SOCIOLOGY
520 – Methods of Social Research
Spring
2005
Professor: Dana Britton
Office
phone: 532-4968
Office: Waters
202B
E-mail:
brittn@ksu.edu
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 –
2:30
Mailbox:
Waters 204B
and by appointment
Web page: www-personal.ksu.edu/~brittn
TA: Ryan Button
Lecture:
T/Th 11:30 – 12:45
Email: button@ksu.edu
Labs:
W 1:30, 2:30, 3:30
Office: Waters 253
Mailbox: Waters 251
Office
Hours: M 5:00-6:00, T 3:00-4:00, W 4:30 – 5:30
COURSE DESCRIPTION
OBJECTIVES
TEXTS
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
POLICIES
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND SCHEDULE
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to the
methods of
research most commonly employed by sociologists. Most
of us are exposed to social research
every day, from the latest population tabulations to reports of
increasing - or
more commonly these days, decreasing - crime rates, to claims that
particular
behaviors or attitudes affect our risk of dying young.
The main purpose of this course is to make
you a more critical consumer of this kind of material in part by
showing you
how social research is done and also by engaging you in the process of
social
research itself.
OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to:
1) Help students to understand the basics
of
methodological reasoning – how to formulate research problems and how
to
understand issues of social causality.
2) Guide students in making ethical
decisions in
doing research.
3) Give students an understanding of the
nuts and
bolts issues of research – e.g., sampling, measurement and research
design.
4) Allow students to develop their
abilities as
researcher by conducting a project using three specific methodologies.
5) Make students more critical consumers
of the
social science knowledge presented to them in their everyday lives.
REQUIRED TEXT
The required text for this course is:
Adler, Emily Stier and Roger Clark. 2003. How It’s Done: An Invitation to Social
Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
RECOMMENDED
TEXT
Becker, Howard. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists:
How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This one is a must for
those of you thinking of graduate school.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Research Project: Much of your grade will be accounted for
by the research project. This project will
be completed in segments
throughout the semester, each of which will build on one another. See K-State Online for complete
description. The research project will
account for 250 of the 650 points allotted for the semester.
Lab assignments: There will be ten assignments to be
completed in connection with the
lab. Most will be keyed to components of
the research project. Each assignment
will be worth 10 points. Those who
complete all ten assignments will be awarded 10 extra credit points.
Examinations:
There will be three examinations during the semester.
These will consist of objective (multiple
choice), short answer, and computation questions. The
third examination will be given during
the final exam period, but will not be comprehensive. Examinations will account for 300 of the 650
points allotted for the semester.
Class Participation: I teach all of my classes in the form of
an ongoing dialogue with my
students, rather than in a traditional lecture format.
For this reason, discussion of the readings
and lecture materials in class is both encouraged and expected. In my view, strenuous debate and discussion
facilitate the learning process - some of the most important insights
are often
gleaned in the heat of an argument. If
you don't agree with a point that is being made (either in a reading or
in a
class discussion) speak up and we'll address your issue.
The class will be more interesting for all of
us if you talk to each other, rather than allow yourselves to become
passive
recipients of the lecture material. I do
not give a grade for class participation, per se, but is definitely a
factor in
assessing borderline cases.
Final Grade:
As noted above, your grade for the class will be calculated as follows:
Research Project
250
points
Lab assignments
100
points
Examinations
300
points
Total
650 points possible
For the purposes of calculating the final
letter
grade, a standard scale will be used:
90 - 100% (585-650 points) = A
60 - 69% (390-454 points) = D
80 - 89%
(520-584 points) = B
0 - 59% (
<390 points) = F
70 - 79%
(455-519 points) = C
POLICIES
Scholastic Dishonesty: Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not
limited
to, any effort to seek assistance during an in-class exam from other
persons or
from books, notes, etc. It is also
scholastic
dishonesty to submit assignments that are plagiarized or written in
collusion
with another or to falsify any records connected with this course or
any
examination. I will not tolerate
plagiarism of any sort. Plagiarism
includes quoting or closely paraphrasing a printed source without
giving
appropriate credit (i.e. Gould, 1981:123).
You will need to be especially careful about this when preparing
your
research projects. Any assignments that
appear to be plagiarized in any way will be given a grade of 0 and
further
remedies will be pursued at my discretion.
It is acceptable to talk with classmates about issues that come
up in
your ongoing research and this is in part why I will assign you to
topic groups.
Handing in substantially the same assignment constitutes plagiarism
however. If you have any doubts at
all about what constitutes plagiarism, check with me before you
turn in any
assignment.
All students, upon registration, agree to
be bound by
the University Honor Code. This code
stipulates that a student has neither given nor received unauthorized
aid on
any academic work. The full text of the
policy is available on the honor code website: http://www.ksu.edu/honor/. Students
who
violate the honor code are subject to university disciplinary
procedures, and
can receive a grade of “XF” for a course, which denotes a failing grade
due to
academic dishonesty. Whether I handle a
case of plagiarism informally or not, I am bound to report it to the
honor council
Borderline Grades, Curves, and Other Grade
Inflators:
I will not curve assignment grades or
final grades
for this course.
