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Sociology 301

Introduction to Methods and Research


Dr. Stephen Sills
sjsills@uncg.edu

Required Text: Earl R. Babbie The


SOC 301 02 WI Basics of Social Research Thomson-
Instructor: Stephen J. Sills Wadsworth
Office: GRAM 320 4th Edition ©2008 ISBN: 0495094684
Office Hours: MWF 10:00-12:00 ISBN13: 9780495094685
Email: sjsills@uncg.edu Supplemental Text:
Location: GRAM 424 William M.K. Trochim 2006 Research
Class Times: T R 0930 -1045 Methods Knowledge Base
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/k
b/contents.htm

This course is intended to be a practical survey of research methods. Instruction will take the
form of lecture, discussion, and team research projects.

Course Description:
301 Introduction to Methods and Research (3:3). Pr. 101 and one additional sociology course;
or permission of instructor SOC majors only. Topics include the function of theory in research,
concept formation, study design, data collection, and analysis strategies. (Fall & Spring)

Goals and Objectives:


This course will teach you the basics of social research. After completing this course
you should be able to:
• Critically read a research article
• Engage in basic qualitative and quantitative data collection (interviewing and
surveying)
• Provide simple descriptive analysis of quantitative and qualitative data
• Write a research report

Evaluation:
Evaluating what you understand will happen in individual research assignments, exams and
your group project. There are 1000 pts available. Grades are will be calculated as the sum of:
• Homework 10% (100 pts)
• Assignments 25% (250 pts)
• Group Report 25% (25 pts)
• Midterm Exam 15% (150 pts)
• Final Exam 15% (150 pts)
• Attendance 10% (100 pts)

Homework:
You are expected to read all of the assigned articles. Homework will be assigned for most
chapters in the text. Students will be expected to answer multiple choice questions reflecting
information from the readings. These questions will be available through the UNCG Blackboard
website and should be completed prior to class. The homework assignments are randomly
generated from a pool of questions supplied by the publisher. Some of this question will appear
on you exams. You will receive 10 pts for each completed assignment for a total of 100 pts
(10% of the overall grade). Assignments received after the scheduled class time will be
considered late and penalized 1 pt each day. After ten calendar days, no credit will be given.
Students will be required to discuss the reading materials and should come prepared.

Exams:
There will be two exams, a midterm (150 pts) and a final exam (150 pts). Exams will cover the
information from readings, lectures, discussions, and assignments. Attendance is imperative for
success on exams! Exam format includes multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions.
A list of topics and terms will be provided the class before the exam to help you focus your
studies. These exams are designed to evaluate your basic knowledge of research methods.

Ability to make-up a missed exam relies on a documented excuse. If you miss an exam you
will be required to write a 10 page research paper (due within one week of the test date). The
instructor will choose the topic based on those covered on the exam. You will need to cite at
least 5 academic sources (peer reviewed articles and scholarly books) following the ASA style
guide.

Assignments:
This course is organized around participation in a research team. You will work individually on
assignments that will be combined together to produce a final group report. Each member of
the team will be evaluated on the individual assignments due throughout the course as well as
receive a grade for the group report. Following are the group research topics and a description
of each assignment. Additional information on these assignments will be provided in class.

Research Topics:

Group 1: Global Awareness among UNCG Students


Guiding Research Question: How globally aware are UNCG students?

Group 2: UNCG Global Awareness Resources


Guiding Research Question: What university resources promote global awareness and
are UNCG students aware of these resources?

Group 3: UNCG Students’ Openness to Social Interactions with Immigrant Communities


Research Question: How open are UNCG students to the local foreign-born population?

Group 4: Influence of Global Trends on UNCG Students’ Choice of Major


Research Question: Do UNCG students factor global economic and employment trends
in their choice of major?

Group 5: International Experiences and International Ties


Research Question: How extensive are UNCG students’ experiences and ties with other
countries?

Group Option: Develop a topic that it related to globalization and UNCG. Develop the research
question. This option must be approved within the first week of class. Your group must be
unanimous in deciding on the topic. The topic must be “researchable” using mixed-methods and
limited resources. This option is not for the feint of heart as it will require more work than the
other topics with no greater reward. Proceed at you own peril.
Individual Assignments
Complete each of the following individual assignments by their scheduled due dates (see
course schedule). These assignments are designed to supplement the text and lectures and
train you for the tasks of the group project. Scoring rubrics and additional information will be
provided in class.

1. NIH Certificate for Human Subjects Research (20 pts.) Complete the computer-based
Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams. Complete the training and
respond to the short questionnaires that follow. There are five modules in all so you may want
to plan ahead, this may take some time. Once registered you may return to the site over several
sittings to complete the course. Once you have successfully answered the quizzes at the end of
each module, you will be given on option to print a certificate of completion. Print two copies of
the certificate; keep one for your records and bring the second to class. (Note – your first exam
will include questions culled from the training quizzes).

