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UW-Madison SOC 357 - Methods of Sociological Inquiry

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Soc357Fall2008Syllabus 1Sociology 357 - Methods of Sociological Inquiry Fall 2008 Instructor: Kaelyn Stiles, 8144 Social Science, [email protected], 263-3857 Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:15-3:15pm (Please let me know if you plan to stop by!) Course website: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~kstiles LEC 2 (9:30-10:45am) 6322 SOC SCI -- Class email list: [email protected] LEC 3 (1:00-2:15p) 6113 SOC SCI -- Class email list: [email protected] INTRODUCTION Sociology 357 is a basic course on how to do social science research and how to evaluate the research of others. This is a course where you will learn by doing. After an introduction to the elements of research, you will spend most of the semester working on a variety of projects, applying the concepts we cover early on as you conduct your own research, and as we evaluate the research of others. Many heads are better than one when it comes to designing and evaluating social research, so the course will involve a lot of discussion. Coming prepared and being willing to participate are key prerequisites for joining the class. My goals in teaching this course are (1) to introduce you to the language and logic of research design in order to provide you with a good foundation for future learning; (2) to teach you how to read a research report with a critical eye; (3) to expose you to a variety of research methods that you may encounter in the future; (4) to convince you that social scientific research is not a highly esoteric activity, but rather a relatively straightforward, systematic set of procedures that will allow you to answer your questions about the world; (5) to have you learn first-hand about the successes and problems of research by trying out several data collection methods on a small scale; (6) to show you that research is both an intellectual and emotional activity that can be fun and highly rewarding. Soc 357 is not a statistics course and assumes no background in methods. You will do a small amount of statistics in your projects, which will be easier if you have already had elementary statistics. However, you can learn what you need to know for these projects in this course without much difficulty. If you have already taken any other research methods course, please talk to me, as this course will probably cover what you already know. In addition to keeping up with daily readings and assignments, you should plan NOW to set aside substantial blocks of time outside of class to work on projects during the semester. A detailed schedule of due dates is included below. COURSE MATERIALS There is one required book for the course, which can be bought at the University Bookstore. It is: Babbie, Earl. The Practice of Social Research. Eleventh Edition. There is also a series of required readings available online. Go to www.wisc.edu. Click on My UW. Choose the “academic” tab. See your course list. Click on Sociology 357. A hard copy will also be available at the Social Science Reference Library (8th floor of Social Science Building).Soc357Fall2008Syllabus 2COURSE REQUIREMENTS Your grade in this course is made up of the following: Attendance/ Participation in lecture 10% 12 Reading Response cards (1% each) 10% 4 Assignments (15% each) 60% 2 Quizzes 20% Grading is as follows: A(93-100), AB(88-92), B(83-87), BC(78-82), C(70-77), D(60-69), F(59 and less) (1) Class participation: I will take attendance every day during lecture. You will get 2 free absences before you are penalized. There are no “excused” absences, so you’ll have to plan on using your 2 absences if you have to go out of town, have a doctor’s appt., etc. If you have an extended illness or other extenuating circumstances, please let me know. As for participation, you will be graded on your contributions to class discussions and level of engagement with in-class activities. Classes about research methods can be difficult, and rarely do students fully learn the material the first time it is presented. It is important to ask questions if you don’t understand something the first time, not only for your own sake, but also because other students are probably in the same position as you. Just as importantly, classes where no one but the instructor speaks are insanely boring. You have the power to prevent the class from being boring, just by participating! Your participation grade for lectures will be based off of 1) attendance, 2) appropriate talking in class, 3) sitting up front and paying attention. (2) Reading Response cards: You will be graded on answers to questions and short writing assignments that I will ask you to turn in on 3x5 cards throughout the semester. On the cards you turn in, I may ask questions about the readings, the lecture, personal experiences, etc. Some of these will be longer, and some will be quite short. You must turn in these assignments if you are physically present in class. You cannot make up these participation cards if you miss class for any reason. Again, you may miss two cards before you are penalized. This is meant to help you if you happen to be absent on a day that a participation card is handed out, or if you don’t have time to do the reading. There will be at least 12 of these throughout the semester but only 10 will count towards your grade. (3) Exercises: The largest share of your grade is based on three major data collection projects and an article analysis. The data collection projects are 1) a structured field observation, 2) a questionnaire and 3) a field experiment. More details about each assignment will be given to you later in the semester. Each exercise is worth 15 percent of your final grade. (4) Quizzes: There will be two in-class, closed-book quizzes. These are not cumulative. These quizzes will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions covering material from both the readings and the lectures. Check your schedule ahead of time to make sure that you will be able to attend class on quiz days. Quizzes will test your knowledge of the lecture material as well as material from the readings. Quizzes will not test your knowledge of the material that we cover on the quiz day itself. CONTACT INFORMATION Class Email: I have set up two class email lists, which I will use to send updates on assignments, deadlines, clarifications of lecture, etc. Please only use this email list for


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UW-Madison SOC 357 - Methods of Sociological Inquiry

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