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METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
SYA 4300
Section 1F73
Fall Semester 2014
LECTURES: M-W-F Period 2, 8:30-9:20 AM, Turlington (TUR) 2354
LAB: Wednesdays Period 4, 10:40-11:30 AM, Weil 0408A,
Lecture Instructor: Lisa Christiansen, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law
Office: Turlington 3102
Office Hours: Fri 9:30 AM-12:30 PM
E-mail:
Lab Instructor: Heather Covington, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law
Office: Turlington 3347
Office Hours: Wed 1-3 PM and Thur 2-3 PM
E-mail:
Course Description
This course is an introduction to the tools that help you practice good social research. “Methods” introduces the basic issues of conceptualization and measurement, research design and sampling, quantitative and qualitative analysis, among others. You will acquire knowledge via lectures and apply it in labs. The nitty-gritty details and the active learning required for Methods means you’ll have to spend considerable time working on this course. However, if you give an honest effort, Methods will pay you back many times over; for this course provides you with skills that serve as assets in the job market or foundations for graduate school. What is more, Methods involves critical thinking practice, which is important for exercising enlightened citizenship rights in a democracy, whatever your career goals.
Prerequisites
You MUST have taken SYG 2000, Principles of Sociology (or equivalent), and have at least 60 semester credit hours (i.e., you’re in your junior year). It is recommended that you have already taken a statistics course (i.e., STA 2122).
Required Readings
1. Neuman, W. Lawrence. 2012. The Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 3nd ed. Boston: Pearson / AB Longman. (Other editions are okay but the page numbers for readings will be different from those provided in the course schedule.)
There is an e-text that costs less at Cousesmart.com http://www.coursesmart.com/IR/3460764/9780205762620?__hdv=6.8
2. Other short readings on the contemporary politics of social research (available under “Resources” on course website)
Grades
Item Points Each Number Total Points Percent
Lab assignments 20 or 40 4 or 5 120 30.0
Proposal (& Topic Statement) 120 1 120 30.0
Exams 50 2 100 25.0
Final Exam 60 1 60 15.0
Total N/A N/A 400 100.0
Assignments and Exams. You MUST submit a proposal and take all exams in order to pass this course. If you do not take all of the exams or turn in a proposal it will result in an E for the course even if you have the grade you desire without one of these components.
Lab Assignments. During the course of the semester your lab instructor will give you six (6) homework assignments that draw on lectures and labs. Assignments 1, 2, 5, and 6 involve interpretation of statistical output and are worth 20 points each. Assignments 3 and 4 involve your own data collection as well as interpretation of the findings and are worth 40 points each. You need to do some combination of assignments worth up to 120 points; either two 20-point and two 40-points assignments, or four 20-point and one 40-point assignment. You are invited and encouraged to do all six assignments; I will drop the lowest grades. The assignments are worth 30% of your grade.
Proposal and Topic Statement. To apply what you learn in this class, you are required to develop a social research proposal. To write such a proposal, you will have to identify a social problem for research, review literature, conceptualize your research question, operationalize your concepts, decide what kind of data to collect and how to collect it, state how to you intend to analyze it, and discuss the significance of the proposed research.
Prior to turning in a proposal, you must write a “topic statement” of 600-800 words (i.e., ~2 pages typed double-spaced in 12 point font). This topic statement should identify your topic, state your research question, and discuss your preliminary ideas about how you propose to research your question. I use this statement to provide you feedback in order to direct and thereby facilitate your proposal work. Send me the topic statement via Turnitin. I’ll reply with your grade and comments. I WILL ACCEPT TOPIC STATEMENTS LATE, BUT YOU LOSE FOUR (4) POINTS PER DAY LATE. The point of this policy is to encourage everyone to submit a topic statement, even if late, in order to get feedback, which is very important for developing the final proposal.
From the topic statement you must develop an original research proposal of ~3000-3500 words of text (i.e., ~10-12 double-spaced typed pages in 12-point Time New Roman font with 1” margins), plus references and questionnaires and other materials as they apply. The proposal must introduce your topic, review pertinent literature, state your research question, outline the methods to be used, discuss the analyses to be applied to the resulting data, and highlight the implications of the findings. Details, examples and advice are in the resources section of the course website. The proposal is due to me via online submission on the course website at the beginning of class at our last class meeting as listed on the course schedule. I will reply with a completed grade sheet that will include comments. The topic statement is worth 20 points, and the proposal 100 points, and together they count for 30% of your grade (This is a lot of your grade for only one assignment! Please feel free to talk to Lisa or Heather as you develop your proposals. We are happy to help).
Exams. We will have three (3) exams; two during the semester and a final. Prior to each exam, I will hand out a study sheet, and the last lecture period before an exam will be devoted to review. The final exam will highlight material covered since the second exam, and include one question pertaining to material from the entire course. All three exams involve multiple choice items, short answer and short essay questions. The first two exams are worth 50 points, and the final is worth 60 points. Together they account for 40% of your grade.
Extra Credit. This course offers three extra credit options.
The first option is to create up to two discussion questions (1 point each) for each guest research day. I will give you an abstract of their work a week before they present. You must create one or two questions related to both their research and topics discussed in class and ask them during the class discussion. Failure to link their research to class material will result in no credit for that question. Failure to attend the guest researcher class meeting or failure to ask at least one question will result in no points (Fri 10/3, Fri 10/10, and Fri 10/24). Submit these questions via e-learning under the extra credit tab in assignments the meeting before the guest researcher (Wed 10/1, Wed 10/8, Wed 10/22). You can earn a maximum of 6 extra credit points this way.
