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Sociology 301: Methods & Techniques of Social Research
Fall 2004

Jon'a Meyer, Ph.D.                                                                                           Armitage 362, 225-6207
Office Hours: M 5-6, Th 12:30-1:30 & by appointment

Methods is not about what you know, but about how you come to know it. There are many competing ways to solve society's problems, and the methods by which answers are sought and found can help us find better solutions. I want this class to be useful to you in your future careers. If I can assist you in any way, stop by and see me, call me, or e-mail me. This course is an introduction to the science and craft of finding out. We will discuss the methods and techniques of social research as used in criminal justice, sociology and related fields. This course is a prerequisite for Ethics & Policy in Criminal Justice (CJ 449) which is offered in the spring semester and is also a prerequisite for Theories of Crime & Delinquency (SOC 313). Let the quest for knowledge begin!

Texts:

REQUIRED TEXT: Stark, Rodney and Roberts, Lynn. (2002). Contemporary Social Research Methods (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

OPTIONAL TEXT: Vogt, W.P. (1998). Dictionary of Statistics and Methodology: A Nontechnical Guide for the Social Sciences (2nd ed). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. NOTE: This book is not required, but past methods students of mine have found it useful in understanding the material, so I have included it as a recommended text. If you are planning to go on to graduate school in the social sciences, you should definitely consider this book. It is a tad pricey, but very comprehensive and is easy to use.

RECOMMENDED TEXT: William Trochim, The Research Methods Knowledge Base. Available at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/index.htm. Note: you may buy a professionally bound and printed copy that contains an updated version of this work from http://www.atomicdogpublishing.com if you wish.

We have a WebCT page for the course. The WebCT page contains the homework questions and course assignments/sample assignments will be posted there. I have auto-enrolled everyone in the class via the roster upload process (all registered students will be enrolled within one business day of enrolling). If you do NOT see the course in your "MyWebCT" within a day of enrolling, let me know immediately. To access the course, go to: https://webct.rutgers.edu/
  -login to WebCT (use your NETID & password [i.e., your university email ID/name and your email password]).
  -click on "920:301, Methods & Techniques of Social Research"
 
You should also ensure that your preferred email address is listed in the online student directory as I will use that directory to email study guides and class announcements/updates. Verify your address early so you don't miss anything important. Directions: go to https://www.acs.rutgers.edu:8892/studentdir.  Log in and verify your email address. List an address that you check regularly.

All students must read the syllabus and class contract (available at: http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu/contract.htm) and "sign" it via the interface at the bottom of the contract. Please print out and attach the class contract to this document as it is part of the syllabus. Students who do not "sign" the class contract may be dropped from the course. Please do this in the first two weeks of the term.

Reading Qs:

Questions to help you prepare for the class discussions and exams are assigned for each reading selection and appear on WebCT. Your answers should be ready to share at the beginning of class on Mondays and should be typed or neatly handwritten. There are an average of  2 or 3 questions per week, and they are essay style. You will not receive full credit for answers copied directly from the readings. We will discuss the questions when they are due.

Throughout the semester will be a number of partipation exercises designed to help you learn the material. Pending IRB approval, we will also be working on an actual survey in conjuction with the students in the other section of this class. The survey will be a voting poll under the direction of political sociologist Ted Goertzel and will give you some experience designing questions then collecting and analyzing data.

Combined, your participation and sharing answers to reading questions, will account for 15 points. Regular attendance is the best way to get the maximal points under this category. Please complete the reading assignments before coming to class because there will be discussion of the material. Participation in these discussions will be considered part of your grade. I will call on students to share their answers to the week's reading questions. If you answer the question correctly or have a reasonable (though incorrect) answer, you will receive credit; if you do not answer the question, you will lose credit. I'll also be bringing in a number of in-class exercises for which you will receive participation points.

There will be two exams, each worth 20 points. Please arrange for makeup examinations prior to the date of the test. The examinations will cover lecture and discussion materials, any films presented, and reading assignments. They will contain multiple choice questions, so please bring a #2 pencil to each exam. Half an hour after the start of each exam, I will post the answers. Students arriving after the posting of the answers will not be able to take the exam with the class.

One of the major benefits of our textbook is that it comes with pre-packaged statistics software and exercises that are designed to help you understand the material covered in the text. We will have the benefit of a MicroCase tutor, who will run lab sessions throughout the semester and provide some one-on-one tutoring for those who need extra attention. It is NOT the MicroCase tutor's job to do your work for you, but the tutor will happily assist you in the mechanics of the assignments and will provide general interpretation guidance (this means that the tutor will guide you in finding the answers on your own so that you will better master the material). If you feel you will require intensive assistance, please do not wait until a few days before an assigment is due to seek the tutor's help.

I have found that creating research posters is a great way to learn about the design, completion and analysis of research. Your poster will be based on the findings from either (1) the class poll or on a study you design using the MicroCase archive data (there are hundreds of datasets included in the archive and I'll talk about some of them in class). We will discuss the elements of and how to make a good research poster. In short, you will present a hypothesis, test it with real data and write up your findings and conclusions. This assignment is worth 10 points and may be submitted for presentation at the Annual Undergraduate Research Poster Session in the Spring (click here for photos from last year's session; some of those posters were from my Methods class).

