Schedule and Announcements for Methods and Techniques of Social Research, Spring 2001.
This page will be updated frequently.  Be sure to RELOAD the file each time you check it. 
For general course information, go to the Course Syllabus.  To sign up for WEBCT, follow the Instructions Here.  Once you have an account, go directly to  WEBCT here. If  you have a question for Dr. Goertzel, send it here.  His office hours are 9 to 11 Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 2:45 to 3:30 Monday and Wednesday in  325 Armitage.  Teaching Assistants for this course are Theresa Drummond and Sherry Labree:  email  Theresa   -  Sherry.     They are generally available after class.  Problems with Microcase Data Disks.     Data Sources for Sociology and Criminal Justice students.  Rules for Submitting Assignments.

Poster Session Photos Here.        Grades Here
 
 
 
Sherry Labree and Theresa Drummond Teaching a Class

 
Assignments Due: On paper in class at: Digitally in the WEBCT Assignment Drop Box  no later than:
Assignment One Not accepted on paper. January 26, 5 p.m.
Assignment Two Jan 31 or Feb 2, 11:15 a.m. February 2, 5:00 p.m. (extended due to the Microcase problem)
Assignment Three February 7, 11:15 a.m. February 7, 11:15 a.m.
Assignment Four February 14, 11:15 a.m. February 14, 11:15 a.m.
Assignment Five February 28, 11:15 a.m. March 2,  5 p..m.- Note:  to submit this to WEBCT, you should paste your results into a Word file and submit the Word file.
Assignment Six March 21 11:15 a.m. NO WEBCT Alternative - Interviews must be coded in class.. Bring a Pencil. 
Assignment Seven April 4, 11:15 a.m. April 4, 11:15 a.m..
Extra Credit Projects Poster Session Apr 27 Proposals Due in WEBCT 5:00 p.m. April 6. 
Assignment Eight .April 11, 11:15 a.m. April 13, 5:00 p.m.   Note:  Class will not be held on April 13.
Assignment Nine April 20, 11:15 a.m.. April 20, 11:15 a.m..
Assignment Ten April 27, 11:15 a.m.. April 27, 11:15 a.m..

Week One
Jan 17: The organization of the course. Use of Netscape Composer.  Signing up for the WEBCT system and the class mailing list.  This is part of Assignment One.
Jan 19:  How to install and use the Microcase software.  Installing the software is explained in the "Getting Started" preface to the Social Research Using Microcase workbook.  We will demonstrate the Introductory Exercise on pages 1-11 in Social Research Using Microcase, then go on to demonstrate the use of the crosstabs procedure.  These procedures are used in Assignments Two and Three.

Week Two -
January 22:   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?  E.g., the Biblical text  "In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was With God, and the Word Was God.  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.  Brazilian Racial 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.
January 24:  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 15 of our textbook.  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.  Margaret Mead's classic work Coming of Age in Samoa which was extremely influential and, many people now believe, wrong.  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.   The origin and development of the project on South Jersey's Identity that we will be working on this semester. Results of Content Analysis Coding Last Semester.  Questionnaire we used last semester.   Frequencies from our survey last seemster.  Survey by New Jersey Future group.   Why were each of these studies, or groups of studies, undertaken?  What impact did they have?  Do they reflect an objective scientific pursuit of the truth, or advocacy for an ideological position?
January 26:  Help with Assignment One for those needing it (use of Netscape Composer and WEBCT).  We will meet in rooms 108/109 of the Business and Science Building.  Go there directly, sit down at a computer and get started.  We will circulate around the room and help people as need be.  If you have submitted Assignment One to WEBCT, you need not come to class.  We are pretty much up-to-date with grading the WEBCT assignments.  If you go to the Assignment Dropbox and the assignment says "Graded," you can click on it and get the grade and comments.  If it says "Not Graded" it means it was accepted by the program and is waiting to be graded.

