Sociology 313: Introduction to Research Methods, Spring 2012
University of Southern California, Department of Sociology
Instructor: Veronica Terriquez
Class: Mondays and Wednesdays,3:30-4:50 p.m., KAP 147
Office hours: Mondaysand Wednesdays, 2:00-3:00p.m. and by appointment
Office: KAP 348-F
Email:
Reader: Jeff Sacha
Office hours: Mondays from2:15-3:15 p.m.and Wednesdays 5:00-6:00 p.m. and by appointment
Office: KAP 355
Email:
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to research methodologies used in sociological research. Students will learn to develop research questions and will understand the principles of conceptualization, measurement, sampling, and causality. This intensive course will provide introductory training in data collection, management, and processing. Students will develop their own survey, analyze existing survey data, conduct ethnographic observations, and collect in-depth interview data. By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to conduct their own sociological research and evaluate existing research.
Requirements:
Students will be required to arrive on time for and participate in all class sessions. Each lecture will include time for student discussion. Any in-class writing assignments will be included in the course participation grade. Students with more than 4 unexcused absences will lose all classroom participation points. Cell phones and other personal electronic devices must be turned off during class. The instructor reserves the right to confiscate visible personal electronic devices during class. Laptops may be used in class for note-taking purposes only. Students caught using laptops for other purposes will lose classroom participation points.
Lab sessions will be held ina computer lab in WPH B36. STATA software will be used during lab sessions.
Students must complete homework assignments. Homework assignments aim to provide students with hands-on experience with data collection and analysis. Hard copies of all homework assignments will be due at the beginning of class on Wednesdays. Some electronic Blackboard submissions of homework assignments will also be required in addition to paper copies. Homework grades will be posted on blackboard. Changes to homework grades will not be made after final course grades are posted.
Students will write a research paper based on their own original research. This paper will be based on an analysis of existing survey data, original survey data, ethnographic data, or interview data. Students may choose their own research topic or select one designed by the professor. Students will be responsible for presenting their research findings to the whole class. The research paper is due on April 25 at 3:30 p.m. in class. Students in the class will enter a competition for best research papers. Winners will receive extra credit and may be asked to present their research to other audiences.
The course includes an in-class mid-term quiz and a final examination.
Grading:
Grading will based on classroom participation, weekly homework assignments, quizzes, and a research paper. The course grade will be based on the following:
Attendance and participation: 10 points
Homework assignments (8): 40 points
Mid-term quiz10 points
Final exam20 points
Research Paper 18 points
Final Presentation 2 points
Total 100 points
Assignments will be marked off by 20% if turned in late. They will not be accepted after 1 week past the due date and time. Letter grades will be assigned based on the class distribution of points. Any disagreements with the grading of an assignment must be submitted by email specifying how an error was made in the assignment of points.
Required Reading:
The following two books are required for the course:
Babbie, Earl. 2011. TheBasics of Social Research, 5th Edition.Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth Publishers.
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. 2011. Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes, 2nd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Additional readings will be posted on blackboard. These include excerpts from the following:
Axinn, William G., and Lisa Pearce. 2006. Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.
Best, Joel. 2001. Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Emeka, Amon. 2009. “Race and Unemployment Amidst the New Diversity: More Evidence of a Black/Non-Black Divide.” Race and Social Problems 1:157-170.
Emerson, Robert. 2001. Contemporary Field Research, 2nd Edition. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Fink, Arlene, et al. 2003. The Survey Kit. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
Kubrin, Charis E. 2005. “Gangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas: Identity and the Code of the Street in Rap Music.” Social Problems 52:360-378.
Milkman, Ruth, Ana Luz Gonzalez, and Victor Narro. 2010. Workplace Violations in Los AngelesCounty: The Failure of Employment and Labor Law for Low Wage Workers. UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Tavory, Iddo and Stefan Timmermans. 2009. “Two Cases of Ethnography: Grounded Theory and the Extended Case Method.” Ethnography 10. 243-263.
