GRADUATE RESEARCH METHODS
CRIJ/PADM 5396-Dr. Barbara Hart
Fall 2016 - Syllabus
Office Bus. Adm. 219
Hours: 12:00 – 1:30 MWPhone: 566-7426
Other times by appointmente-mail:
Goal of the Course:
Research methods is all about finding out what is true. That could be in a research laboratory like most students imagine but it also applies to everyday life. What is true in product advertising or how the media reports the news?
This graduate seminar course in research methods will use the principles of social science research methodology learned at an undergraduate level and extend them to a broader understanding of principles of research, types of methods, and research applications with maximum utility for the working professional and the scholar. Research design, critical analysis of information and research, basic statistical analysis, grant writing, research report writing, and research ethics are included as components of this course.
Objectives for the Course:
- Students will learn to solve research questions through valid research design and statistical analysis.
- Students will learn to critically evaluate information and other research findings
- Students will learn to use the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for basic statistical analysis
- Students will be able to present research findings (written, orally and graphically)
- Students will learn the basic elements of program evaluation
- Students will learn to incorporate ethical principles in research.
TEXT: BUNDLE: Schutt, R. (2015). Investigating the Social World 8E + SPSS Version 22.0
Sage, Publishing
ISBN: 9781483375915
Note this version of the text comes bundled with the SPSS statistical program software so that you can work assignments at home. You may buy the text without the software and use the campus computer lab for the homework.
And other readings as assigned
For this online class I will be holding frequent zoom sessions designed to supplement and tutor students through the major topics of the class. That schedule will be establish after we can discuss the best times. Write me anytime with questions – email to and put 5396 in the subject line.
Student Evaluation:
The Fall 2016 class is totally online therefore assignments and student evaluations will have to be tailored to the online environment.
30% Three exams @10% each Such exams will have a time limit imposed for completion and will not be open book. Exams will likely be separated into objective and essay formats. Exams will cover the Schutt text and class materials
20%Comprehensive Final Exam
10%Average Quiz grade from all quizzes
10%Homework assignments (average from all assignments. Grades will be percentages of 100 regardless of the length of the assignment. Some assignments will be short, others longer). Note that correct grammar, sentence construction, etc. is expected for homework.
15%Statistical analysis report using SPSS:
Students will develop a brief research report analyzing the instructors’ hypotheses and two hypotheses developed by each student. The analysis will be based on an established data base. The format will follow standard research guidelines with an introduction, literature review (micro), methodology, results, and conclusions. Tables, charts, figures will be correctly titled and displayed. APA documentation will be required.
15% Journal Article Research Methodology evaluation
Students will select an article from a professional journal that illustrates an experiment. This article will be carefully evaluated using the guidelines furnished by the instructor. Students must remember this is not a journal article review but a critique of the research methodology used by that author.
Black board will be configured so that you will have a location to submit your homework, quizzes, etc. Remember on home work and reports to write with correct grammar and spelling. Quizzes and exams with a time limit have fewer expectations for writing.
Note that learning research methods is a cumulative process. This class is like learning a foreign language. What you learn today is necessary for understanding tomorrow’s material. I have never seen cramming to be successful in this class. Keeping up with your work is your best opportunity for success. The vocabulary flash cards through the text web site are recommended.
Graduate Student Stacy Vernier will be assisting with this class and will also be able to help you with your questions.
Tentative Schedule
Tentative Schedule listed by week. Since this class does not have defined class periods, we will arbitrarily name Monday nights at midnight as the class period ending. Deadlines for assignments, quizzes, etc. will be due then. That will give you the weekend to study and complete the tasks.
Week One -
#1 Video: Introduction and welcome
Power Point: Introduction
#2 Video lecture – Common Errors
Power Point - Operationalization
Readings:
Text: Chapter One,
Lecture Outline chapter one
Blackboard for Week One:
Rise of the Evidence Based Practice Movement and New Opportunities for Criminal Justice Research
“Reasons Managers and Business Decision Makers MUST Understand Basics of Research”
“MARKETING RESEARCH”
Promising Practices (Fels Institute)
Assignments due before Week Two period
Assignment #1. Introduce yourself: CJ or PADM?, working now? Where? Career goals?
Assignment #2. From the readings –
- What does “best practice” mean?
- What is the role of research methodology in determining best practices?
- What are the pros and cons of an agency director insisting on using only vetted “best practices”?
- In your experience or opinion, what practices in your field have been selected because they were vetted as “best practices”?
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Week Two –
#3. Video Lecture –Operationalization
#4. Video Lecture - Measurement
Readings:
Chapter Two – The Process and Problems of Social Research
Lecture Outline chapter two
Chapter Four Conceptualization and Measurement
Lecture Outline chapter four
Topics:
Measurement Validity and Reliability
Deductive v. Inductive
Levels of Measurement
Measurement validity and reliability
Harvard’s Burglary Rates
Read Hart Notes on Operationalization
Assignments due before next class period
Assignment # 3: Practice operationalization
Homework: TURN IN Black Board before next class period: Operationalize two of the following concepts: Good Employee; Serious crime;Seriousillness; good employee morale; good working conditions. Identify at least two if not three indicators. Use the T-chart method. Remember each indicator must have a mechanism for measurement.
Assignment #4: What happened to crime rates in the Harvard article? Why?
Assignment #5: Did Sherlock Holmes practice deduction or induction in his reasoning? Justify your answer.
Assignment #6: What level of measurement are the following measurements?
- Military ranks
- Number of children in a school
- Gender of those children in school
- Horsepower of automobile engines
- Birth order of children in a family
- Family Income
Assignment #7: Why is ratio level preferred? What are its advantages? What are possible disadvantages?
