SOC 307 Section 002
Data Analysis and Presentation
Classroom: 112 SWKT Instructor: Bert Burraston
Class times: 2035 JFSB
T-TH 9:30 – 10:45 p.m. Tel. 422-1692
email:
Office hours: T-TH 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Course Description
Sociologists study the social world by examining phenomena with a particular theoretical lens and using data to assess the validity of theories and hypotheses derived from them. This course will teach you some of the basic skills that sociologists use to conduct their research. We’ll break the course up into three basic components: (1) how to ask the right questions and turn them into research projects; (2) how to get the data you need to answer your questions; and (3) how to manage, present, and visualize data to tell an interesting sociological story. Specifically, you will learn how to communicate research findings through writing, through tables, and visually through graphs.
This course will help you meet the following learning outcomes of the sociology major:
· Graduates will be conversant with the substantive areas of sociology and the variety of theories and research methods associated with these substantive areas.
· Graduates will be able to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of current sociological theories and research relating to substantive areas.
· Graduates are able to estimate and interpret univariate and bivariate statistics and generalize their meaning to the appropriate population.
· Graduates know how to code and interpret qualitative data or how to code and prepare quantitative data for statistical analysis.
· Graduates have the necessary skills to analyze data and summarize findings including
o basic familiarity with spreadsheet programs and statistical packages,
o the analytic process of comparing across categories,
o how to chart historical trends, and
o how to summarize findings for written or oral presentation.
· Graduates are able to conduct electronic bibliographic searches and determine the scientific quality of the research they find.
For more on the major’s learning outcomes, please see the following website: https://learningoutcomes.byu.edu/wiki/index.php/Sociology_BS.
Prerequisites
SOC 111 or 112; SOC 300; and SOC 306 or STAT 221.
Course Readings
The specific reading assignments are listed for each week on pages 4-5 of this syllabus. You should complete each reading assignment before the first class of the week in which they are listed.
There is two required book for the course. These books will be useful in this and in subsequent sociology courses. As an alternative to these books, I have listed some websites that will provide an introduction to SPSS. Be forewarned, though, some students in past courses have complained that these websites are not sufficient for learning to use the software (although I suspect that some of these students were simply not patient enough, nor followed along with sufficient care). Please remember that the key to learning any of these statistical software programs is practice, practice, and a little more practice (just playing around, making mistakes, and playing around some more is quite useful).
Required Book
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. 2003. The Craft of Research, Second Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sweet, Stephen. 2008. Data Analysis with SPSS: A First Course in Applied Statistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Software Websites (the class blackboard site includes hyperlinks)
Learning to use SPSS
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/default.htm
http://calcnet.mth.cmich.edu/org/spss/
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/reference/help/spss/spss.pdf
Additional Readings
The course blackboard site includes a number of additional required readings (see the weekly schedule on pages 4-5 of this syllabus). Several of the articles are from journals and books that are designed to give you a flavor for the research that goes on in the discipline. Given the nature of this course, the articles are empirical; that is, they use (primarily) quantitative data to answer research questions. If time permits, we will set aside a portion of the class period to discuss these articles. Moreover, some of the articles will be used in the homework assignments. The other readings describe important aspects of data presentation and will complement the work we do in class and on homework assignments.
Grading Summary
I will base your grade on performance in three components: homework assignments, class presentation, and exams. The components make up the following percentage of your final grade.
Homework assignments – 25%
Class presentation and Final Paper– 25%
Exams – 50%
Weekly assignments
Each week – beginning in week 3 of the course – you will be given an assignment that will be turned in at the beginning of class on the following Tuesday or Thursday (to be announced in class). The assignments will vary in their content and length. Some will take more time and effort than others, but you are expected to finish them all and turn them in a timely fashion. Failure to turn them in on the assigned day will lead to zero credit for that week’s assignment. I’ve designed the assignments to be interesting and engaging. They correspond with the material covered in the class and reading assignments during the week. For that reason, it is important that you attend class and do all of your reading assignments. I will drop the lowest scored assignment before making the final computation of your grade. Each assignment is worth up to 20 points; the total number of points you receive will be weighted to comprise 25% of your final grade.
Group Class presentation and Final Paper
At the end of the semester each student in groups of 2-3 will present a research project to the class using the skills learned to address a particular research question, provide evidence with data to answer the question, and present the data visually. The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to be creative and put your new skills to work. I will grade you on presentation format and content. So you not only have to know what you’re talking about (e.g., ask a good question and use the right data to address it), but your presentation also has to look good. In the presentation, I also expect you to be able to present your question and findings in the three ways we’ll learn about in this class: (1) describe them in words, (2) present the results in a table, and (3) present the results visually through graphs. You should also be able to visually describe your conceptual model. You should plan to discuss your project with me throughout the semester. An outline of your project is due on November 10, 2009. I will not grade the outline, but it is in your best interest to turn it in so that I may provide feedback and direction. The outline should, at a minimum, include the research question you wish to ask, show a diagram that visually represents the question, and indicate the data you will use to answer the question. You may present in class or at the sociology department poster section Dec 10 at 11:00am-12:00. The presentation is worth up to 25 points.
As part of this research project each person will write up their findings as a research report. In writing this paper you should follow the guidelines spelled out in White (2005). The report is due the last day of class and should be about 5-7 pages (of text) and should included the following:
• Title page – title, name & affiliation
• Abstract (100 words or less)
• Paper (intro, lit review, data & methods, results, discussion, references, figure, tables). This portion of the paper should be around 5 pages.
