Course Schedule and Assignments
Methods and Techniques of Social Research - Fall 2007
IMPORTANT: This Schedule and Outline
will be Modified Regularly. Be sure to refresh or reload the page.
Links: statistics
formulas -- Video
Tutorials - DATA
SOURCES
Instructor: Michael Epstein. email: jjaepst@camden.rutgers.edu
.
Since many
computers today lack floppy disk drives, the publisher has made the software
and data sets that comes with the Ayers book available for download on their
WEB site. If you have a good Internet connection, it is quicker and
easier to install it from the than to use the cd-rom and floppies. You
need to go to the WEB
site for the Ayers textbook, then "Companion Site" and
then on "Student Microcase Download." The software is
also available in the computer labs. Computer problems are not accepted
as an excuse for late assignments in this course, if your home computer doesn't
work, you should use one at Rutgers. The Babbie book has a Companion
Site with practice tests and other useful material.
The page and chapter numbers from "Babbie" refer to Earl Babbie, The
Basics of Social Research, Fourth Edition. I have also listed equivalent
chapter and page number from the third edition which looks similar.
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Assignments
Currently Open |
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Exercise 1 in Ayers, Experiencing Social Research. Complete
this on paper and bring it to class on September 12. Students
unable to complete this on time must request an extension in class on
September 10 and make arrangements to get the help they need. |
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Exercise 2, Part I, in Ayers. Complete this on
paper and bring it to class on September 19. |
Weekly Schedule of Readings, Assignments, Quizzes and
Examinations
Week One - Scientific Inquiry into Social Reality: An Introduction.
- September 5 & 10
Reading: Babbie:
Chapter One (chapter one in the third edition); Ayers, pages 1-15
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 1
(pages 17 to 28)- This assignment is due on paper in class on
September 12. If you do not yet have the Ayers book you can open the
exercise HERE
in pdf format and print it out.
On Monday, Sept 10 we will meet in BSB 117 for hands-on help with Microcase.
Week Two: Crosstabulation Analysis - September 12 & 17
Reading: Babbie: Pages 45-63 (Deduction and Induction, Links
Between Theory and Research) (42 to 58 in the third edition) and 459-469
(bivariate and multivariate analysis) (429-440 in the third edition); Ayers,
pages 36-42
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 2, Part I (pages 43-50) - This
assignment is due on paper in class on September 19. If you do not
yet have the Ayers book you can open the exercise HERE in pdf
format and print it out.
Week Three: Establishing Cause and Effect Relationships -
September 19 & 24
Reading: Babbie pages 95-103 (Exploration, Description,
Explanation; The Logic of Nomothetic Explanation) (85 to 103 in the third
edition); Ayers Exercise Three
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 3
Week Four: Designing Research - September 26 & Oct 1
Reading: Babbie pages 104-117 (95 to 109 in the third edition); Ayers,
pages 91-107.
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 4
Week Five: Connecting Conceptualization and Measurement - October
3 & 8
Reading: Babbie, pages 156-163 (Criteria of Measurement Quality) (144 to
150 in the third edition); Ayers125-129.
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 5
Week Six: Measuring Social Reality - Levels of Measurement - October 10
& 15
Reading: Babbie, pages 130-155 (Conceptualization and Operationalization) (120-144 in the third edition); Ayers, 145-154
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 6
Week Seven: Midterm Examination - October 17
Reading: review the readings for previous weeks. The class notes
and practice quizzes on the Companion
Web Site for the Babbie book will also be useful.
Week Eight: Constructing and Evaluating Indexes - October 22 &
24
Reading: Babbie, pages 169-188 (third edition 155-175); Ayers, 177-178
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 7, Item 1.
Week Nine: Sampling - October 29 & 31
Reading: Babbie, Chapter 7 (chapter 7 in the third edition);
Ayers, pages 205-215
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 8
Week Ten: Experiments and The Ethics of Social Research - November
5 & 7
Reading: Babbie, Chapter 8 and Chapter 3 (chapters 8 and 3 in the third
edition)
Homework Assignment: Descriptive
Statistics Assignment
Week Eleven: Survey Research - November 12 & 14
Reading: Babbie, Chapter 9 (chapter 9 in the third edition)
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 10
Week Twelve: Unobtrusive Research - November 19 &21
(November 22 is Thanksgiving)
Reading: Babbie, Chapter 11 (chapter 11 in the third edition);
Ayers, pages 309-320
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 12
Week Thirteen: Evaluating Social Interventions - November 26 &
28
Reading: Babbie, Chapter 12 (chapter 12 in the third edition);
Ayers, pages 331-335
Workbook Assignment: Ayers, Exercise 13
Week Fourteen: TBA
Week Fifteen Review for Final Exam - December 10 & 12
Final Examination: Monday, December 17, 6 p.m.