My version seems to be more hands-on with a variety of research activities and includes lots more historical examples, such as from The Philadelphia Negro by Du Bois because of his use of systematic observation and interviews in the study of race. Many of the readings in my sections of research methods ended up examining the topics of race and order using different methods. In addition to Du Bois on race, Duneier used mainly participant observation but also interviews, conversation analysis, a simple field experiment, and historical research. LaPiere ran a famous field experiment in the 1920s followed by a questionnaire, and there are the field experiments by Pager (black and white men, with and without criminal records, applying for jobs) and by Massey and Lundy (undergrads at Penn calling landlords about apartments).This Spring 2006 syllabus has less on order than what I assigned in previous semesters. That topic pops up in Du Bois, Duneier, as well as Zimbardo on street vandalism.
Sociology 357—Methods of Sociological Inquiry
Spring 2006, the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lecturer: Chuck
Ditzler
Office 7105 Social Science Building Office Hours: Tuesday 11am-noon,
Office Phone:
262-7458 Thursday
11am-noon, or by appointment
Email: cditzler@ssc.wisc.edu
Class Scheduled: TR 9:30am-10:45am Class Location: 6232 Social Science Bldg.
Course Description
This is a hands-on course that introduces methods of sociological
research. Two themes thread throughout much of this version of the course:
recognizing facts inconvenient for one’s position and developing one’s
imagination or ways of perception in research.
The primary task of a useful
teacher is to teach his students to recognize “inconvenient” facts—I mean facts
that are inconvenient for their party opinions. And for every party opinion
there are facts that are extremely inconvenient, for my own opinion no less
than for others. I believe the teacher accomplishes more than a mere
intellectual task if he compels his audience to accustom itself to the
existence of such facts. I would be so immodest as even to apply the expression
“moral achievement,” though perhaps this may sound too grandiose for something
that should go without saying. Max Weber
“Science as a Vocation”
Shams and delusions are esteemed
for soundest truth, while reality is fabulous. If men would steadily observe
realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it
with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights’
Entertainments. Henry David Thoreau
“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” Walden
From the Undergraduate
Catalog, 2003-2005:
357 Methods of Sociological Inquiry. (Crosslisted with Rur
Soc) I or II or SS; 3-4 cr (I). Scientific methods and their application in the
analysis of society; procedures in testing sociological theory: problem
definition, hypothesis construction, collection and evaluation of data. P: So
st; not open to stdts who have taken Soc 358.
Attendance
Students should attend class because the lectures assist
with the understanding the readings and include material not covered in the
readings. Material in lectures will be covered on the exams. Class
participation makes up 5% of the final grade.
Special Needs
Please let me know as soon as possible of special needs for
testing, assignments, note taking, or other aspects of the course.
Required Texts
1. Duneier, Mitchell. 1999. Sidewalk. New York :
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
2. Course pack
The book has been ordered through the University Book Store
and at least one copy will be on reserve in the College Library. The course
pack will be available at the Social Science Copying Center and will be put on
reserve in the College Library. I will occasionally hand out in class
photocopies of short readings or illustrations, and a few readings and audio
files will be online.
Short Homework
Short homework assignments will include the following:
short-answer reviews of the methods in research articles, simple research tasks,
questions on the readings, and study guides for the exams.
Exams
There will be two exams. The second exam will be partially
cumulative and held during the exam week time slot for this section, 12:25 pm Tuesday, May 9. The exams will include multiple choice and
short answer/essay questions that cover assigned readings, lecture material,
and homework.
Major Research
Projects
Participant observation: this project runs about 10 to 12
weeks and entails taking field notes in some activity that you participate in
and then writing a five- to seven-page report.
Survey: the project begins in the week on surveys and
entails creating a short questionnaire on a topic selected by you,
administering it, conducting simple data analysis, and then writing a report of
three to five pages.
