 6.
For class: Stuck in Place Methods Appendix.
March 12
In-class portion of midterm – bring laptop.
SPRING BREAK: March 14-29
OBSERVING URBAN POVERTY WITH PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION
March 31
Assigned reading:
Duneier, Sidewalk. Read the footnotes!
DOING OBSERVATIONAL FIELDWORK
April 2
Assigned reading:
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.
April 7
Fieldwork exercise due.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN STUDYING PEOPLE AT FIRST-HAND
April 9
Assigned reading:
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.
SPECIAL EVENT: Saturday, April 11, 10:00-2:00 pm
Survey day in Poughkeepsie.
Training workshop at 10:00 am in downtown location TBA, followed by door-to-door surveying for Hudson River Housing. Transportation and lunch to be provided.
GENERALIZABLE TO WHOM? SAMPLING
April 14
Assigned reading:
Becker, Howard. 1998. "Sampling." Pp. 67-108 in Tricks of the Trade. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
April 16
Assigned reading:
Schutt, Russel K. 1996. "Sampling." Pp. 147-85 in Investigating the Social World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.
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.
EXPLAINING RACIAL STIGMA USING SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
April 21
Poughkeepsie survey essay due.
Assigned reading:
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.
April 23
Assigned reading:
Pager, Marked: chaps. 4-5.
April 28
Assigned reading:
Pager, Marked: chaps. 6-8.
April 30
Class cancelled. Instead, make a 10-minute office hour appointment this week to discuss your progress on the research proposal.
STUDYING PEOPLE UNOBTRUSIVELY: CONTENT ANALYSIS
May 5
Assigned reading:
Berg, Bruce L. 2001. "An Introduction to Content Analysis." Pp. 238-67 in Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
EXAMINING MEDIA COVERAGE OF URBAN "PATHOLOGY" WITH CONTENT ANALYSIS
May 7
Research proposal due.
Assigned reading:
Ettema, James S. and Limor Peer. 1996. "Good News from a Bad Neighborhood: Toward an Alternative to the Discourse of Pathology." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 73: 835-856.
May 12
Last day of class.
Sunday, May 17 (last day of Study Period)
Take-home final due. |
