SOCIOLOGY 3392--INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS II
SOCIOLOGY 5394–SEMINAR IN SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS
Spring, 2004
Dr. Alden E. Roberts
Office: 63 Holden Hall
Office Hours:1:00-2:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and by appointment
E-Mail:
Telephone/Voice Mail:742-2401 Extension 230
Books:A.CONTEMPOARARY SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS: A TEXT USING MICOSOFT, Third Edition, (Stark and Roberts)
B.A MICROCASE WORKBOOK FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH, Third Edition, (Corbett and Roberts)
COURSE OUTLINE {Chapters refer to both books}
PART I: RESEARCH AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Class PreviewJanuary 15th
The Scientific Approach to Knowledge I (Chapter 1)January 20th
The Scientific Approach to Knowledge 11 January 22nd
Graduate Student Questionnaires and Introduction to SPSSJanuary 27th
Conceptual (through Operational Definitions) (Chapter 2)January 29th
More on Concepts (Chapters 5)February 3rd
Basic Elements of Research and Formulation of a Research ProblemFebruary 5th
TEST ONEFebruary 10th
PART II: EXPERIMENTS
Hand back Test 1 and Meet with Graduate Students February 12th
Experiments (Chapters 6 and 10)February 17th
Pre-Experiments and Quasi-ExperimentsFebruary 19th
Student Presentations of ExperimentsFebruary 24th
TEST TWOFebruary 26th
PART III: OBSERVATION, SAMPLING AND MEASUREMENT
Hand back Test 2 and Meet with Graduate StudentsMarch 2nd
Participant Observation and Field Research (Chapter 9)March 4th
Sampling (Chapter 4)March 9th
Student Presentations of Participant ObservationsMarch 11th
Measurement (Chapter 3)March 23rd
TEST THREEMarch 25th
PART IV: QUESTIONNAIRE CONSTRUCTION AND SURVEY RESEARCH
Hand back Test 3 and Participant Observations and Meet with Graduate Students March 30th
QuestionnairesApril 1st
Survey Research (Chapter 7)April 6th
Unobtrusive Measures (Chapter 11)April 8th
TEST FOURApril 13th
PART V: DATA PROCESSING, INDEX CONSTRUCTION AND ETHICS
Hand back Test 4 and Meet with Graduate StudentsApril 15th
Student Presentations of their Survey Research ResultsApril20th
Index Construction and Scaling Methods (Chapter 8)April 22nd
Ethics of Social Science ResearchApril 27th
Final Discussion of Research Methods IApril 29th
FINAL TEST: Tuesday, May 11th at 7:30 a.m.
GRADING: There are 600 possible points in the course. There are five regular tests worth 100 possible points each. There are also several required research assignments worth a total of 100 points. There will be one percentage point deducted from your final score for all unexcused absences after three. As an example, if you have seven absences and a final score of 73%, four percentage points will be deducted so you will end up with 69% or a D. Excellent attendance and class participation will be taken into account in the event your grade is on a "borderline".
Grading is one the ten point percentage grading scale:
A=90% to 100% (540 to 600 points)
B=80% to 89% (480 to 539 points)
C=70% to 79% (420 to 479 points)
D=60% to 69% (360 to 419 points)
F=59% and below (359 and fewer points)
______
*Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations can be made.