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| Assignment | Due in Class | Due on WEBCT |
| Note: Assignments should be submitted in class or to WEBCT, not both. | Paper assignments are accepted only in class on the day due. | Electronic assignments must be submitted to WEBCT. Instructions |
| Signing Up for WEBCT and the Class Mailing List. | Must be done online, no in-class option. | January 30, 17:00 |
| Introductory Exercise from the Microcase Workbook | Friday, January 31 | January 31, 10:10 a.m. |
| Exercise 2a from the Workbook | Wednesday, February 5 | Feb 5, 10:10 a.m. |
| Exercise 2b from the Workbook | Wednesday, February 12 | Feb 12, 10:10 a.m. |
| Exercise 3 from the Workbook | Friday, February 21 | Feb 21, 10:10 a.m. |
| Field Research Assignment | This required attendance at a lecture and cannot be made-up. | NA |
| Exercise 10 from the Workbook | March 28 | March 28, 10:10 a.m. |
| Exercise 5a from the Workbook | April 11, also may be submitted in class on Apri 9. | April 11, 10:10 a.m. |
| Exercise 5b from the Workbook | Wednesday April 16. | April 21, 5 p.m. |
| Path Analysis Assignment | Friday, April 25 | April 25, 10:10 |
| Poster Session Extra Credit Opportunity | . | Proposal must be submitted by April 25, 5 p.m. |
| Library
Assignment |
Monday, May 5 |
May 5 10:10 a.m. |
| Review Quiz Assignment on WEBCT - open book,
open notes, open Internet. This counts as an assignment, not as a
test. |
The review quiz must be
taken online. It is in WEBCT. Click on Quizzes on our home page. |
The Review Quiz will be available in WEBCT until
May 8. It has 20 multiple choice questions which must be answered
within one hour. You may take the quiz up to three times, but they
must be taken at least one hour apart. Your highest score will count as
an assignment grade. |
Monday, May 12, 12:30 p.m. Make-up
Exam for the Final (for anyone who missed the final exam). 325 Armitage.
May 9, 9 a.m. Final Examination covering the entire course. Review
Guide for Final.
May 5: General Review for the final.
May 2: General Review for the final.
April 30: Students with Posters should bring them to class to
share. We will begin the Review for the Final.
April 28: No Class. Computer Lab BSB108 has been
reserved and Amy will be there to help any students working on Poster Session
projects or wanting help with the Library Assignment or with access to
WEBCT for the Review Quiz.
April 25: Discussion of Library
Assignhment.
April 23: More on Path Analysis., see notes for links.
April 21: Path Analysis. We will do an example of the Path Analysis
Assignment.
April 18: Religious
Holiday, no class.
April 16: Use and Misuse
of Regression to Test Causal Hypotheses. Reading: Principles of Path
Analysis.
April 14: Use of Regression
to Test Causal Hypotheses. Reading: the second half of Chapter
5 and the introduction to exercise 5b in the workbook.
April 11: Special Review
Session on Statistics. Students who scored 50% or less on the
statistics portion of Test One or Test Two are required to attend.
April 9: More on the
use of cross-tabulation to test causal hypotheses. Discussion of
possible projects for the Poster Session
Extra Credit Opportunity. Discussion of Exercise 5a.
April 7: Use
of Cross-Tabulation to Test Causal Hypotheses. Reading, pages 113
to 122 in the Workbook.
April 4: Introduction
to Causal Modeling, Chapter 5 in the textbook.
April 2: Tests returned,
review of statistical items.
March 31: Second Examination
- Sampling, Field Methods, Experimental Research.
Material to review: Chapters 4, 9 and 10 in the textbookbook and the Class
Notes. Be prepared to
calculate Margins of
Error. A copy of the Guide to Computing Margins of Error
will be included with the test.
March 28: Review for
Second Examination
March 26: Experimental
Research, Video
March 24: Chapter 10,
Experimental Research
March 14 - Practice in Solving Statistical Problems. Practice Questions. Answers.
March 12 - More on Margins of Error
March 10 - Computing Margins of
Error for Percentages and Means. Some Sample
Questions.
