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SOC 690 (quantitative methods) - Spring 2015, GODARD (PDF)

Contact Information

Important Notices

To stay enrolled, you must attend the first week's meetings (one class if it meets weekly, two if twice weekly, etc.) or you will receive a WU grade (which converts to an F) if you do not withdraw.

A complete schedule of topics, readings, meetings, lab and homework assignments, help files, and other course materials is available through the course's Moodle site (also visible in a PDF snapshot.) An abbreviated schedule of requirements is also available.

The final exam date will not change, but any other element is subject to change at my discretion. It is your responsibility to always be aware of the current schedule. The Moodle schedule supercedes all others; do not rely on a printed copy!

All add requests will be addressed during labs the first week. If you hope to add to the lecture, you must attend lab the first week.

You are expected to review standard guidelines that apply to all of my courses, and to promptly alert me to any questions or concerns about them. You will need to acknowledge that you have reviewed and accepted them via an intake form which you must be complete by the 2nd meeting.

Class Accommodations

Please alert me promptly to any special circumstances that may apply to you (including but not limited to disabilities, schedule conflicts, and religious holidays.).

  1. Center On Disabilities
  2. National Center On Deafness

Student Learning Objectives

Learning research methods calls upon both your creative and analytic abilities, and in this learning process. I hope that you will find the excitement of inquiry and discovery. By the end of the course you can expect to:

» the necessary academic background for graduate-level research
» intermediate training in the practice of research design, writing, and implementation
» fulfillment of 3 units of the M.A. core requirements in methods
» the skills necessary to complete the quantitative portion of the comprehensive methods exam
» familiarity (in conjunction w/ SOC 691) with the steps needed to complete of a thesis

Instructional Materials

  • There is but one required text, H. Russell Bernard’s Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. This is a great introduction to methods of research, particularly as they are used in the social sciences. We will draw primarily from the quantitative oriented material in the text, but the qualitative sections will get some attention as well, and will be a useful resource in other classes and beyond.
  • Students are expected to do the readings before each class – important in any class, but critical for a methodology course. There are parts of the lectures that will not make any sense if you do not do the readings in advance!
  • The Moodle website for the course has a slew of additional materials. You will need access to it, asap.
  • Electronic - I will also make extensive use of email, which is the official form of communication at the University, and will discuss related opportunities and obligations during the first lecture.

Policies

General Course Guidelines

Student Conduct Code

Academic Policy

Course Description

In this course, we will explore basic concepts and issues of research as done by sociologists. Underlying this exploration is the “scientific method”, the interactions of theory construction and data collection. We will begin addressing broad questions about science – what it is and isn’t, how it varies, and how it differs from other ways of learning about the world – and related orienting issues including research design, ethics, and literature. Next, we'll explore topics related to measurement, sampling, and analysis, including a review of quantitative methods covered in 691. Throughout, the course will emphasize reflection on the practice of sociology as much as on its claims.

Course Requirements

Your grade will be based on your completion of and performance on the following tasks, with the noted weights:

To complete this course satisfactorily, you must do the following:

» Reading Notes: You may or may not already be in the habit of taking "reading notes" for the material you read in graduate school, a practice you should be in (or get in) for every reading in every class. These should be as long and/or as complete as you need to help you summarize and remember the material. Bring them to class, beginning with the 3rd meeting, and submit them at the end of the meeting. They will be ungraded, so won’t count toward (or against) your grade for the course, but will assist you in learning and retaining the material, and I'll return them the following week with any brief comments or reactions I may have.

» Attend and participate (10%): These are necessary parts of any course, particularly a graduate seminar, and are crucial for your development, whether as a scholar or practitioner. Attendance will be taken by the instructor, by sight or submissions. Your attendance grade will be the percentage of the classes you attend, and will count for 5% of your overall grade. An additional 5% will, by the instructor’s discretion, assess each student’s participation in the course. In order to encourage and generate participation, there will be a set of Discussion Questions related to most class meetings. Although these are not graded, you are expected to prepare answers to at least two questions from each set, and to be prepared to talk about (not just read) your reactions during lecture.

» Final Paper, Research Poster, and Presentation (40%): By the end of the term, you should submit two items that summarize a research project, and that would be viable for submission to a professional conference. One of these will be a final paper, complete with all of the sections that you would normally see in a journal article; this will count for 25% of your grade. This paper should be no more than 20 pages long, including all tables and appendices, be proofread and properly cited, include a literature review, and indicate throughout how the work contributes to a particular theoretical or empirical area. The other will be a poster presentation that you will have a chance to display at a department event near the end of the semester; this will count for 10% of your grade. Finally, you will present and summarize your research to the class during the last class meeting, in a 10-15 minute presentation including questions and comments from the instructor and other students, for 5% of your grade.

» Research Abstracts (10%): You will submit two double-spaced abstracts of approximately four pages each, critically reviewing a published work of research related to your topic. These will be discussed and assigned during the second class meeting, and due on dates to be determined, as fits the schedule. Lecture time may be allotted for (ungraded) presentations of these abstracts; you should be prepared to orally summarize the methods, data, and findings, then respond to questions and comments from the class and instructor. Each abstract will comprise 5% of your overall grade, for 10% total.

» Homework Assignments (30%): There will be a series of short-ish assignments designed to help you build your final paper and research poster, by reviewing statistical procedures, methodological options, and related choices and materials. These build from the research abstracts noted above, and will include a statement of your topic, a literature review, a statement of your hypotheses, and drafts of your methods section, analysis section, and paper in toto. All of these are noted in and available through the Moodle site. Grading for each varies, and will be explained with each assignment.

» Final Exam (10%): There will be an online, open-book/open-note, multiple-choice final exam to reviews basics from the course, with particular attention to issues and elements that you may encounter on the methods comprehensive exam, for 10% of your grade. For Spring 2015, this is dictated by the university to be due at 10pm on 5/11/14.

The computation of grades (including rules regarding late work and cheating, and other adminstrative matters) are address in great detail in General Course Guidelines which apply to all my courses.

Standard guidelines that apply to all of my courses are detailed in a separate document online at www.csun.edu/~egodard/sop.html. You are expected to review these materials, and to promptly alert me to any questions or concerns about them, as well as any special circumstances that may apply to you (including but not limited to disabilities, schedule conflicts, and religious holidays.) You will need to acknowledge that you have reviewed and accepted them via an intake form which you must complete by the 2nd meeting.