2. Literature Review Assignment (60 pts.) Using only academic (peer reviewed) online or
print journals find 3 articles on your group’s assigned research topic. Confer with the other
members of your group to be certain that there is no overlap in articles. I suggest that as soon
as you find an article or articles you e-mail the other members.

Be creative with your search terms! Read the articles with special attention to the methods and
findings. Submit a copy of the article along with a one to two page (300 to 600 words) critical
review of the article. An excellent explanation of critical reviews is online at
http://www.hccfl.edu/adjunct/darren_smith/bbs-gwcr.htm. Be sure to provide 1) details on the
research question/ hypothesis and methods employed as well as 2) a general overview of the
findings and 3) your personal critique of the article. Turn in your articles and typed report. Be
diligent, your group report will be informed by this review.

3. Nonparticipant Observer Assignment (20 pts.) Sign up for one of the times available to
observe activities of the International Student Association’s Friday Fests .

Take notes. Pay careful attention to the demographic and social characteristics of the patrons
and participants. Give as many details as you can on the number of individuals. Document their
approximate ages, ethnicities, sex, and description of appearance (focus on status markers).
Describe the interactions that occur. Finally, draw a map of the setting indicating any clusters
based on a social characteristic. Transform your scratch notes into typed field notes. Submit
your scratch notes (handwritten), your typed field notes with personal observations/comments,
and a map.

This assignment is due by the last day of class. Observations will not be used in your group
report.

4. Interview Assignment (75 pts.) As a class you will help in developing questions to add to
an interview protocol. Some class time will be devoted to developing questions pertinent to your
group’s research topic.

Find a willing participant (UNCG students). This will take a bit of nerve on your part. Find
someone unknown to you who is willing to talk with you for about 30 minutes (a student in a
another class would work perfectly). Meet in a neutral location (cafeteria, library, EUC, etc).
Follow the interview protocol that we develop. Either audio record (your own equipment) or take
notes. Include detailed verbatim quotes from participant. Write a summary of findings in a
narrative format (example to be provided in class). This summary should include information
about how you met, how long you talked, the demographics of the participant, and a discussion
of their answers to your questions (about 5 to 8 pages). You will turn in your notes and the
narrative for an individual score.

As a team you will analyze of the interview data compiling copies of the notes from all the other
students in the course. This information will help in the authoring of your group report.

5. Survey Assignment (25pts) As a group you will develop a testable hypothesis on some
social aspect of globalization related to your research question. You will be allowed to
contribute between five and ten survey questions to an instrument that will be administered to
students in the Soc 101: Introduction to Sociology course. Turn in your hypothesis first and then
your questions. The instructor will compile these questions into a single paper survey. Once
these are returned, each class member will be responsible for helping to enter the data into an
Excel spreadsheet (template to be provided in class). The instructor will merge these into a
single file for export to SPSS. You will receive credit for assistance in developing the
hypothesis, constructing the questionnaire, and performing data entry.

As a team you will then analyze of the survey data. This information will help in the authoring of
your group report.

6. Quantitative Analysis Assignment (50 pts) Using the dataset created in Assignment 5 you
will generate a report using descriptive statistics. This will include the frequency distribution
(see Ch 14), averages (mean, mode, median), and bivariate analysis (crosstabs) for your
survey questions. You will individually turn in a brief narrative report (2-3 pages of text or
approximately 300 to 600 words, example to be provided in class). You will also provide your
SPSS printouts. Your narrative may benefit from conservative use of tables, graphs, and
figures.

As a group you will further analyze these questions in order to test the hypothesis you
developed in Assignment 5. The results of this analysis will be included in your final group
report.

Group Report:
Individual grades will be assigned by evidence of group participation (25 pts. self evaluation in
half page report of your role in your group’s report), by the quality of the final group research
report (200 pts), and by assisting in providing a peer review (25 pts) of another groups report.
The quality will be judged by 1) the instructor’s review (100 pts), 2) the teaching assistant’s
review (50 pts), and 3) peer review by another group (avg of scores up to 50 pts). The entire
report will be between 25 to 40 pages of text (with additional figures and tables as needed).
There are five authors in each group thus you will need to discuss how to divide up the work of
writing the paper. You will need to coordinate with one another on how to communicate and
possibly meet outside of class. (Total 250 pts)

Report elements:
Your report should be structured like a research article in the social sciences. This means it will
have an introduction, a literature review, a review of methods, a presentation of findings, and a
conclusion section:

Introduction The introduction of your report will attempt to “hook” the reader, present the
critical questions and hypotheses, and provide a synopsis of the remainder of the report. The
introduction should be around 2-3 pages.

Literature Review Starting from the synopses of academic journal articles provided by your
peers, your group will create a review of current social science research in your topic area. It is
expected that your group will develop a well written, well researched review (around 5 pages) to
be included in after the introduction of the class report.