Week Three
January 29:   Chapter Six from the Textbook:  Basic Research Designs.  Distinction between Experiments, Surveys, Field Research and Aggregate or Comparative Research.  Microcase provides both Survey and Aggregate data sets.  The Introductory Exercise, which is our second assignment due on wednesday, exposes you to both.  Data sources are available online and in the Microcase Archive available in the Computer Center.
January 31: Discussion of Levels of Measurement and Units of Analysis from  Chapter Three in the Textbook. Census Document on Racial and Ethnic Categories. Brazilian Racial Categories.  "True Colors:  The Confusion Over Who We Are."
February 2: Discussion of reliability and validity from Chapter Three (on pages  43-48) in your text.  The concept of Construct Validity is particularly difficult.  You might think of construct validity as theoretical validity (does the measure measure what our theory says it should measure) and criterion or predictive validity as applied or empirical validity(does the measure work for our practical purposes).    As an example, we will discuss research done by this class on the construct validity of a measure of UFO Abduction.  Two most important measures of crime are the  National Crime Victimization Survey and the Uniform Crime Reports.  There are also some surveys of criminals. Reliability and Validity of Each Approach.

Week Four - Note:  It would be a good idea to bring a calculator to class regularly for the next two weeks.
February 5:   The Research Process Using Aggregate Data  Reading: Exercise 2a in Social Research Using Microcase and "Direction and Shape of Covariations" on Electronic Reserve.  Chapter Eight from the textbook:  Comparative Research Using Aggregate Units.   Frequency Distributions.   In class frequency distribution exercise.  An Excel file with a histogram graph.  Online Instructions for using Excel.
February 7:  Introduction to Descriptive Statistics for single variables:   Mean, Mode, Median, Variance, Standard Deviation.  This is not included in our textbook, so you should read Trochim's WEB page on Descriptive Statistics instead.  There is also a WEB site called "statistics every writer should know" with discussions of the median, and the standard deviation.   More complete explanations of descriptive and inferential statistics can be found at the Rice Virtual Lab in Statistics site.  Here is an Excel File doing some of the calculations on Tronchim' Web Page.  Bring a calculator for an in-class exercise.
February 9:  Practice with percentages, frequency distributions and descriptive statistics.  Bring a calculator.  We will also learn how to do these in an Excel Spreadsheet. Damned Lies and Statistics:  Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians and Activists.

Week Five
February 12: The Research Process Using Survey Data  Reading:  Exercise 2b in Social Research Using Microcase and "Crosstabs of Nominal Variables"  on Electronic Reserve.   Chapter Seven from the Textbook:  Survey Research.
February 14:  Percent and Expected Frequency Exercise to be completed in class (these will not be graded, please don't send them in or ask for the answers if you skip class).  The first few pages of this Chi Square lesson by Amar Patel explain the meaning of "expected" frequencies.  It also goes on to explain the computation of chisquare.  An Example:  Alleged Racial Profiling by the San Diego Police.   Here is a one page summary of what we need to know about chisquare.   Have some data you want to test with chi square?  Use the WEB Chi Square Calculator.  Bring a calculator to class.
February 16:  Review for first examination covering Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 in the Textbook and material covered in class.  Bring a calculator. Sample Test Questions.

Week Six
February 19  First Midterm Examination covering Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 in the Textbook and material covered in class.   Midterm Grades.
February 21 - Proposals For Extra Credit for attending the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings Due by 5:00 p.m.  Download a Proposal here and submit it to WEBCT.  Exams will be returned.  Discussion of South Jersey Identity project.
February 23 - Project Design and Proposal Writing.  Readings:  The Art of Proposal Writing. Proposal Writing:  A Short Course.   A Framework for Questionnaire Design.  We will design a project to content analyze the essays you wrote on your ideal communities.

Week Seven
February 26  Content Analysis, Chapter 11 in the Textbook.    A Content Analysis Study of Editorial Cartoons.   A Content Analysis of Internet-Accessible Written Pornographic Depications.  Links to Content Analysis studies.  We will go over how to do Assignment Five, due in Class on Feb 28 or in WEBCT by March 2.
February 28  - Questionnaire Development.  We will work on a questionnaire for our SJ survey.  Reading: Chapter 7 in our text and  Surveys and Questionnaires.   Additional reference:  A Framework for Questionnaire Design.   New Jersey Futures Questionnaire.  1981 Forum for Policy Research questions.