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Week Three -
#1.Quiz -Over materials from first two weeks
No video lecture for this section
Readings:
Read Hart Notes on Hypothesis construction
Read: Campaign Promises. Can you operationalize the promises?
Read: SMART – Writing Objectives
Read: Hypothesis Construction – Alternate and Null Forms
Assignment 8. Assume you are proposing a Literacy Program. Create one or two goals, each with one or two objectives.
Assignment 9: Choose one of the terms which you operationalized earlier (from assignment #3) and create both a directional hypothesis and a null hypothesis. You can choose any other variable for the second variable - it does not need to be from this list.
Assignment 10: Locate any peer reviewed experimental research article. Any topic. Try to find something fairly simple but one in which an experiment (cause and effect) was conducted. This will be the article you analyze later in the course. Send me the article or the link to the article for my approval.
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Week Four -
#2 Quiz: over materials from first three weeks(yes, some items will be repeated especially operationalization)
#5. Video Lecture - Sampling
Readings:
Text: Chapter Five – Sampling.
Lecture Outline chapter five
Read: Why the 1936 Literary Digest Poll Failed
Read: Hart Lecture Notes: Sampling
Sampling discussion – Two Major Families of Sampling Design
- Probability
Simple Random
Systematic Random
Stratified (Proportional and Disproportional)
Multi-Stage Cluster Sampling
- Non Probability
Quota
Purposive
Snowball
Convenience
Assignment #11: What sampling method was used in the article you selected to review? Is that sample generalizable? How representative was it?
Assignment 12: What is the relationship between sample size and its error in representing the population? Suppose we were to ask for opinion about abortion from the population of students at UT Tyler. How would you construct your sample to minimize error? What population characteristics/variables might be factors in the opinion? Now suppose you were asking the same question and your population was Jesuit priests. How would you construct that sample to minimize error? How big would that sample need to be? What is the difference between those two populations?
Assignment 13: Of the four types of probability sampling methods, which do you suppose might have the best chance as representation (reduced error)? Why? Why not just make a research rule that all research must use probability sampling?
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Week Five –
#3 - Quiz – sampling
Readings:
Review for Exam #1
Video Lecture 6 Part 1
Text -Chapter 6 – Research Design and Causation
Research Time Dimensions
Cross-Sectional v. Longitudinal
Quantitative v. Qualitative
Units of Analysis: Ecological fallacy v. individualistic fallacy
Hart Lecture note: The Three Rules of Causality
Threats to Internal Validity
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Week Six -
Exam #1: Exam one – Chapters 1, 2, 4 & 5
Video Lecture 6 Part 2
Video Lecture 6B
Readings:
Chapter 6 continued and Chapter 7
Hart Lecture note: Experimental Design
Hart Lecture note: Internal Validity
Read page 7 of “Establishing the Internal and External Validity of Experimental Studies” - randomization process and establishing generalizability.
Guidelines on journal article methodology critique
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Week Seven –
Quiz #4 – Chapter 6 materials
Chapter 7 Experiments
“14 False Advertising Scandals That Cost Brands Millions”
“Deceptive Advertising”
“Fox News”
Hart Notes –Guidelines for the Journal Article Critique with handout on“Evaluation Questions to Ask”
Assignment #14: Using Hart’s hypothetical about teaching third graders to read faster, explain how True Experimental designs protect against the threats of history, maturation, regression, selection bias. Also explain what a researcher should do to protect against threats of diffusion/contamination, compensation/researcher expectations, and compensatory rivalry/John Henry Effect.
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Week Eight -
Quiz #5 – Experiments – Chapter 7
Readings:
Chapter 8 - Survey Research
Read supplement power point on questionnaire construction
Read:
Hart’s notes on Survey Research
Assignment #15: Create a brief table that compares the advantages and disadvantages of the self-administered questionnaire with the personal interview. Explain why a low response rate in survey research is deadly for generalization of results.
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Week Nine
Quiz 6 – Chapter 8 Survey Research
Read Chapter 9 – Quantitative Data Analysis
Read: Hart notes on Statistics
Read: Handout – Introduction to Statistics
Review for Exam #2
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Week Ten
Exam #2 – Chapters 6, 7 & 8
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Week Eleven –
Journal Article Critique Due
Chapter 16 Summarizing and Reporting Research
Guidelines for SPSS research report.
Chapter 9
Introduction to Statistics
Poll data base and code book (note these data belong to the University of Texas at Tyler and may not be publicized nor used for any purpose other than for practice in this class!)
Review of Research Report outline and requirements
Read: SPSS Tutor
Read: SPSS Procedures for Report
Assignment #16: Develop two original hypotheses to test from the Poll survey data
Submit through Black Board copies of your two hypotheses in both alternative and null forms for instructor approval.
Chapter 10 Qualitative Methods
Review: Power Point shared from web.
Read: Hart Lecture note: Qualitative Field Research.
Highlights of Chapter 14
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Week Twelve
Quiz 7: Chapter 9 and intro to statistics
Chapter 12 – Evaluation and Policy Research
Highlights of Chapter 15
Readings: Program Evaluation lecture
Program Evaluation Power Point
Assignment #17 – from Excel – create chart showing Poll data distribution on the variable of education of the respondent. From SPSS, create the same chart.
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Week Thirteen - Thanksgiving Holiday
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Week Fourteen –
Chapter 3 Ethics
Research Report on POLL data Due
Review for Exam #3
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Week Fifteen Exam #3 – Chapters 9, 10 & 12 (parts of 14 & 15)
Review for Final
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FinalsWeek Comprehensive Final plus Chapter 3
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