The second option is to present your proposal in front of the class. For up to 10 points, you can give a 5-7 minute presentation of your proposal. The extra credit is entirely voluntary, but it is well worth your while. Oral presentations help you develop your communication skills, and a presentation of your proposal gives you the chance to share your ideas with your colleagues, which is both gratifying and enlightening. I will solicit proposal presentations until the last lecture in class as listed on the course schedule (pages 5-7), and volunteers will give their presentations at one or more of the dates after lectures end and before the review session on the last day of classes. Details on grading and advice on presentations are provided under the resources tab on e-learning.
The third option is to attend student proposal presentations. For each session of student presentations you attend, you earn 2 extra credit points. You can earn a maximum of 6 extra credit points this way. I encourage everyone to attend all sessions with proposal presentations; you will learn substantially from your colleagues.
Assignment of Grades. Based on your performance on the items just described, I will assign letter grades as shown in the table below. I do not round up; 279.5 points is still a D+. I do not assign extra work beyond the extra credit options listed above; it is up to you to achieve the grade you seek. Note that I do not use “minus” grades.
Points Percentage Letter Points Percentage Letter
360+ 90.0+ A 280-309.5 70.0-<77.5 C
350-359.5 87.5-<90.0 B+ 270-279.5 67.5-<70.0 D+
320-349.5 80.0-<87.5 B 240-269.5 60.0-<67.5 D
310-319.5 77.5-<80.0 C+ <240 <60.0 E
Policies
Attendance. Attendance is not strictly mandatory in the sense that I will not take a roll call for lecture or lab attendance. However, lectures will cover material not in the text, and this material is fair game for the exams. I post incomplete lecture notes on the web for you to print and bring to class. Lectures will also reinforce your understanding of material from the readings. Labs provide information crucial to doing the assignments. There is no make-up for missed labs. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes from your colleagues.
Late Work. I will not accept late assignments or proposals. If you know you will miss class the day something is due, it is your responsibility to turn it in before the deadline. Never slip papers under my door.
Exams. You are invited and welcome to study in groups for exams. If you miss an exam you must contact me within 24 hours and provide me written documentation justifying your absence in order to take a makeup exam. You must make up the exam as soon after as possible. If you know you are going to miss an exam, talk to me before the exam date to take the exam early.
University Policies and Services
Honesty:
As a result of completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every student has signed the following statement: "I understand that the University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University."
Turn in your own, original work! For this course I will be employing the software “Turnitin” which scans all work submitted to me by students for unoriginal work in order to detect plagiarism. This software works VERY well because it scans billions of websites as well as previous assignments to compare content. FOR YOUR SAKE, TURN IN YOUR OWN WORK.
Accommodation for students with disabilities:
Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.
UF Counseling Services:
Resources are available on-campus for students having personal problems or lacking clear career and academic goals which interfere with their academic performance. These resources include:
1. University Counseling Center, 301 Peabody Hall, 392-1575, personal and career counseling;
2. Student Mental Health, Student Health Care Center, 392-1171, personal counseling;
3. Sexual Assault Recovery Services (SARS), Student Health Care Center, 392-1161, sexual counseling;
4. Career Resource Center, Reitz Union, 392-1601, career development assistance and counseling.
TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
Meeting Date Topic(s) Readings, Assignments, Due Dates, etc.
Mon, 25 Aug Introduction, Syllabus NO READINGS
Wed, 27 Aug Why Social Research? Neuman, pp. 1-10
NO LAB
Fri, 29 Aug Approaches to Social Research Neuman, pp. 10-15
Mon, 1 Sept NO CLASSES – LABOR DAY NO READINGS
Wed, 3 Sept Design 1: Basics Neuman, pp. 15-23
Fri, 5 Sept Theorizing 1 Neuman, pp. 25-38
Mon, 8 Sept Theorizing 2 Neuman, pp. 38-50
Wed, 10 Sept Design 2: Qualitative Neuman, pp. 88-94
Labs 1-2: Intro, GSS
Fri, 12 Sept Design 3: Quantitative Neuman, pp. 94-106
Mon, 15 Sept Research Proposals 1 Neuman, pp. 72-88, Box 4.4 (p. 91), 106-111,
Wed, 17 Sept Measurement 1: Conceptualization & Neuman, pp. 112-120
Operationalization
Lab 3: Intro to SPSS, part 1
Fri, 19 Sept Measurement 2: Neuman, pp. 121-127
Reliability and Validity
Mon, 22 Sept Measurement 3: Quantitative Neuman, pp. 127-143
Wed, 24 Sept Review for Exam #1 NO READINGS
Lab 4: Intro to SPSS, part 2
Fri, 26 Sept EXAM #1 (1,2,4, and 5) NO READINGS
Mon, 29 Sept Sampling 1: Non-Probability Neuman pp. 145-151
Wed, 1 Oct Sampling 2: Probability Neuman pp. 151-170
Lab 5: Distributions Assignment #1 Assigned
Fri, 3 Oct Research Guest STUDENT LED DISCUSSION
Mon, 6 Oct Ethics in Social Research Neuman, pp. 52-64, additional articles
Meeting Date Topic(s) Readings, Assignments, Due Dates, etc.
Wed, 8 Oct Politics and Social Research Neuman, pp. 64-70, additional articles
Lab 6: Sampling Assignment #2 Assigned
ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE
Fri, 10 Oct Research Guest STUDENT LED DISCUSSION
Mon, 13 Oct Field Research 1: Neuman pp. 289-302
Preparation, Access, Relations TOPIC STATEMENT DUE
Wed, 15 Oct Field Research 2: Neuman pp. 302-319
Observations, Interviews, Recording ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE