knowledge until it is no longer practical. Required Textbook: Chambliss, Daniel
and Russell K. Schutt. Making Sense of the Social World. 3rd Edition. Los.
Sociology 302: Methods of Social Research Spring 2011 Instructor: Seth Crawford Office: 215 Smullin Office Hours: TR 2:30pm-‐3:00pm or by appointment Email:
[email protected] Course Overview How do we know? What do we know? The purpose of this course is to give you a general understanding of the methods researchers use to answer questions about the social world. In addition to covering the basics of research, such as data collection and analysis, we will also cover the philosophical issues related to how we gain, evaluate, and use knowledge. By the end of the semester, you will be able to understand the answer (giraffe) to the following riddle: There are known knowns There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns That is to say There are some things We do not know But there are also unknown unknowns From Hart Seely’s Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld. For sociology majors, this will be your first introduction to research methods. You will build upon your skills developed here to undertake more sophisticated projects in your 400-‐level applied and senior experience courses. Treat this course as the beginning, not the end, of the knowledge you will acquire about research methods and methodology. Participant Learning Objectives At the completion of this course, participants should be able to: (1) read and evaluate scholarly literature in the social sciences; (2) design and implement stand-‐alone social research projects; (3) appreciate the importance and implications of using ethical approaches; (4) be comfortable and familiar with research terminology; and (5) use appropriate methods regardless of data type. The most important learning outcome will be derived from going through the process of social research; for certain activities in life, nothing is more elucidating than practical application. We will practically apply our knowledge until it is no longer practical.
Required Textbook: Chambliss, Daniel and Russell K. Schutt. Making Sense of the Social World. 3rd Edition. Los Angeles: Pine Forge Press. Other required reading and videos available via WISE.
Coursework and Evaluation Assigning letter grades in a university setting is an archaic, subjective, and, unfortunately, (still) required process. To circumvent potential sensory overload in students who are prone to “binge studying,” there are no exams in this class. (though there are quizzes) Graded material include attendance and participation, two essays, and a final presentation. Reading Quizzes – 20% There will be reading quizzes to ensure you are keeping up with and understanding the reading, as well as able to apply the new concepts you have learned. Attendance and Participation – 20% Attendance and participation is mandatory. You may miss THREE classes without penalty, but each class missed thereafter will result in a loss of points. The fourth absence will reduce your overall grade by 2.5%, and each missed class thereafter will reduce your overall grade by an additional 5%. If you miss 8 or more classes, you will receive an “F” for the course. Attendance will be taken at the end of each class. Unexpected emergencies or illness do come up, and that is what the three free classes are for—i.e. they are not for bailing on class because you don’t feel like showing up. Participation scores are subjectively determined by your engagement in daily discussions and activities throughout the term. Every class meeting depends on your engagement for success. This means coming to class having done the day’s assigned reading, not causing distractions in the classroom (i.e. phone use, laptop use, reading the paper, carrying on side-‐conversations, etc.), and contributing meaningfully to our ongoing conversation about the social world. Class Projects – 60% (2 @ 30% each) The two “big” projects in this course—a quantitative survey and a qualitative study—are small group projects (3 to 4 students). These projects will be conducted in several stages, details of which will be distributed at appropriate times during the semester. There is no curve for this course. Final letter grades are as follows: 97-‐100% A+ 74-‐76%: C 94-‐96 A 70-‐73%: C-‐ 90-‐93%: A-‐ 67-‐69%: D+ 87-‐89%: B+ 64-‐66%: D 84-‐86%: B 60-‐63% D-‐ 80-‐83%: B-‐ < 59%: F 77-‐79%: C+ Course Policies The material covered in this course is controversial, in the sense that it has sparked considerable debate and enormous levels of variance in definitions in our society. With this in consideration, I expect that you will treat your fellow classmates with the respect that they deserve in our classroom discussions—but I would also like to see some healthy ideological confrontation, as it is a foundation of critical thinking development.
CELL PHONE AND LAPTOP INTERNET SURFING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED; IF YOU ENGAGE IN THESE ACTIVITIES, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO LEAVE THE CLASSROOM. IT WILL BE VERY EMBERASSING FOR YOU AND I WILL REMIND THE CLASS ON A REGULAR BASIS OF YOUR TRANSGRESSION. Academic dishonesty such as plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. Students are expected to be honest and ethical in their academic work. Academic dishonesty is defined as an intentional act of deception in one of the following areas:
• • • • •
cheating-‐ use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information or study aids, fabrication-‐ falsification or invention of any information, assisting-‐ helping another commit an act of academic dishonesty, tampering-‐ altering or interfering with evaluation instruments and documents plagiarism-‐ representing the words or ideas of another person as one's own.
For more information about academic integrity and the University's policies and procedures in this area, please refer to Willamette University’s Standards of Conduct and/or the online CLA catalog: http://www.willamette.edu/cla/catalog/resources/policies/index.php Reading Schedule: Week 1: January 18th-‐20th Tuesday: First day of class Thursday: Andrews and Caren – “Making the News: Movement Organizations, Media Attention, and the Public Agenda” Week 2: January 25th-‐27th – Introduction to Social Research Tuesday: Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 1 Thursday: Ophir et al. – “Cognitive Control of Media Multitaskers” and take the test @ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/07/technology/20100607-‐ distraction-‐filtering-‐demo.html Week 3: February 1st-‐3rd – Research Design and Question Formation Tuesday: Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 2 Thursday: Becker – Becoming a Marihuana User Week 4: February 8th-‐10th – Ethics in Social Research Tuesday: Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 3 Thursday: Wikipedia entry on “Human Experimentation in the United States” and Lendman – “MK-‐Ultra: The CIA’s Mind Control Program” Week 5: February 15th-‐17th – Conceptualization and Operationalization Tuesday: Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 4 + Appendix A Thursday: Wright – Class Counts, Chapter 1
Week 6: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 7: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 8: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 9: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 10: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 11: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 12: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 13: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 14: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 15: Tuesday: Thursday: Week 16: Tuesday:
February 22nd-‐24th – Sampling Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 5 Kaplan – “Temporal and Social Context of Heroin-‐Using Populations” and Theall et al. – “Getting Into Ecstasy: Comparing Moderate and Heavy Young Adult Users” March 1st-‐3rd – Causation and Experimental Design Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 6 TBA March 8th-‐10th – Survey Research Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 7 TBA March 15th-‐17th – Elementary Quantitative Data Analysis Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 8 TBA March 22nd-‐24th Spring Break – NO CLASS Spring Break – NO CLASS March 29th-‐31st – Reviewing, Proposing, and Reporting Research No new reading – Work on Data Analysis and Research Report #1 Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 12 April 5th-‐7th – Qualitative Methods and Analysis Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 9 Chambliss and Schutt – Chapter 10 April 12th-‐14th Emerson et al. – Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chapter 2: “In the Field: Participating, Observing, and Jotting Notes” Emerson et al. – Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chapter 3: “Writing Up Fieldnotes I: From Field to Desk” April 19th-‐21st Mitchell – Dancing at Armageddon, Chapter 1: “Prospects” Mitchell – Dancing at Armageddon, Chapter 3: “The Craft of Function” April 26th-‐28th Mitchell – Dancing at Armageddon, Chapter 5: “Survivalism and Rational Times” Zeitlin – The Four Questions May 3rd Last Day of Class – Coffee and Donuts