March 7 - Guest Lecture by Myra Bluebond-Langner in class at 10:10.
Attending and handing in a page of notes counts as an assignment (see
above).
March 5 - Field Methods, Chapter 9 in the textbook
March 3 - Sampling, Chapter 4 in the textbook
February 28 - Eastern Sociological
Society Meetings - No Class - Extra Credit for attending meetings
February 26 - First Examination - Chapters one, two, three and
six. Descriptive Statistics for continuous and discrete variables.
Bring a pencil with an eraser and a hand calculator.
February 24 - Review for Exam. Sample Multiple
Choice Questions. Sample Statistical Questions:
for continuous variables and for discrete variables.
February 21 - Descriptive Statistics: frequency distribution,
frequency histogram, mean, median, range and standard deviation.
Reading: William Trochim's Descriptive Statistics
WEB Page. Bring a calculator for an in-class
assignment.
February 19 - Measurement - reliability and validity
February 17 - campus closed due to snow
February 14 -Measurement - Chapter Three in the Textbook.
February 12 - Percentages and Expected Frequencies. In-class exercise.
Bring a calculator to class. Introduction to descriptive statistics
for continuous variables.
February 10 - The Research Process Using Survey Data. Reading,
pages 47 to 53 in the workbook.
February 7 - campus closed due to snow
February 5 - ABC TV program on "Junk Science."
Some responses. Pauling, salt, chemical sensitivity,
breast
implants, crack babies.
February 3 - Chapter Six from the Textbook: Basic Research Designs.
Distinction between Experiments,
Surveys,
Field Research and Aggregate or Comparative Research, e.g. "time series analysis."
Margaret Mead's classic
work Coming of Age in Samoa
which was extremely influential although Derek
Freeman claims she was deceived by a hoax. This has led to a
long
debate, with people generally believing who they choose to believe.
January 31, The Research Process With Aggregate Data, Reading pages
28 to 39 in the workbook.
January 29: Discussion of Chapter Two in the textbook on designing
research projects. Supplementary reading in Trochim on the structure of
research. You may prefer his "hourglass" metaphor to the circular
one on page 14 of our textbook. New
York Times study of clerical sexual abuse. Some examples we
will discuss include papers presented
at the 2000 ASA meetings in Washington, a Study of Tire-Crash
Patterns (Word Format with Excel File Used
to Reproduce Graphs.) and some controversial examples including research
in criminal justice abortion and
crime and on gun control and
crime rates. Another example is the role of research in
the controversy over welfare reform. Star Wars:
Is Astrology Sociology? Another example is the book The Bell Curve
which generated tremendous controversy and claims that it should never have
been published. The controversy over a study on the
effects of sex abuse. Compstat in the NYC and
Philadelphia
Police Departments. N.J.
Crime Rate Lowest in last 3 decades. N.J. Crime Statistics.
January 27: The nature and uses of science and social science. Discussion of Concepts and Theories, Chapter One in the textbook (Contemporary Social Research Methods). How does social science differ from other ways of thinking: poetry, philosophy, theology, physical science? Three approaches to knowledge. W.H. Auden's poetry. For a sample of a new concept, click on virtropy. Is this a good concept? Why or why not? Census Document on Racial and Ethnic Categories. Other concepts we can consider are: poverty, power, crime, murder, race, IQ, liberalism/conservatism, homelessness. Or we could look at Personality Types as defined by Carl Jung and Measured by Isabel Meyers-Briggs. There are also techniques such as concept mapping that can be used to develop concepts. Example: data on the Bureau of Justice Statistics WEB site. Concepts can be used in survey questions such as those in the General Social Survey and the Eagleton poll.
January 24: Exploring Data Files, pages 1 to 11 in the Workbook. We will demonstrate these examples in class, and you can follow them along with your software at home if you wish. Discussion of the Introductory Exercise due January 31 (see the box above for all assignments).
January 22. Review of the syllabus.
Use of WEBCT
and Microcase courseware.
Discussion of the Signing Up Assignment due January 30 (see the box above
for all assignments).