Grading
Short
Homework: 15%
Exams: 35%
Exam 1
15%
Exam 2
20%
Major
Research Projects:
Participant observation 20%
Survey 10%
Short
Research Projects: (each worth 5%) 15%
Content analysis and Sampling
Systematic observation and Experiment
Semi-structured interviews
Classroom participation 5%
Total 100%
Table of key assignment dates
Short Research
Projects Due Date
Content analysis and Sampling March 9
Semi-structured interviews March
23
Systematic observation and Experiment March 30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Projects
Participant observation project report due April 25
Survey project report due May
4
Calendar
Week One
1/17 Introduction
to class
1/19 Key themes in sociological research: The
examples of Du Bois’ The Philadelphia Negro and
Duneier’s Sidewalk
1. Du Bois,
W. E. B. [1899] 1967. “Chapter 1—The Scope of the Study” and “Chapter 2—The Problem” Pp. 1-9, “The
Seventh Ward, 1896 [from Chapter 5] Pp.
59-65, and Selected Schedules Pp. 400-3, 408-9 in The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. New York : Schocken Books.
2. Du Bois,
W. E. B.1968. “Chapter 12—University of Pennsylvania ”
Pp. 194-204 in The Autobiography of W. E.
B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First
Century. International Publishers.
3. Duneier, Mitchell. 1999. Sidewalk. New
York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Pp. 1-42 [We will
try to finish Sidewalk by the end of
January. Page assignments given in class.]
Week Two
1/24 Introduction to observation and recording
observations
1. Macrorie, Ken. 1976. “Chapter
7—Fabulous Realities.” Pp. 51-7 in Writing
to Be Read, Revised Second Edition.
Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Company.
2. Kaplan,
Abraham.1964. “The Process of Observation.”
and “Observation in Behavioral Science.”
Pp. 126-141 (top) in The Conduct
of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science. San Francisco , CA :
Chandler
Publishing.
1/26 Sociological inquiry as science and as art
1. Mills,
C. Wright. 1959. “Chapter 1—The Promise [first part]” Pp. 3-9 in The Sociological
Imagination. New York :
Oxford University Press.
2. Nisbet,
Robert. 1976 “Introduction” and “The Sources of Imagination” (first part) Pp.
3-16 in Sociology as an Art Form. London : Oxford University
Press.
3. Kaplan,
Abraham.1964. “‘Scientific Method’ in
Behavioral Science.” Pp. 27-31 in The
Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology for Behavioral Science. San Francisco, CA:
Chandler Publishing.
Week Three
1/31 Research design and strategies: Overview and
Choice of Research Topics
1. Przeworski, Adam and Frank
Salomon. 1995 “On the Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for
Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions.” http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/art_of_writing_proposals.page
2. Harding,
Sandra. 1987. “Introduction—Is There a Feminist Method?” Pp. 1-13 in Feminism and Methodology. Bloomington , IN :
Indiana University Press.
2/2 Research design and strategies:
Relationship between theory and research
Week Four
2/7 Conceptualization and measurement: Concepts
and measurement
1. Schutt,
Russell K. 2004. “Chapter 4—Conceptualization and Measurement.” Pp. 85-112 in Investigating the Social World: The Process
and Practice of Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
2. Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 1983.
“Preface” Pp. ix-x, “Chapter 1-Exploring the Managed Heart.” Pp. 3-23 in The Managed Heart: Commercialization of
Human Feeling. Berkeley ,
CA : University of California
Press.
3. Levine,
Robert V. 2003. “The Kindness of Strangers.”
American Scientist 91: 226-.
http://www.americanscientist.org/articles/03articles/Levine.html
4.Colwell,
Renee. 2003. “Letters to the Editor: New
York Sixth Sense” American
Scientist
91: 288.
2/9 Conceptualization and measurement:
Measurement, validity, reliability
1. Schutt,
Russell K. 2004. “Chapter 4—Conceptualization and Measurement.” Pp. 112-25 in Investigating the Social World: The Process
and Practice of Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
2. Ruane,
Janet M. 2005. “Chapter 5—If It Glitters Is It Gold?: Assessing Measures.” Pp. 62-73 in Essentials of Research Methods: A Guide to Social Science Research.
Malden , MA :
Blackwell Publishing.
Week Five
2/14 Sampling
1. Henry, Gary . 1990. “Chapter
2—Sample Selection Approaches.” Pp. 17-32 in Practical Sampling. Newbury
Park , CA : Sage
Publications.
2.
Fraenkel, Jack, Norman Wallen, and Enoch
I. Sawin. 1999. Pp.24-47; 92-5 in Visual Statistics: A Conceptual Primer. Needham
Heights , MA : Allyn
and Bacon.
3. Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd
Edition.
