SOCIOLOGY AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
January 20
First day of class.
January 25
Assigned reading:
Babbie, Earl. 1992. "Theory and Research." Pp. 39-65 in The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ghaziani, Amin. 2017. "The Closet." Contexts 16(3): 72-73.
Spiker, R and Rin Reczek. 2021. "Socioeconomic Patterns Among Sexual Minorities." Contexts 20(4): 64-66.
scientific method
theory
concepts, variables, and indicators
hypothesis
observation
empirical generalization
theory building
operationalization
deduction vs. induction
falsification
objectivity and intersubjectivity
paradigm
January 27
Assigned reading:
Abbott, Andrew. 2004. Pp. 13-15, 42-79 in Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. New York: W.W. Norton.
categorical variables: nominal, ordinal
numerical variables: interval, ratio
unit of analysis
narration vs. analysis
description
explanation
understanding
causality
contextualism vs. noncontextualism
transcendent vs. situated knowledge
behaviorism vs. culturalism
positivism vs. interpretivism
individualism vs. emergentism
realism vs. constructivism
PROPOSING & TESTING HYPOTHESES
February 1
Assigned reading:
Carter, Gregg Lee. 2017. "A Primer on Critical Reading." Pp. 3-8 in Doing Sociology with Student CHIP. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon (previous editions).
independent variable (x)
dependent variable (y)
relationships between variables: positive, negative, linear, independent
intervening variable
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 3
Bring your laptop to class to access the Student CHIP software.
Assigned reading:
Carter, Gregg Lee. 2017. "A Primer on Elementary Data Analysis." Pp. 9-28 in Doing Sociology with Student CHIP. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon (previous editions).
Construct the tables and perform the calculations that this chapter asks you to do. Check your answers in the footnotes to this chapter.
Preview Carter, chap. 1 (which we'll complete in class).
STUDYING ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOR WITH SURVEY RESEARCH
February 8
Assigned reading:
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
index
scale
dummy variable
secondary data analysis
regression analysis
cross-sectional, trend, and panel analysis
February 10
Student CHIP assignment due.
EXPLAINING URBAN FOOD SECURITY WITH CLOSED-ENDED INTERVIEWS
February 15
Assigned reading:
Cannon, Kylie, Ethan Fischer, et al. 2011. "Report to Building Bridges: Preliminary results of household survey and analysis of the City of Poughkeepsie's food system." Paper submitted to the Building Bridges community food assessment.
Nevarez, Leonard, Susan Grove, et al. 2014. "Poughkeepsie Plenty: A Community Food Assessment." Discussion brief #14, Center for Research, Regional Education, and Outreach, SUNY New Paltz.
For further reading:
Nevarez, Leonard, Kathleen Tobin and Eve Waltermauer. 2016. "Food Acquisition in Poughkeepsie, NY: Exploring the Stratification of 'Healthy Food' Consciousness in a Food-Insecure City." Food, Culture & Society 19: 19-44.
UNDERSTANDING URBAN INJUSTICE WITH OPEN-ENDED INTERVIEWS
February 17
Assigned reading:
Shedd, Unequal City: chaps. 1-2, Appendix A.
February 22
Assigned reading:
Shedd, Unequal City: chaps. 3-4, Appendices B-C.
qualitative vs. quantitative research
unstructured interview
triangulation
February 24
Assigned reading:
Shedd, Unequal City: chaps. 5-6.
For further reading:
King, Ryan and Marc Shindler. 2021. "Reconsidering Police in Schools." Contexts 20(4): 28-33.
exploration
reactivity
READING MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS
March 1
Take-home midterm handed out in class.
Assigned reading:
Sharkey, Patrick, Gerard Torrats-Espinosa and Delaram Takyar. 2017. "Community and the Crime Decline: The Causal Effect of Local Nonprofits on Violent Crime." American Sociological Review 82: 1214-1240.
regression analysis
dummy variable
adjusted r2
March 3
In-class portion of midterm – bring laptop.
SPRING BREAK: March 7-18
OBSERVING URBAN YOUTH WITH PARTICIPANT-OBSERVATION
March 22
Assigned reading:
Stuart, Ballad of the Bullet.
ethnography
field research
participant observation
field notes
March 24
Assigned reading:
Stuart, Ballad of the Bullet (cont.).
DOING OBSERVATIONAL FIELDWORK
March 29
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.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
March 31
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. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Fischer, Claude. 2014. "Slumming It." Boston Review (blog), December 9.
open vs. closed setting
covert research
voluntary participation
informed consent
honest reporting
April 5
Assigned reading:
Carroll, Aaron E. 2016. "Did Infamous Tuskegee Study Cause Lasting Mistrust of Doctors Among Blacks?" New York Times, June 17.
Cohen, Philip N. 2018. "Marriage Equality in Social Science and the Courts." Pp. 88-107 in Enduring Bonds: Inequality, Marriage, Parenting, and Everything Else That Makes Families Great and Terrible. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
For further reading:
Tilley, Susan A. 2016. "Representation: Writing Up/Down." Pp. 176-201 in Doing Respectful Research. Hallifax, CA: Fernwood.
spoiling the field
studying up vs. studying down
GENERALIZABLE TO WHOM? SAMPLING
April 7
Assigned reading:
Ali, Saba. 2019. "Homeless population in Dutchess County growing, remaining homeless longer." Poughkeepsie Journal, January 23.
Schutt, Russel K. 1996. "Sampling." Pp. 147-185 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
EXPLAINING RACIAL PENALTY USING SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
April 12
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.
experiment
treatment
experimental vs. control group
field experiment
pretest vs. posttest measures
internal vs. external validity
posttest distortion
Hawthorne effect
Solomon four-group design
posttest-only control group design
April 14
Assigned reading:
Pager, Marked: chaps. 4-5.
April 19
Assigned reading:
Pager, Marked: chaps. 6-8.
For further reading:
Goger, Annelies, David J. Harding and Howard Henderson. 2021. "Rethinking Prisoner Reentry." Contexts 20(4): 46-51.
April 21
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
April 26
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.
content analysis
manifest vs. latent content
intercoder reliability
EXAMINING RACIAL REPRESENTATIONS WITH CONTENT ANALYSIS
April 28
Research proposal due.
Assigned reading:
Dixon, Travis L. 2017. "A Dangerous Distortion of our Families: Representations of Families, by Race, in News and Opinion Media." Color of Change.
May 3
Last day of class.
Tuesday, May 10 (last day of Study Period)
Take-home final due. |