March 1-4 - 71st Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society to be held in Philadelphia,  Students who are interested may wish to attend the meetings at the Loew's Hotel , 1200 Market Street.  We may be able to provide funds to cover registration costs.
March 2  NO METHODS CLASS:  Bob Wood and I will be giving papers at a session on the use of computers in higher education at the ESS on friday.  Note:  the midterm in my STS class will be given on March 2 as scheduled (proctored by the TA's).

Week Eight
March 5  Final discussion of our class questionnaire. Sampling.  Reading:  Chapter 4: Censuses and Samples in the textbook.
March 7 - Distribution of Questionnaires for Class Survey.  Interviewer Reporting Forms Here.   Interviewing Guidelines. Interviewing Techniques.
Computing Margins of Error. This is done on a hand calculator, so bring one to class. This is covered very sparsely in our book, on pages 69-70 where it talks about confidence intervals.  Tronchim's discussion of Statistical Sampling Terms is helpful.  What we need is a guide to computing margins of error for surveys, so I have prepared a Guide to Computing Margins of Error which will be distributed in class or can be downloaded from this page.
March 9 -   Last Chance to Pick Up Surveys for Interviews Over Spring Break.  Sampling Questions to be solved in class.

Spring Break - March 12 to March 16

Week Nine
March 19 -   Sampling Design, Chapter 4 in the textbook. 2000 Census.  US Census rejects statistical adjustment to 2000 census.  Tronchim on Probability Sampling.
March 21 -  Coding of surveys will be today.
March 23  -  Review for Second Midterm - The exam will cover chapter 4 on Censuses and Samples.  It will have more computational questions that the previous tests.   These will be similar to those on the margins of error and descriptive statistics exercises.  Here are some practice questions for today's class.

Week Ten
March 26  Second Midterm Examination - this exam will focus on sampling and inferential statistics and will include mostly math questions.  Bring a pencil with an eraser, a calculator and a copy of a Guide to Computing Margins of Error .   GRADES HERE.
March 28 - Exams Returned -  Video on "Junk Science"
March 30 -  Discussion of the Junk Science video.   Some responses re:  Pauling, salt, chemical sensitivity, breast implants, crack babies.  A "Junk Science" WEB page.  The Skeptic's Dictionary.  A list of the characteristics of "Junk Science."  Use of Junk Forensic Science in Capital Cases in Oklahoma.  Reading:  Chapter Five on Causal Models.

April 2 - Fall Semester Registration Begins.  Register early and often!  There is some information in the Department Newsletter.  Interested in being a TA in this course?  See Dr. Goertzel.
In class:  we will go through the introduction to Exercise 5a on pages 113-121 of the workbook. Discussion of Independent, Dependent, Antecedent and Intervening Variables.
April 4 -  Discussion of Regression Modeling, pp 103-113 in the Text.   Principles of Path Analysis.    A sample path model from marketing research.
April 6 - Extra Credit Proposals due by 5:00 p.m. in WEBCT.  In class:  further discussion of regression modeling.  We will work through the examples on pages 103-115 in the textbook.

April 9 -  In class work on exercise 5b, pages 135 to 138 in the workbook.  Files to be used in class today:  heightweight.xls   and htwtdat.xls.
April 11 - Note:  Exercise 5b (Assignment Eight) will be due in class today if you wish to do it on paper.  Since we have no class on April 13, the WEBCT deadline will be extended until Friday at 5 p.m. Discussion of the use and misuse of regression:    John Lott's Article on Affirmative Action in Police Hiring.   Myths of Murder and Multiple Regression.
April 13 - No Class, Religious Holiday

April 16 - Uses of multiple regression.  We will do an in-class exercise.  This topic will be covered on the final, but we will not have time to do it as a homework assignment.  Sample multiple choice questions on regression.
April 18 - Discussion of statistics and graphs in Excel  using data from online and library sources.
April 20 -  Graphics in Social Research.  Florence Nightingale innovated in the use of charts to document trends and relationships. Portrait.  Graphics used by Nightingale and others.  Nightingale's Pie Chart.  Nightingale's Line Chart.   Anscombe's Quartet.    Excel file of Anscombe's Quartet.   A study using graphics to communicate results about imprisonment and crime rates.  (in pdf format). Some excellent graphs are available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  A massive example is the Trends Timeline Chart.  A common practical application is to follow stock prices.   Microcase also uses charts, including bar and pie charts and scattergrams. Graphing linear projections in Excel.