Internet WWW page, at URL: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/contents.htm
(version current as of January 16, 2005 ).
Chapter on Sampling: Sampling
Terminology, Statistical Sampling Terms, External Validity, Probability
Sampling, and Nonprobability Sampling
2/16 Sampling [continued]
Week Six
2/21 Causation, mechanisms, and models
1. Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd
Edition.
Internet WWW page, at URL: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/contents.htm
(version
current as of January 16,
2005 ).
Chapter on
Design, section on Internal Validity: Establishing Cause and Effect, Single Group
Threats (to internal validity), and Social Interaction Threats” (to internal
validity)
2. Ruane, Janet M. 2005. “Causal Analysis” Pp.
76-89 in Essentials of Research Methods: A Guide to Social Science Research.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
3. Tufte,
Edward R. 1997. “The Decision to Launch the Space Shuttle Challenger.” Pp.
39-53 in Visual Explanations: Images and
Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire ,
CT : Graphics Press.
4.
Stanovich, Keith E. 1992. “Chapter 5—Correlation and Causation: Birth Control
by the Toaster Method” and “Getting Things Under Control” Pp. 70-87 in How to Think Straight About Psychology,
Third Edition. New York :
Harper Collins.
2/23 Causation
[continued]/Content analysis and coding
1. Bernard, H. Russell. 2002.
“Content Analysis” Pp. 476-83 [top] in Research
Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Third Edition.
Walnut Creek , CA : AltaMira
Press.
2. Starks, Rodney and Lynne
Roberts. 1998. “Content Analysis.” Pp. 251-9 in Contemporary Social Research Methods Second Edition. Bellevue, WA: MicroCase
Corporation.
3. Goldberg,
Bernard. 2002. Pp. 56-61 in Bias: A CBS
Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Washington , DC :
Regnery Publishing.
4. Nunberg, Geoffrey. 2002. “Label
Whores: Bernard Goldberg’s Bias
Points in the Wrong Direction” The
American Prospect 13: 32 -5
5. Geoff Nunberg’s commentary, use
of conservative and liberal labels by the press, on NPR’s Fresh Air March
19, 2002 , 6 minutes [requires Real Player]
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1140172
Week Seven
2/28 Asking
Questions and Interviews
1. LaPiere, Richard T. 1934.
“Attitudes vs. Actions.” Social Forces 13
230-37.
2. Robson,
Colin. 2002. “Interviews” Pp. 269-91 in Real World Research: A Resource for Social
Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers.
Second Edition. Malden , MA :
Blackwell Publishers.
3. Optional: “Mush Polling” story
on procedures used for a poll done before the 2004 Wisconsin Presidential
primary broadcast on “This American Life,” March 12, 2004 http://www.thislife.org/
[In archives go to 03/12/04, click on the Real Audio icon on left side of
program summary. Starts 43 minutes into program and lasts 15 minutes.]
3/2 Mid-term
Week Eight
3/7 Systematic observation: In the field/Ethics
in research
1. Bernard,
H. Russell. 2002. “Chapter 15—Direct and Indirect Observation.” Pp. 390-426 in Research
Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Third
Edition. Walnut Creek , CA : Alta Mira Press.
2. McPail,
Clark and John McCarthy. 2004. “Who Counts and How: Estimating the Size of
Protests.” Contexts 3: 12-18.
3. Humphreys, Laud. [1970] 1976.
“Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places.”
Pp. 85-114 excerpted in The Research
Experience, edited by M. Patricia Golden.
Itasca , IL :
F. E. Peacock Publishers.
4. American Sociological Association Code of Ethics. [skim to apply to
Humphreys and Duneier]
http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf
3/9 Systematic observation: In the lab
1.
Gladwell, Malcolm. 2005. “Chapter One—The Theory of Thin Slices: how a Little
Bit of Knowledge Goes a Long Way.” Pp. 18-43 in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. New York : Little, Brown and Company.
2. “What
Really Happens in Marriage? Story about John Gottman’s research broadcast on
“The American Life,” March 26, 2004 http://www.thislife.org/ [In archives go to
03/26/04, click on the Real Audio icon on left side of program summary. Story starts about 6 minutes into
program and lasts for 23 minutes.]
3. Gottman,
John Mordechai, James Coan, Sybil Carrere, and Catherine Swanson. 1998.
