Sociology 313: Introduction to Research Methods, Fall 2010
University of Southern California, Department of Sociology
Instructor: Veronica Terriquez
Class: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-4:50 p.m., KAP 146
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:00-3:00 p.m. and by appointment
Office: KAP 348-F
Email:
Reader: Jeff Sacha
Office hours: Mondays from 1:00-3:00 p.m. and by appointment
Office: KAP 355
Email:
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to research methodologies used in sociological research. Students will learn to develop research questions and will understand the principles of conceptualization, measurement, sampling, and causality. This intensive course will provide introductory training in data collection, management, and processing. Students will develop their own survey, analyze existing survey data, conduct ethnographic observations, and collect in-depth interview data. By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to conduct their own sociological research and evaluate existing research.
Requirements:
Students will be required to arrive on time for and participate in all class sessions. Each lecture will include time for student discussion. Any in-class writing assignments will be included in the course participation grade. Students with more than 4 unexcused absences will lose all classroom participation points. Cell phones and other personal electronic devices must be turned off during class. The instructor reserves the right to confiscate visible personal electronic devices during class.
Lab sessions will be held in the Kaprielian sociology/economics computer lab in KAP 327. STATA software will be used during lab sessions.
Students must complete homework assignments. Homework assignments aim to provide students with hands-on experience with data collection and analysis. Hard copies of all homework assignments will be due at the beginning of class on Thursdays. Some electronic Blackboard submissions of homework assignments will also be required in addition to paper copies. Homework grades will be posted on blackboard. Changes to homework grades will not be made after final course grades are posted.
Students will write a research paper based on their own original research. They may write a paper based on an analysis of existing survey data, original survey data, ethnographic data, or interview data. Students may choose their own research topic or select one designed by the professor. Students will be responsible for presenting their research findings to the whole class. The research paper is due on December 8 at 4:30 p.m. Students in the class will enter a competition for best research papers. Winners will receive extra credit and may be asked to present their research to other audiences.
The course includes an in-class mid-term quiz and an in-class final quiz.
Grading:
Grading will based on classroom participation, weekly homework assignments, quizzes, and a research paper. The course grade will be based on the following:
Attendance and participation: 15 points
Homework assignments (9): 40 points
Mid-term quiz 10 points
Final quiz 15 points
Research Paper 18 points
Final Presentation 2 points
Total 100 points
Assignments will be marked off by 20% if turned in late. They will not be accepted after 1 week past the due date and time. Letter grades will be assigned based on the class distribution of points. Any disagreements with the grading of an assignment must be submitted by email specifying how an error was made in the assignment of points.
Required Reading:
The following two books are required for the course:
Babbie, Earl. 2008. The Basics of Social Research, 4th Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth Publishers.
Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw. 1995. Writing Ethnographic
Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Additional readings will be posted on blackboard. These include excerpts from the following:
Axinn, William G., and Lisa Pearce. 2006. Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Best, Joel. 2001. Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Emeka, Amon. 2009. “Race and Unemployment Amidst the New Diversity: More Evidence of a Black/Non-Black Divide.” Race and Social Problems 1:157-170.
Emerson, Robert. 2001. Contemporary Field Research, 2nd Edition. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Fink, Arlene, et al. 2003. The Survey Kit. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
Milkman, Ruth, Ana Luz Gonzalez, and Victor Narro. 2010. Workplace Violations in Los Angeles County: The Failure of Employment and Labor Law for Low Wage Workers. UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Tavory, Iddo and Stefan Timmermans. 2009. “Two Cases of Ethnography: Grounded Theory and the Extended Case Method.” Ethnography 10. 243-263.
Weiss, Robert. 1994. Learning From Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press.
Contents on this syllabus may be subject to change.
