SOCIOLOGY 217 - RESEARCH METHODS – Spring 2012
TU/TH 1:10-2:50pm
VM 201
Professor: Dr. Dena Smith
Phone: 410-769-5015
(For urgent matters only): 908-420-9223
Office: VM 170
Email: dena.smith@goucher.edu
Office Hours: M 10-11am, Th 3-5
DESCRIPTION and COURSE GOALS: Sociology is the systematic and scientific study of the social world.
Thus, sociologists rely on scientific methodology in order to make factually based claims and provide
knowledge about social phenomena. In this class you will learn some of these systematic approaches.
The central question for us this semester is: how do sociologists scientifically measure something we
cannot see…the social world? In our quest to answer this, you will design, conduct, and communicate
your own social science research on a topic of your choice. You will also critique published social
science research and comment on the work of your fellow students. The skills you learn in this class
will be formal and precise to allow you to interact with the community of social science research, but
they will also have more general uses that will help you share social knowledge with future coworkers
and the general public and examine everything from market research to polling data with a critical eye.
This class is structured around two main activities: 1) Lectures and class discussions based on readings
from the textbook and articles that I will post on the course website. This is where the information you
will need to study for your exams will come from 2) Labs, which are oriented toward providing you
with the skills you need to analyze statistics. The labs will aid you in the development of your term
paper/research project. However, the skills you learn during lab sessions will be tested on your lab
assignments rather than on the exams.
Required Texts:
 Earl Babbie, 2010. The Practice of Social Research. Wadsworth, 12th Ed.
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An older edition (anything later than the 10th edition) is also acceptable. FYI: we will not be using
the CD that comes with the text, so do not worry about buying an edition with the CD.
The rest of the readings will be posted on Goucher Learn (GL). You are responsible for accessing
them and reading them before each class period. FYI: I can tell who has accessed the readings
and I check regularly.
Policies:
 You are required to have a calculator, a pencil and adequate paper during each class period and
for exams.
 Final copies of papers must be submitted in hard copy during class time, not via email.
 Late papers are penalized a half grade for each day they are late.
 Make sure to turn off all cell phones before entering the classroom and please do not send,
receive, or compose text messages, emails, instant messages etc., while you are in the
classroom.
 I prefer that everyone take notes by hand unless you have an explicit need for a laptop.
 I will use sometimes use PowerPoint slides. Please do not ask me for them. Note-taking is your
responsibility.
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I DO NOT negotiate final grades, and I do not assign extra credit work to individual students.
Please see me about your progress during the semester if you are concerned, not after the class
is over.
Attendance:
 Attendance is required. In this class especially, missing classes will cost you valuable
information. If you miss more than two classes, your overall course grade will be lowered by 5
percentage points for each additional absence. For example: Your other work has earned you a
90% (A-) in the course, but you have two extra absences. Your final grade will be an 80% (B). Athletes and religious observers should use their free unexcused absence to accommodate
any need to miss class; if this is not possible, please see the instructor. You must arrive at class
on time. Every two tardy arrivals will count as an absence. Sleeping in class or engaging in
other activities (e.g., doing homework for other classes) counts as an absence.
Grade:
Your grade for this course is determined by the following components:
1) Midterm exam 15%
2) Final exam (during finals week – do not plan to leave campus before finals week) 15%
3) Lab and other written assignments – 20%
4) Interviewing assignment - 10%
5) Content analysis assignment – 10%
6) Final paper including presentation and poster (you must turn in a proposal, a literature
review and a rough draft as indicated on the syllabus as a part of your final paper grade) –
20%
7) Class participation – 10%

Here is the grading scale the Sociology & Anthropology department uses. This scale applies to
all assignments and final grades.
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A = 93 or above
A- = 90-92
B+ = 87-89
B = 83-86
B- = 80-82
C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76
C- = 70-72
D+ = 67-69
D = 63-66
D- = 60-62
F = 59 and below
P = 70 or above (For the P/NP option, the college considers a C- or above a “Pass.”)
Academic integrity:
Students enrolled in this class are bound by the college policy on academic honesty. Cases of academic
dishonesty as outlined in the college handbook will be reported to the judiciary board.
Special note on plagiarism:
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SOCIOLOGY 217 - RESEARCH METHODS – Spring 2012
TU/TH 1:10-2:50pm
VM 201
Plagiarism is using another person’s words and ideas as though they were your own. It is
easy to avoid plagiarism: simply put the materials you have taken from someone else’s
writing in quotations marks and cite the person’s name and publication in your work. If
you use someone else’s ideas, but do not quote their words directly, you are still
required to cite the person’s name and publication. Plagiarism is not restricted to the
use of published work: the passing of another student’s work as your own is also
plagiarism. It is a serious academic offense that can result in your expulsion from the
college. If I discover you have plagiarized, I will report it.