I do not grade on the basis of need. If you need an A in this course, figure out
the total number of points necessary to earn an A.
Do not ask me to change your final grade
unless I have made a mathematical error.
Results of individual exams and assignments may be discussed
during
office hours. For all exams I ask
students to observe a 24-hour “cooling off” period.
What this means is that with the exception of
mathematical errors in grading I will only talk to you about the
results of
your exams 24 hours or later after I have returned them.
If you come to me to dispute your grade on an
exam, please take the time in advance to research the answer and
prepare an argument
about why you think your answer is nonetheless correct.
There is no “statute of limitations” (beyond
the end of the semester) on when you can discuss an exam or other
assignment
with me or with the TA.
I will not give a grade of incomplete
except in
extraordinary circumstances, about which I must be informed as soon as
the
student becomes aware of them. I will in
no case give an incomplete to a student who simply fails to attend
class and
complete assignments.
With the exception of the ten lab points
available
for completing all lab exercises (see above) extra credit work will not
be
given in this course.
Assignment and Exam Policies:
Late assignments will lose one letter
grade for each
class day that they are late. The final
paper will lose one letter grade for each day it is late.
Make-up exams will be given only to those
who must
miss an exam for a University-approved reason. You are expected to
notify me if
you must miss a scheduled exam. Except
in very special cases, exams must be made up in advance or within one
week of
the exam date. I reserve the right to
alter the format of the examination for make-up exams.
The usual substitution will be a short-answer
only format.
With the exception of the final, all other
graded
assignments are to be picked up in class.
Office hours:
My office hours are Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00 to 2:30.
This is a time when you can drop in to talk
about whatever you want - questions you have about the material, how
you’re
doing in the course, things that you find particularly striking (or
irritating)
about the course or the readings, plans for graduate school, whatever. Please don’t hesitate to use this time,
particularly if you find yourself struggling with the course. It’s better for both of us if I know that
you’re having trouble early in the semester.
I (like most instructors) have little patience for last minute
pleas for
mercy (e.g., calling me the day before the final is due to tell me that
you
didn’t understand the first unit and thus cannot possibly turn in your
paper). I am also available at other
times, either by appointment (e-mail me) or on a drop in basis. If I’m in the office (and I usually am,
particularly on Tuesday and Thursday), feel free to knock; I’ll either
see you
or set something up so that we can meet at a later time.
Two requests:
If you miss a class, please do not ask me what happened in it or
whether you
missed anything important. It may
surprise you how many students actually ask me these questions. Find someone in the class from whom you can
get the notes and learn about other important information.
If there’s a handout you didn’t get in a
missed class, get it from a classmate.
If you need to give me any materials
outside of class
and I am not in my office, please leave them in my department mailbox
(Waters
204A) if at all possible. I hate
stepping on assignments that have been slipped under my door.
COURSE
SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS *
Unit I: Framing
Research/Basic Issues
|
Tuesday
|
Thursday
|
|
|
1/13
– Class begins, syllabus out
|
|
1/18
– Uses of research, Chapter 1
|
1/20
– Theory and research, chapter 2
|
|
1/25
– Theory and research
|
1/27
– Class cancelled for SWS meetings
|
|
2/1
– Ethics in social research, chapter 3
Video,
Milgram experiment
|
2/3
– Researchable topics, chapter 4
|
|
2/8
– Topic day, come prepared with a general research topic idea
|
2/10
– Sampling, chapter 5
Formal
statement of research topic due
|
|
2/15
– Sampling
|
2/17
– Measurement, chapter 6
|
|
2/22
– Measurement
|
2/24
– Exam I
|
Unit II: Research Design and Methods
|
Tuesday
|
Thursday
|
|
3/1
– Research design, chapter 7
|
3/3
– Research design
Literature
review due
|
|
3/8
– Experimental research, chapter 8
Video,
Quiet Rage
|
3/10
– Observational research, chapter 11
|
|
3/15
– Observational research
|
3/17
– Observational research
|
|
3/22
– SPRING BREAK
|
3/24
– SPRING BREAK
|
|
3/29
– Content analysis, chapter 13
Video:
Still Killing Us Softly
|
3/31
– Content analysis
Observation
assignment due
|
|
4/5
– Content analysis
|
4/7
– Exam II
|
Unit III: Methods of Analysis:
Quantitative Research
|
Tuesday
|
Thursday
|
|
4/12
– Structured questionnaires, chapter 9
|
4/14
– Secondary data, chapter 12
|
|
4/19
– Quantitative data analysis, chapter 15
Content
analysis assignment due
|
4/21
– Quantitative data analysis
|
|
4/26
– Quantitative data analysis
|
4/28
– Quantitative data analysis, chapter 14
|
|
5/3
– Quantitative data analysis
|
5/5
– Quantitative data analysis
Secondary
data analysis assignment due
|
Final examination: Friday, May 13 from
9:40 to
11:30. Your final papers are due at this
time.
*Please note: reading assignment dates may
change as
we progress through the course. I will
never change examination dates.