All researchers at Rutgers, including students, must pass a certification test in human subjects protocols before engaging in actual research. Basically, what this means is that you will participate in an online course designed to teach you what you need to know about ethics in research involving humans. You will sign in and complete the course, then take the online certification test. Once you pass the test with a score of 80% or higher, you will print out your score summary and bring it to me as proof that you completed the course. That's it! In the process, you will learn a lot about research and ethics and research protocols. Directions for accessing the course are below:
-Go to: https://webct.rutgers.edu/
-login to WebCT (use your camden email NETID/name and your Camden email password)
-go to "add course"
-In the black column on the left that reads "Category," go down to "special courses" (it's near the very bottom, after the Z's
-go down to "Human Subjects Certification Program" (HSCP) and click on that
-click on "self register"
-click "go to course"
-click on "important course information" then scroll up to the top of the page to read the whole document
-make sure you print out the syllabus, which can be accessed from the course homepage.
-NOTE: clicking on the word "home" in the green stripe across the top of the screen will take you to the course homepage.
-NOTE #2: if you click "mywebct" (at the top of the screen), you will get a list of all your webct courses.
-NOTE #3: you are welcome to print off course readings for future use and reference.

You are to go through the "course content," then take the certification test. Once you pass the test, you are done. Print out your score, then bring it to me with your Camden NETID written on it. Throughout the course are self tests that will help you prepare you for the actual certification test. I will give you part of a class day to work on the course and there will be no homework questions for one week to give you more time.

OPTION #2: FILM: The campus has recently offered a second option to obtaining a certification in ethics, which involves watching a two-part film. If you wish to take this option, it will be shown on our campus on September 10 in the Campus Center (rooms A, B & C) from 10-2:30 with a break for lunch. You will need to register by contacting Ms. Leona Pellot. Send me an email and I'll send her address to you (I do not want to include it here where spambots can find it). If the film will be shown again before the certification is due, I will let you know the time and place.

Each week you may email me (at my email address listed at the top of this syllabus) two or more multiple choice questions for possible inclusion on the exam. The questions should be from the readings assigned for that week and must be emailed by Friday afternoon (make sure to mark the correct answers). They should be multiple choice and each set is worth 1/2 point of extra credit. Both exams will include a few questions submitted by students, marked with an asterisk on the exam to denote where I got them.

There are a total of 100 points available in this class. Grades will be based on the total points for the semester, using the standard 90% = A, 80% = B, etc. scale.
  40 pts: exams
  25 pts: MicroCase lab assignments (3+ points each)
  10 pts: paper/poster
   5 pts: certification in Human Subjects research
   5 pts: various online assignments (percentaging exercise, research design quiz, etc)
  15 pts: participation (includes sharing answers to weekly questions and work on the class research project)
100 pts: TOTAL

Students are responsible for knowing the regulations of the department, college, and university with regards to topics such as withdrawals, academic misconduct (those who engage in any form of academic dishonesty will fail this course), incomplete grades, and so on. This will be discussed in more detail in the class contract.

wk 1: Ch 1: Concepts and Theories
wk 2: Ch 2: Steps in the Social Scientific Process
    9/20: deadline for Introductory MicroCase exercise (bring your book pages to class as we'll cover this in class as
             part of your participation grade; if you miss class, you must enter your answers into WebCT, "MicroCase intro") 
wk 3: Ch 3: Measurement
    9/27: MicroCase exercise 1 (on WebCT, "Workbook 1")
    NOTE: we'll begin the ethics course and end class early to give you some time to work on that requirement. If you have
    already passed the test or seen the film, contact me before 9/27
wk 4: Ch 5: Causation and Causal Models
    10/7: Human Subjects certification test must be passed by 10/7/03-- that's Thursday to give you some extra time)
wk 5: Ch 6: Basic Research Designs
    10/11: deadline for MicroCase exercise 2a (on WebCT, "Workbook 2a")
wk 6: Ch 7: Survey Research
    10/18: deadline for MicroCase exercise 2b (on WebCT, "Workbook 2b")
wk 7  MIDTERM (10/25/04)
wk 8: Ch 4: Censuses and Samples
    11/1: deadline for MicroCase exercise 3 (on WebCT, "Workbook 3")
wk 9: Ch 8: Comparative Research: Using Aggregage Units
    11/8: deadline for MicroCase exercise 5a/b (on WebCT, "Workbook 5")
wk 10: Ch 9: Field Research
   11/15: deadline for MicroCase exercise 8 (on WebCT, "Workbook 8")
   11/15: WebCT quiz -- "Research Design quiz (chapters 6 & 8)"
wk 11: Ch 10: Experimental Research
    11/22: deadline for MicroCase exercise 4 (on WebCT, "Workbook 4 & Sampling Questions")
wk 12: Ch 11: Content Analysis and Other Unobtrusive Techniques
wk 13 & 14: catchup and poster finalizing
    12/13: deadline for research poster
wk 15: FINAL (12/20/04) 6-9pm
 
 

----week 1, Chapter 1:
1.   Differentiate the inductive and deductive  theoretical approaches.
2.   How would a researcher's choice of approach guide how he or she conducts a study?
3.   What is the difference between questions asked by journalists and those asked by social scientists?
4.   What is the difference between concepts and indicators, and what is a hypothesis?
*5.  How do scientific research methods guard against errors in everyday understanding?