A few resources:
• Review of Literature
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ReviewofLiterature.html
• How to Write a Literature Review
http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html
• The Literature Review
http://www.deakin.edu.au/library/findout/research/litrev.php
• The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html

Review of Methods This section (around 3 to 5 pages) will detail the methods employed in
your project. You will also note the populations studied and how they were recruited. Finally,
you will discuss the strengths and limitations of the methods employed.

Findings This section is the “meat” of your paper (anywhere between 10 and 20 pages). You
will present the findings relevant to your research topic. You will need to provide findings from
both your interviews as well as the survey. Weave these findings together to present an
argument that either supports of refutes your hypothesis. Use quotes from interviews to support
the more generalizable findings of the survey. Use graphs, charts, and figures judiciously.

Summary and Conclusions This section (anywhere between 3 and 5 pages) reviews the
significant points presented in the paper and draws conclusions relevant to the research topic.
You may choose to discuss the importance of the findings, the problems with the findings, and
the direction of future research.
Policies

Attendance:
Attendance is required. Attendance is vitally important for the understanding of the material and
participation in the class discussions. Attendance will be taken on five random occasions
throughout the semester. Four of these attendance checks will count for 25 pts each for a total
of 100 pts (10% of the final grade). Thus, if you are present for four of the five random checks,
you will receive full credit for attendance. The fifth will count as an extra 10 pt bonus for perfect
attendance. If you are absent for any reason, you will not receive credit for the missed day.

Religious/Cultural Holidays:
You have the right to observe major religious/cultural holidays without penalty. At least one
week before the holiday, you should submit a written statement that includes both the date of
the holiday and the reason why class attendance is impossible. Prior arrangements must be
made. If prior arrangements have been made, you will not be penalized.

Illness:
If you are absent due to personal illness, or illness of a dependent, you must provide written
documentation to that effect. Acceptable documentation includes doctor’s note (on office
letterhead), hospital record, or records from a recognized medical/healthcare agency.

Extra Credit:
You will be given the option of up to four 10 pts extra credit assignments (40 pts total or +4% to
final grade). Throughout the semester there will be the possibility of writing 2-3 page (typed)
reaction papers for outside lectures and presentations, special TV programs, and other events
that will be announced in class.

Special Needs and Considerations:


Please let me know at the beginning of the semester if you have a physical or learning disability
that may need accommodations. The college will make reasonable accommodations for
persons with documented disabilities. Students should also notify Student Services of any
special needs.

Cell Phones & Laptops


Please turn your cell phones off. Please do not answer cell phone calls in class. If for some
reason you must have a cell phone on, advise me before class and switch the phone to silent
mode.

Laptops are encouraged in class. However, chatting, checking e-mail, surfing, etc. are to be
discouraged. If your are not using your laptop for legitimate class activities, please turn it off.
Lect Date Topic Readings HW# Assignments
1 21-Aug Introduction
2 23-Aug 1: Human Inquiry and Science Chapter 1 1 -
2: Paradigms, Theory, and
3 28-Aug Research Chapter 2 2 -
3: The Ethics and Politics of Chapter 3 &
4 30-Aug Social Research The Milgram Experiment 3 Assign #1 Due
Chapter 15
(Introduction to Citing Internet
5 4-Sep Literature Reviews Materials) -
6 6-Sep 4: Research Design Chapter 4 4 Assign #2 Due
7 11-Sep 10: Qualitative Field Research Chapter 10 5 -
8 13-Sep 11: Unobtrusive Research Chapter 11 6 -
9 18-Sep Field Research & Observations - - -
10 20-Sep Interviews & Focus Groups - - -
11 25-Sep Group Time - - Interview Protocol
12 27-Sep Visual Sociology - - -
13 2-Oct 13: Qualitative Data Analysis Chapter 13 - -
13: Qualitative Data Analysis -
14 4-Oct LAB - -
15 9-Oct Group Time - LAB - - Assign #4 Due
16 11-Oct Exam 1
16-Oct NO CLASS
5: Conceptualization,
Operationalization, and
17 18-Oct Measurement Chapter 5 7 -
6: Indexes, Scales, and
18 23-Oct Typologies Chapter 6 8 -
19 25-Oct 7: The Logic of Sampling Chapter 7 9 -
20 30-Oct 8: Experiments Chapter 8 10 -
21 1-Nov 9: Survey Research Chapter 9 - Hypothesis
22 6-Nov 9: Survey Research - Group Time - - -
23 8-Nov 9: Survey Research - Group Time - - Survey Quesitons
24 13-Nov 14: Quantitative Data Analysis Chapter 14 - Assign #5 Due
25 15-Nov Group Time - - -
14: Quantitative Data Analysis -
26 20-Nov LAB - - Assign #6 Due
22-Nov NO CLASS
27 27-Nov Group Time - LAB - - -
15: Reading and Writing Social Chapter 15 (Writing Social
28 29-Nov Research Research) - -
Rough Draft of
29 4-Dec Group Time - - Group Report Due
30 6-Dec Group Time - - Assign #3 Due
Final Draft of Group
13-Dec Final Exam 8:00 am to 11:00 am Report Due

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