“Predicting Marital Happiness and Stability from Newlywed Interactions.” Journal
of Marriage and the Family 60: 5-22.
--------------------------------------------Spring
Break----------------------------------------------
Week Nine
3/21 Experiments: Overview and in the laboratory
1. Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd
Edition. Internet WWW page, at URL: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/contents.htm
(version
current as of January 16,
2005 ).
Chapter on Design: Introduction to Design, Types of Designs,
Experimental Design [Two-group Experimental Design, Classifying Experimental
Designs, Factorial Designs, Randomized Block Designs, and Covariance Designs”
(skim)]
2. Salkind,
Neil J. 2006. “Experimental Designs” Pp. 218-228 in Exploring Research. Sixth Edition. Upper Saddle River , NJ :
Prentice Hall.
3. Milgram,
Stanley. 1963. “Behavioral Study of Obedience.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 67:371-8.
4.
Baumrind, Diana. 1964. “Some Thoughts on Ethics in Research: After Reading Milgram’s
‘Behavioral Study of Obedience.’” American
Psychologist 19: 421-3.
5. Milgram,
Stanley. 1964. “Issues in the Study of Obedience: A Reply to Baumrind.” American
Psychologist 19: 848-52.
3/23 Experiments: In the field
1. Rosenhan, D. L. 1973. “On Being
Sane in Insane Places.” Science. 179:
250-8. reprinted in Stern, Paul C. and Linda Kalof. 1996. Pp.
156-72 in Evaluating Social Science
Research. Second Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. Stern,
Paul C. and Linda Kalof. 1996. Pp. 172-6 in Evaluating
Social Science Research. Second Edition. New York : Oxford University
Press.
3.
Zimbardo, Philip G. 1969. “The Human Choice: Individuation, Reason, and Order
versus Deindividuation, Impulse, and Chaos.” Pp. 237-307 in Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 1969. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press. [read middle p. 282-top of p. 293]
4. Massey,
Douglas S. and Garvey Lundy. 2001. “Use of Black English and Racial Discrimination
in Urban Housing markets.” Urban Affairs
Review 36: 452-69.
5. Optional: Pager, Devah. 2003. “The Mark of a Criminal
Record.” American Journal of Sociology
108: 937-75. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AJS/journal/contents/v108n5.html
Week Ten
3/28 Surveys
1. Davis,
James A. 1976. “Are Surveys Any Good, and If So, for What?” Pp. 32-8 in Perspectives on Attitude Assessment: Surveys
and Their Alternatives, edited by H. Wallace Sinaiko and Laurie A.
Broedling. Champaign , IL : Pendleton Publications.
2. Michael, Robert T., John H.
Gagnon, Edward O. Laumann, and Gina Kolata. 1994. “Chapter 2—The Sex Survey”
Pp. 15-41 in Sex in America —A
Definitive Survey. Boston ,
MA : Little, Brown and Company.
3. Readings to be announced
on the US Census and the General Social Survey
3/30 Survey questionnaires
1. Payne, Stanley L. 1951. Pp.16-31
in The Art of Asking Questions. Princeton , NJ :
Princeton University Press.
2. Fowler,
Floyd J. Jr. 1998. “Design and Evaluation of Survey Questions.” Pp. 343-74 in Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods
edited by Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog. Thousand oaks , CA :
Sage Publications.
3.
Bradburn, Norman M., Seymour
Sudman, and Brian Wansick.2004. “Chapter 12—Asking
Questions FAQs.” Pp. 315-33 in Asking
Questions: The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design—For Market Research,
Political Polls, and Social and
Health Questionnaires, Revised Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass
Week Eleven
4/4 Questions and composite measures
1. Alreck,
Pamela L. and Robert B. Settle. 1995. “Chapter 5—Creating Item Scales” Pp. 113-41 in The Survey Research Handbook, Second
Edition. Boston , MA :
Irwin McGraw-Hill.
2. Sewell, William H., Archibald O.
Haller, and Alejandro Portes. 1969. “The Educational and Early Occupational
Attainment Process.” American
Sociological Review 34: 82-92.