Exams
There will be a mid-term exam and a final exam (each worth 100 points). The purpose of the exams is to test the skills you’ve learned in class. The midterm exam will be completed in the classroom because you will use the computer to complete some of the test questions. The final exam will be of the take-home variety and will be due during exam week. The exam problems should not surprise you, as long as you complete the readings, attend class regularly, and do all of your weekly assignments. The total number of points you receive on the exams will be weighted to comprise 50% of your final grade.
Grade / Points /A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
Let’s not go there / 93 – 100%
90 – 92%
87 – 89%
82 – 86%
80 – 81%
77 – 79%
72 – 76%
70 – 71%
67 – 69%
62 – 66%
58 – 61%
< 58%
Topics List and Reading Assignments (*Reading is on class blackboard site)
Week 1 (Sept. 1, & 3): What is research?
Reading: Booth et al., prologue and chapters 1 – 2
Week 2 (Sept. 8 & 10): Topics and questions
Reading: Booth et al., chapters 3 – 4; Sweet Chapter 1
& Breault, “Suicide in America”*
Week 3 (Sept. 15 & 17): Conceptual models: Theory as a tool
Reading: Booth et al., chapters 7 – 9
Whetten, “Modelling as Theorizing”*
Week 4 (Sept. 22 & 24): From questions to sources – using secondary data
Reading: Booth et al., chapters 5 – 6
Hummer et al., “Religious Involvement & U.S. Adult Mortality”*
Week 5 (Sept 29. & Oct 1): Gathering primary data
Reading: Sweet Chapter 2 & Sampson et al., “Neighborhoods & Violent Crime”*
Week 6 (Oct. 6, & 8): Data management and coding
Reading: Sweet Chapter 4 & 7 (pages 165-166 dummy coding) you may want to complete an SPSS web tutorial.
Week 7 (Oct. 13 & 15): Data management and coding, continued
Reading:
Week 8 (Oct. 20 & 22): Mid-term review and in-class exam
Week 9 (Oct. 27 & 29): Principles of data presentation
Reading: Booth et al., chapter 15; Sweet Chapter 9
White, “Writes of Passage”*, & Miller, “Organizing Data in Tables and Charts”*
Week 10 (Nov. 3, & 5): Designing tables
Reading: Sweet Chapter 3 & Morgan et al., “Presenting Results Visually”*
Topics List and Reading Assignments (*Reading is on class blackboard site) (cont.)
Week 11 (Nov.10 & 12): Graphs and figures
Reading: Wainer, “How to Display Data Badly”*
Outline of class presentation due (Nov. 10)
Week 12 (Nov. 17 & 19): Graphs and figures, continued
Reading: Bainbridge, “The Religious Ecology of Deviance”*
Week 13 (Nov. 24, & 25): No Class – Thanksgiving vacation
Week 14 (Dec. 1, & 3): Class presentations
Week 15 (Dec. 8 & 10): Class presentations & review for final exam
Electronic version of class presentation due (Dec. 10)
Final exam: Due on Friday, December 18 by 5:00 p.m.
Class Rules and Etiquette
Academic integrity – Students are expected to observe the University’s Honor Code, which can be found online at http://campuslife.byu.edu/HONORCODE/Honor_code.htm. Please pay special attention to the sections on academic honesty and plagiarism. We have a no tolerance policy for cheating or plagiarism.
Absences, tardiness, etc. – I expect that you will attend and arrive promptly to every class. Please let me know beforehand if you must be absent or late for any classes. You must get my permission before submitting a late assignment.
Full participation – Class discussions will be engaging and, at times, lively if everyone makes an effort to do the readings and come prepared to participate. At the risk of sounding like an usher or a flight attendant, please turn off your cell phones, iPods, and other electronic equipment during class. I will consider appropriate class participation when making final grades. Although I realize it will be tempting to use the internet or check your email during class, I ask that you please refrain from doing so.
Respect for others – Sociology is an interesting field of research and is sure to generate interesting discussion. Sometimes intense academic discussions will reveal differences in opinion, which if handled inappropriately, can lead to hurt feelings, defensiveness, or hostility. As eager learners we must try to help each other understand different perspectives in productive ways. I hope that this class will be filled with interesting conversation and that each of us will remember to treat others with respect, regardless of the differences we may have. Moreover, because sociology is a field in social science, we should be willing to entertain the evidence and accept the possibility that we are sometimes misinformed. Sociology is interesting because it reveals that much of our “common sense” understandings of reality are in fact based on misinformation. The best attitude for a student of sociology is one of skepticism and curiosity. These two traits, combined with mutual respect, should facilitate a suitable learning environment.
Discrimination – Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds. The act is intended to elimination sex discrimination in education. Title IX covers discrimination in programs, admissions, activities, and student-to-student sexual harassment. BYU’s policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender based discrimination, please talk to your professor; contact the Equal Employment Office, D-282 ASB, at 422-5895 or 367-5689 (24 hours); or contact the Honor Code Office (4440 WSC) at 422-2847.
Persons with disabilities – Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning environment that accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the University Accessibility Center, 1520 WSC (422-2767) (422-0436, TTY/TDD Direct Line). Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the UAC office. If you need assistance or if you think you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Equal Employment Office at 422-5895, D-282 ASB.
An important reminder: “miracle[s] can happen and will happen when there is kindness, respect, and love. Why do any of us have to be so mean and unkind to others? Why can’t all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us? Why is there so much bitterness and animosity? It is not a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. …There is no end to the good we can do, to the influence we can have with others. Let us not dwell on the critical or the negative.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
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