| SOC 91 Research Methods Syllabus |
DRAFT : NOT
FINAL!!!! |
| Overture |
|
| 8.23 |
Introduction: Testing
the DH-M Conjecture -- Are
couples who hyphenat more likely to get divorced? The shape of the course and the shape of the field Reading Chambliss
&
Schutt, §5.1. "What Causes What?"
Wikipedia. "Double Barrelled Names" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barrelled_name] |
| LAB |
Jump In! The Water's Great! |
| Act I : The Research Reflex |
|
| 8.28 |
The
Problem: Social Knowledge, Myths, & Empirical Questions . Reading MSSW, pp. 2-8 McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears. 2006. "Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades" American Sociological Review, June 2006. |
| 8.30 |
Examples:
Social science has shown... Illogic of "social knowledge." Aspirations of social science. Variety of social science goals. Theoretically v. empirically v. politically interesting. The "why." Reading MSSW pp. 8-12 Abbott pp. 3-40 read lightly. Lieberson pp. xi-xvi (handout) |
|
Lab
|
McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Brashears in the Media |
| 9.1 |
Oakland
A's vs. Baltimore 7:05 p.m. |
| 9.4 |
Good
Social Science & Bad Validity. Truth. Generalizability. Reading MSSW pp. 12-18 |
| 9.6 |
The
Process: Where do interesting research questions come from? The how, part I. From theory to observation or from observation to theory. The so-what in social isolation. Other strategies for achieving "the interesting." Reading MSSW pp. 21-31 Abbott pp. 41-79 read lightly |
| Lab | How
To Say Why It's Interesting Locate articles. Identify sentences that explain what research question is and why it is interesting. |
| 9.11 |
The
Process: Research Design The many arts of comparison. Units of analysis. Ecological fallacy. Reading MSSW pp. 31-40 |
| 9.13 |
Research
Ethics The ethics of getting it right. Do no harm. Informed consent. Human subjects. Limitations. opics Reading MSSW 40-46, 128-130 Mills College Human Subjects Committee American Sociological Association Code of Ethics American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics |
| Lab | Hypothesis
Generation Group-work following "Doing Research" questions on p. 50. |
| 9.18 |
Concepts,
Variables, Observables, and Indicators Concepts as mental constructs, existing data, questions, scales and indexes, systematic observation, unobtrusive observation, triangulation Reading MSSW 51-65 Lieberson, ch.1 "Tastes: Why Do They Become What They Become?" |
| 9.20 |
Characterizing
Measurement Levels of measurement, validity, accuracy, reliability, precision Reading MSSW 66-79 |
| Lab | Preparing
for the Field We look at GSS data used by McPherson et al. and develop materials for doing face-to-face interviews to replicate their work. We develop a sampling frame for selecting participants for next week's interviews. |
| 9.25 |
"Field
Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen Reading Lieberson, chs. 2, 3,
4, 5 (pp. 31-142)
|
| 9.27 |
"Field
Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen Reading Keep reading Lieberson
|
| Lab | "Field Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen |
| Why Should Anyone Believe Us? | |
| 10.2 |
Sampling
I Populations and samples, parameters and statistics. Sampling frames and units. Methods of sampling. Reading MSSW, pp. 85-102 TBA |
| 10.4 |
Sampling
II Topics Reading |
| Lab | Sampling |
| 10.9 |
But
Does X CAUSE Y? Causality, experiments, pseudo-experiments, internal validity, generalizabilty Reading MSSW pp. 106-119 |
| 10.11 |
But
Does X CAUSE Y? (cont'd) Threats to validity. Reading MSSW pp. 119-128 |
| Lab | Sociological Experimentation |
| Quantity Matters |
|
| 10.16 |
Quantitative
Analysis I Distributions. Statistics as descriptions of distributions. opics Reading MSSW pp. 228-244 |
| 10.18 |
Quantitative
Analysis II How to know whether two numbers are different. Standard deviations, margins of error, etc. Reading MSSW pp. 228-244 |
| Lab | Visual
represenations of univariate distributions |
| 10.23 |
Quantitative
Analysis III Tables. Elaboration. methods. Reading MSSW pp. 245-253 Lazarsfeld on table elaboration. |
| 10.25 |
Quantitative
Analysis IV Correlation and association.. Reading MSSW pp. 245-253 |
| Lab | Tables,
tables, tables & Scatterplots,
etc. |
| Four Methods |
|
| 10.30 |
Surveys A g. Reading MSSW, pp. 137-160 |
| 11.1 |
Surveys Topics Reading C |
| Lab | Survey lab |
| 11.6 |
Structured
Interviews Topics Reading Selection from Borgatti website |
| 11.8 |
Structured
Interviews Topics Reading Continued |
| Lab | Structured Interviews Lab |
| 11.13 |
Participant
Observation Topics Reading MSSW, pp. 165-179. |
| 11.15 |
Participant
Observation (cont'd) Topics Reading G |
| Lab | Participant
Observation Lab |
| 11.20 |
Interviews Topics Reading Ry |
| 11.22 |
x Topics Reading C TBA |
| Lab | None (interview family
members over the holiday) |
| 11.27 |
Qualitative
Analysis Coding, grounded theory, themes, concepts, constructing analytical narratives Reading MSSW, pp. 192-219. |
| 11.29 |
Qualitative
Analysis (cont'd) Topics Reading C |
| Lab | Coding... |
| 12.4 |
Wrapup,
Review, and What's Next Topics Reading C |