4/6 Focus groups
1. Berg,
Bruce L. 2001. “Chapter 5—Focus Group Interviewing” Pp. 111-31 in Qualitative Research Methods for the Social
Sciences. Fourth Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Week Twelve
4/11 Field research, ethnography, and
participant observation
1. DeWalt,
Kathleen M. and Billie R. DeWalt. 2002. “Chapter 1—What Is Participant
Observation?” Pp. 1-13 in Participant
Observation: A Guide for Fieldworkers. Lanham , MA : AltaMira Press.
2.
Spradley, James P. 1980. “Chapter One—Ethnography and Culture” and “Chapter
Two—Ethnography for What? [first part]” Pp. 3-21 in Participant Observation. New
York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
3. Gans,
Herbert J. 1982. “The Virtues of Participant Observation.” Pp. 414-7 in The
Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans. Updated and Expanded Edition. New York : Free Press.
4. Duneier.
“A Statement on Method.” Pp. 333-57 in Sidewalk.
4/13 Field research, ethnography, and
participant observation [continued]
1. Wacquant, Loic. 2002.
“Scrutinizing the Street: Poverty, Morality, and the Pitfalls of Urban
Ethnography.” American Journal of
Sociology 107: 1468-1532. [read pp.1468-86]
2. Duneier, Mitchell. 2002. “What
Kind of Combat Sport Is Sociology?” American
Journal of Sociology 107:1551-76.
Week Thirteen
4/18 Historical and comparative methods
1. Diamond, Jared. 1999. “Why Is
World History Like an Onion?”; “Prologue: Yali’s Question [first part]”;
“Epilogue: The Future of Human History as a Science.” Pp. 9-11, 13-7, 405-25 in
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of
Human Societies. New
York : W. W. Norton and Company.
2. Mills,
C. Wright. 1959. “Chapter 8—Uses of History [first part] Pp. 143-51 in The
Sociological Imagination. New
York : Oxford
University Press.
4/20 Mixed
or multiple methods/Choice of methods
1. Sampson, Robert J. and Stephen
W. Raudenbush. 2004. “Seeing Disorder: Neighborhood Stigma and the Social
Construction of ‘Broken Windows’.” Social
Psychology Quarterly 67: 319-42.
Week Fourteen
4/25 Data analysis: Introduction, analysis of
survey results, & GSS data1. SDA: Survey Documentation and
Analysis [instructions on use handed out]
http://sda.berkeley.edu:7502/index.htm
Optional for reference:
a. Lane, David M. 2003. HyperStat Online Textbook
http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/index.html
b. StatSoft, Inc. 2004. Electronic Statistics Textbook. Tulsa , OK :
StatSoft
http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html
4/27 Data analysis: Continued
Week Fifteen
5/2 Other methods
1. Rauch, Jonathan. 2002. “Seeing
Around Corners.” The Atlantic Monthly 289: 35-48.
5/4 Wrap-up and review
5/9 Final exam 12:25 pm , Tuesday [location to be announced]
5 comments:
What a coincidence! I was told to prepare a lecture on Computer Application, which is one of general courses offered to freshman each fall semester at SIAS. It's shuld be a rehearsal before the formal start later next month. I guess I can learn something from your post even though both are different classes. Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome, but I wonder what you'd be able to apply in your class because this class content is probably very different from what you intend for Computer Application. I also taught a couple of semesters of Computing in Sociological Research, but even that was focused on using a computer program called SAS to analyze data.
Do yo mean prepare one lecture? Or do you mean to teach the whole class for a term?
Sorry for making you confused. Computer Application is general course, also compulsory course according to curriculum at SIAS. It's typically offered to freshman in their 1st semester. Totally about 8 thousand freshman registered this school year, so the lack of relevant teachers is an issue. I once applied to teach this class, but I have to give a lecture to verify I can be capable of teaching this. Yes, I'll teach the whole class for a term if I get approval through this lecture. Actually this class content at SIAS is focus on Microsoft Office application, like Word, Excel and Power point. My major in MA degree is Educational Technology. This is the reason I can apply to teach. How to manage syllabus online is what I need from your post even though these two classes are very different.
Does your college have a syllabus template (模板) that it asks faculty to use? I think my syllabus at UW could have been better.
I'll email to you an example template at a community college. I also found some syllabi of classes that might be close to what you'd teach and will include those links.
I hope that your lecture goes well. Students would benefit from having an understanding, hardworking, and friendly teacher like you.
I've received. Thank you so much, and thanks for your encouragement. I really appreciate it!
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