COURSE SHEDULE AND REQUIRED READING:
Babbie text = B
Other articles posted on Goucher Learn= GL
Week 1:
1/24 – Introduction to the course
1/26 – Human Inquiry and Science
B: Chapter 1
Week 2:
1/31 – Lab 1: Why SPSS? And Thinking about Research Questions
Assignment due in class on 2/2
2/2 - Paradigms, Theory and Social Research
B: Ch 2
In-class work on literature searches
Week 3:
2/7 – Lab # 2: Inputting Data
Beginning of the Film: Obedience
2/9 - The Ethics and Politics of Social Research:
B: Chapter 3
GL: Venkatesh, Sudhir. 2002. “‘Doin’ the hustle’: Constructing the ethnographer in the American
ghetto.”Ethnography 3: 91-111.
GL: Code of Ethics, American Sociological Association.
Second half of the film
Part A: Identify the issue/problem/area that you that you plan to research for your final paper.
Part B: On a single page (i) formulate a formal research question related to that social issue or problem
(ii) identify independent and dependent variables; (iii) operationalize your variables – how could they
be measured? (iv) describe one or more sources for such data; (v) describe the unit of analysis and
level of measurement for each variable.
Week 4 Research Design
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2/14 - Lab #3: Missing Values and Value Labels
2/16 – B: Chapter 4
Film: Tuskegee
Assignment due:
Part A: Find an example in the media (newspaper, magazine, television, etc.) of a claim based on some
kind of empirical evidence.
Part B: (i) Identify both the claim and the evidence used to support the example. (ii) Do you find this
evidence convincing? Briefly explain why/why not. (Please also attach your source or a brief
description of your source if this is not possible.)
Essays should be single-spaced and approximately 500 words.
Week 5 Conceptualization, Operationalization and Measurement,
2/21 - Lab # 4 – Working with Data Sets- Recoding Variables (Lab assignment distributed)
2/23 – NO CLASS (use class time to conduct a literature search for your term paper topic – list of
sources due next week). Read Ch 15
Week 6
2/28 - Lab #5 Creating new variables (Lab #4 Due, #5 distributed)
3/1 Paper proposals (1 page) due in class B Ch 5
Week 7
3/6 (Lab #5 Due) Review of all lab procedures thus far
3/8 Midterm (through ch 5)
SPRING BREAK! RELAX AND ENJOY.
Week 8 - Indexes, Scales and Typologies
3/20 - B Ch 6
3/22 – Lab #6 Indexes and Reliability Analysis
Week 9
3/27 – B: Ch 7, Sampling
3/29 – Lab #4 (Lab # 3 due)
Week 10 “Unobtrusive” and Qualitative data analysis
4/3 B: Ch 11
GL:
Kravitz and Wilkes, Direct to Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising
Story et al, The Prime Diet
Durant et al, Tobacco and Alcohol Use Behaviors Portrayed in Music Videos
Begin Content analysis Assignment
4/5 Interviewing, transcribing
B: Ch 13
GL – Arksey Ch 3, 10
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SOCIOLOGY 217 - RESEARCH METHODS – Spring 2012
TU/TH 1:10-2:50pm
VM 201
(Lab #4 due)
Week 11
4/10 coding and analysis
GL: Emerson, Fretz and Shaw – Ch 6, Coding
Content Analysis Assignment due
Reading and writing social science research, review B: Ch 15
4/12 Paper work-shopping - Intro, lit review, and outline for the rest of your paper due in class. Bring
2 copies.
read: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR7-3/roberts.html (A Principled Complementarity of Method:
In Defense of Methodological Eclecticism and the Qualitative-Quantitative Debate by Andy Roberts)
Week 12 Quantitative Data Analysis
4/17 B: Ch 14
GL: Alba, Richard, Ruben Rumbaut, and Karen Marotz. 2005. “A Distorted Nation:
Perceptions of Racial/Ethnic Group Sizes and Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Other Minorities.”
Social Forces 84: 901-919.
Interviewing Assignment due
4/19 Lab #5 Descriptive Analysis, Bivariate Analysis- Correlation and Analysis of Variance
Week 13
4/24 Ch 9, survey research
GL: Best, Damned Lies and Statistics Chs 1 and 2
4/26 Lab 6 (#5 due) – Crosstabs and Elaboration
Week 14
5/1 – Lab # 7 - Regression (Lab #6 due), Lab #7 due by 5/5
5/3 – Presentations, Posters due
Final Exam
5/9 – 3-5pm, VM 201 (everything from ch 6 on). DO NOT LEAVE CAMPUS EARLY. MAKE-UPS FOR
EMERGENCIES ONLY!!!
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