Weiss, Robert. 1994. Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press.
Contents on this syllabus may be subject to change.
COURSE SCHEDULE
January 9 / Introductions and Overview of Course
January 11 / Linking Theory and Empirical Research
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 1
Babbie, Chapter 2, pgs 45-58: Two Logical Systems Revisited
WEEK 2 / Research Design
January 16 / Martin Luther King Holiday
January 18 / Ethics, Research Design, Objectivity, and Subjectivity
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 3
Babbie, Chapter 4
Selections from Contemporary Field Research (Blackboard)
WEEK 3 / Research Design
January 23 / Conceptualization Operationalization
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 5
Babbie, Chapter 15, pgs 471-485: Reading Social Research
January 25 / Measurement and Sampling
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 7
Additional readingfor those writing an ethnographic research paper:
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes-Chapters 1 & 2
Homework 1 due (5 points)
WEEK 4 / Survey Research
January 30 / Introduction to Survey Research
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 9
February 1 / Writing Good Survey Questions
Reading
Selections from The Survey Kit (Blackboard)
WEEK 5 / Literature Review and Survey Research
February 6 / Administering Surveys to Diverse Populations
Reading
Selections fromWage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles(Blackboard)
The California Young Adult Study Survey (Blackboard)
Babbie, Chapter 14
February 8 / Literature Review Meet in Computer Lab, WPH B36
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 15
WEEK 6 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab, WPH B36
February 13 / Data Management and Descriptive Statistics
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 11, pgs 368-375: Analyzing Existing Statistics
Selections from Damned Lies and Statistics, Chapter 1 (Blackboard)
February 15 / Descriptive Statistics
Reading
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 5 (Blackboard)
Homework 2 due (5 points)
WEEK 7 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab, WPH B36
February 20 / President’s Day Holiday
February 22 / Bivariate Analysis
Reading
Babbie Chapter 14, 448-467
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 10 (Blackboard)
Homework 3 due (5 points)
WEEK 8 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab, WPH B36
February 27 / Multivariate Analysis, Producing and Reading Tables
Reading
Race and Unemployment Amidst the New Diversity by Emeka (Blackboard)
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 4 (Blackboard)
February 29 / Significance Testing & Introduction to Regression
Reading
Babbie Chapter 14, 467-471
Homework 4 due (5 points)
WEEK 9 / Semi-Structured Interviews
March 5 / MIDTERM QUIZ (10 points)
Introduction to Semi-Structured Interviewing
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 10
March 7 / Strategies for Semi-Structured interviewing
Reading
Selections from Learning from Strangers(Blackboard)
WEEK 10 / Semi-Structured Interviews
March 19 / Analysis of Semi-structured Interview Data
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 13
March 21 / More Strategies for Semi-Structured Interviewing
Reading
Selections from Learning from Strangers (Blackboard)
Homework 5 due (10 points)
WEEK 11 / Ethnography
March 26 / Introduction to Ethnography
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 1-2
March 28 / Writing Field Notes
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 3
Homework 6due (5 points)
WEEK 12 / Ethnography
April 2 / Strategies for collecting and analyzing field notes
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 4-5
April 4 / Analyzing Field Notes
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 6
Optional -Two Cases of Ethnography by Tavory and Timmermans (Blackboard)
Homework 7 due (5 points)
WEEK 13 / Other research methods
April 9 / Experiments,
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 8
April 11 / Comparative Historical Research, Content Analysis
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 11, 349-361, 369-379s
Gangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas by Kubrin (Blackboard)
WEEK 14 / Mixed Methods Research and Course Review
April 16 / Mixed-Methods Research
Selection from Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies (Blackboard)
April 18 / Course Review
WEEK 15 / Student Presentations
April 23 / Student Presentations
April 25 / RESEARCH PAPER DUE 3:30 a.m. in class
Student Presentations
May 4 / FINAL Exam—2 p.m. (20 points)
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