COURSE SCHEDULE
August 23 / Introductions and Overview of Course
August 25 / Theory, Empirical Research, and Ethics
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 1
Babbie, Chapter 2, pgs 45-58: Two Logical Systems Revisited
Babbie, Chapter 3
WEEK 2 / Research Design
August 30 / Research Design, Objectivity, and Subjectivity
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 4
Selections from Contemporary Field Research (Blackboard)
September 1 / Literature Review, Conceptualization & Operationalization
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 5
Babbie, Chapter 15, pgs 471-485: Reading Social Research
WEEK 3 / Research Design
September 8 / Measurement and Sampling
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 7
Additional reading for those writing an ethnographic research paper:
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes-Chapters 1 & 2
ä Homework 1 due (3 points)
WEEK 4 / Survey Research
September 13 / Introduction to Survey Research
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 9
September 15 / Writing Good Survey Questions
Reading
Selections from The Survey Kit (Blackboard)
ä Homework 2 due (5 points)
WEEK 5 / Survey Research
September 20 / Question Testing
Reading
Selections from The Survey Kit (Blackboard)
September 22 / Administering Surveys to Diverse Populations
Reading
Selections from Wage Theft and Workplace Violations in Los Angeles (Blackboard)
Babbie, Chapter 14
ä Homework 3 due (5 points)
WEEK 6 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab
September 27 / Data Management and Descriptive Statistics
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 11, pgs 362-369: Analyzing Existing Statistics
Selections from Damned Lies and Statistics, Chapter 1 (Blackboard)
September 29 / Descriptive Statistics
Reading
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 5 (Blackboard)
WEEK 7 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab
October 4 / Bivariate Analysis
Reading
Babbie Chapter 14, 443-462
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 10 (Blackboard)
October 6 / Multivariate Analysis
Reading
Race and Unemployment Amidst the New Diversity (Blackboard)
ä Homework 4 due (5 points)
WEEK 8 / Survey Data Analysis – Meet in Computer Lab
October 11 / Producing and Reading Tables
Reading
Selections from Simple Statistics, Chapter 4 (Blackboard)
October 13 / Significance Testing & Introduction to Regression
Reading
Babbie Chapter 14, 463-468
ä Homework 5 due (5 points)
WEEK 9 / Semi-Structured Interviews
October 18 / [ MIDTERM QUIZ (10 points)
Introduction to Semi-Structured Interviewing
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 10
October 20 / Strategies for Semi-Structured interviewing
Reading
Selections from Learning from Strangers (Blackboard)
ä Homework 6 due (3 points)
WEEK 10 / Semi-Structured Interviews
October 25 / Analysis of Semi-structured Interview Data
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 13
October 27 / More Strategies for Semi-Structured Interviewing
Reading
Selections from Learning from Strangers (Blackboard)
ä Homework 7 due (5 points)
WEEK 11 / Ethnography
November 1 / Introduction to Ethnography
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 1-2
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Sociology 313: Introduction to Research Methods, Fall 2010
University of Southern California, Department of Sociology
November 3 / Writing Field NotesReading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 3
ä Homework 8 due (4 points)
WEEK 12 / Ethnography
November 8 / Strategies for collecting and analyzing field notes
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 4-5
November 10 / Analyzing Field Notes
Reading
Writing Ethnographic Field Notes, Chapter 6
Optional (Grounded Theory and the Extended Case Method)
ä Homework 9 due (5 points)
WEEK 13 / Other research methods
November 15 / Experiments, Comparative Historical Research, Content Analysis
Reading
Babbie, Chapter 8
Babbie, Chapter 11, 349-361, 369-376
November 17 / Mixed-Methods Research
Reading
Selection from Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies (Blackboard)
WEEK 14 / Course Review and Student Presentations
November 22 / Course Review
November 24 / Student Presentations
WEEK 15 / Student Presentations and Final Quiz
November 29 / Student Presentations
December 1 / [ FINAL Quiz (15 points)
Student Presentations
December 8 / µ RESEARCH PAPER DUE BY 4:30
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