April 23 -  Review of Chapters 6 and 11, discussion of Field Research, chapter 9.   Research on the Effects of Day Care.
April 25 -  Review of Statistical Computations and of Linear Projection in Excel by Theresa and Sherry.
April 27: The third-annual Undergraduate Research Poster Session, co-sponsored with the Department of Psychology, will be held on Friday, April 27th.  12 to 1:30 in the student center.  A free lunch will be provided! Students doing the poster session for extra credit in this class must bring their posters to class at 11:15 and be prepared to answer questions about them. Posters by Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Students.

April 30 11:15:  last class - Review for final exam.  Note:  the final will include all chapters except chapter ten, which we have not had time to cover thoroughly.  There will be both multiple choice and statistical questions.  If you are having trouble with the statistical computations on the Statistics Review Sheet (Microsoft Word Format) you should make a point of attending the review sessions with Sherry and Theresa.   Note:  if you can't open the Statistics Review Sheet in Word (previous link) you can open it in html, but the formatting isn't as good.

April 30 12:15: Sherry and Theresa will be doing a review session. This is especially recommended for anyone having trouble with the statistical computations.

May 2:  11:15 to 1:00 -  Sherry and Theresa will do a review session in 121 Armitage. This is especially recommended for anyone having trouble with the statistical computations.

May 8, 9 a.m.:  Final Examination.  Bring a pencil with an eraser, a calculator, and a copy of theGuide to Computing Margins of Error.

Problems with your Microcase Data Disk?

Microcase has supplied us with a self-extracting *.exe file that can be used to create brand new floppy disks to use with the program.  You can download this file here.  To use it, save it somewhere on your hard drive (such as on the Desktop), then click on it in Windows Explorer or Run it.  Put a new 1.44mb floppy in drive a.  It will extract the zip files and create a new disk.  Occasionally, I've found, it says the disk is full.  If this happens, try again with another disk.

Rules for Submitting Assignments

1) Follow the instructions for each assignment.  Some must be submitted digitally,  some on paper, and some may be submitted either way.
2) Unless Otherwise Specified, all digital assignments must be in html or ASCII text file format.  Half credit will be given for files submitted in Microsoft Word or other formats since these are more difficult to read in WEBCT.
3)  Paper assignments must be brought to class at 11:15 a.m. on the day due.  Paper assignments will not be accepted in the instructor's mailbox or at his office or by mail or fax.  They will not be accepted early or late.
4) Digital assignments must be submitted to the WEBCT assignment dropbox by the hour and day due.  The Assignment Dropbox will automatically close after the assignment is due.
5)  Late assignments will be accepted only in cases of force majure.  They must be brought in person to Dr. Goertzel's office during scheduled office hours (9 to 11 MWF and 2:45 to 3:30 MW) within one week of the due date, together with documentation of your excuse.  They will not be accepted before class, during class, or after class.  Since digital submission is available from anywhere on the planet, routine illnesses, transportation problems, family emergencies, funerals, broken water heaters, etc. do not count as valid excuses for being late.  If you bring a doctor's note, make sure it explains that you were comatose, paralyzed, confined to a hospital bed, or otherwise unable to use a keyboard.
6)  No assignments may be submitted by email;  all electronic submissions must be to WEBCT.
NEW:  When submitting typed homework assignments to WEBCT for this course, it is OK to use dos text format instead of html.  This will be convenient for any of you who do not have html editors on your home computers.  This works as long as you do not have any hyperlinks or other special formatting in your file, which is generally the case in this course.  This is not for spreadsheet assignments which should be kept in the Excel *.xls format.  Any word processor can save files in dos text format.  When you are ready to save your file, click on "save as" and then on "save as type."  Select a format with the *.txt file extension.  If available, choose a form of *.txt file "with line breaks."  (*.txt files require a hard return at the end of each line to work properly).  When you upload these files to WEBCT, click on "Browse" then change the "file type" to *.txt."  Otherwise you won't be able to find your files.  Incidentally, this will not work for assignments in my STS: Computers and Society course as those have hyperlinks.