Overture
|
8.23
|
Introduction: Testing
the DH-M Conjecture -- Are
couples who hyphenat more likely to get divorced?
The shape of the course and the shape of
the field
Reading
|
LAB
|
Jump In! The Water's Great!
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Act I : The Research Reflex
|
8.28
|
The
Problem: Social Knowledge, Myths, & Empirical Questions
.
Reading
MSSW, pp. 2-8
McPherson,
Smith-Lovin, & Brashears. 2006. "Social Isolation in
America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades" American
Sociological Review, June 2006.
|
8.30
|
Examples:
Social science has shown...
Illogic of "social
knowledge." Aspirations of social science. Variety of
social science goals. Theoretically v. empirically v. politically
interesting. The "why."
Reading
MSSW pp. 8-12
Abbott pp. 3-40 read lightly.
Lieberson pp. xi-xvi (handout)
|
|
Lab
|
McPherson,
Smith-Lovin, & Brashears in the Media |
9.1
|
Oakland
A's vs. Baltimore 7:05 p.m.
|
9.4
|
Good
Social Science & Bad
Validity.
Truth. Generalizability.
Reading
MSSW
pp. 12-18
|
9.6
|
The
Process: Where do interesting research questions come from?
The how, part
I. From theory to observation or from observation to
theory. The so-what in social isolation. Other strategies
for achieving "the interesting."
Reading
MSSW pp. 21-31
Abbott pp. 41-79 read lightly
|
| Lab |
How
To Say Why It's Interesting
Locate
articles. Identify sentences that explain what research question
is and why it is interesting.
|
9.11
|
The
Process: Research Design
The many arts of
comparison. Units of analysis. Ecological fallacy.
Reading
MSSW
pp. 31-40 |
9.13
|
Research
Ethics
The ethics of
getting it right. Do no harm. Informed consent. Human
subjects. Limitations. opics
Reading
MSSW
40-46, 128-130
Mills College Human
Subjects Committee
American Sociological
Association Code of Ethics
American
Anthropological Association Code of Ethics
Human
Subject Regulations Decision Charts @ HHS
|
| Lab |
Hypothesis
Generation
Group-work following
"Doing Research" questions on p. 50.
|
9.18
|
Concepts,
Variables, Observables, and Indicators
Concepts as mental
constructs, existing data, questions, scales and indexes, systematic
observation, unobtrusive observation, triangulation
Reading
MSSW
51-65
Lieberson, ch.1 "Tastes: Why Do They Become What They Become?"
|
9.20
|
Characterizing
Measurement
Levels of measurement, validity, accuracy,
reliability, precision
Reading
MSSW 66-79 |
| Lab |
Preparing
for the Field
We look at GSS data
used by McPherson et al. and develop materials for doing face-to-face
interviews to replicate their work. We develop a sampling frame
for selecting participants for next week's interviews.
|
9.25
|
"Field
Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen
Reading
Lieberson, chs. 2, 3,
4, 5 (pp. 31-142)
|
9.27
|
"Field
Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen
Reading
Keep reading Lieberson
|
| Lab |
"Field
Work" : Interviewing Freshwomen |
| Why Should Anyone Believe Us? |
10.2
|
Sampling
I
Populations
and samples, parameters and statistics. Sampling frames and
units. Methods of sampling.
Reading
MSSW, pp. 85-102
TBA |
10.4
|
Sampling
II
Topics
Reading
|
| Lab |
Sampling
|
10.9
|
But
Does X CAUSE Y?
Causality, experiments,
pseudo-experiments, internal validity, generalizabilty
Reading
MSSW pp. 106-119 |
10.11
|
But
Does X CAUSE Y? (cont'd)
Threats to
validity.
Reading
MSSW pp. 119-128
|
| Lab |
Sociological
Experimentation |
Quantity Matters
|
10.16
|
Quantitative
Analysis I
Distributions.
Statistics as descriptions of distributions. opics
Reading
MSSW pp. 228-244
|
10.18
|
Quantitative
Analysis II
How
to know whether two numbers are different. Standard deviations,
margins of error, etc.
Reading
MSSW pp. 228-244
|
| Lab |
Visual
represenations of univariate distributions
|
10.23
|
Quantitative
Analysis III
Tables.
Elaboration. methods.
Reading
MSSW pp. 245-253
Lazarsfeld on table
elaboration.
|
10.25
|
Quantitative
Analysis IV
Correlation and
association..
Reading
MSSW pp. 245-253 |
| Lab |
Tables,
tables, tables & Scatterplots,
etc.
|
Four Methods
|
10.30
|
Surveys
A g.
Reading
MSSW, pp. 137-160
|
11.1
|
Surveys
Topics
Reading
C |
| Lab |
Survey lab
|
11.6
|
Structured
Interviews
Topics
Reading
Selection from Borgatti website
|
11.8
|
Structured
Interviews
Topics
Reading
Continued
|
| Lab |
Structured
Interviews Lab |
11.13
|
Participant
Observation
Topics
Reading
MSSW, pp. 165-179. |
11.15
|
Participant
Observation (cont'd)
Topics
Reading
G |
| Lab |
Participant
Observation Lab
|
11.20
|
Interviews
Topics
Reading
Ry |
11.22
|
x
Topics
Reading
C
TBA
|
| Lab |
None (interview family
members over the holiday)
|
11.27
|
Qualitative
Analysis
Coding, grounded theory, themes, concepts,
constructing analytical narratives
Reading
MSSW, pp. 192-219. |
11.29
|
Qualitative
Analysis (cont'd)
Topics
Reading
C |
| Lab |
Coding...
|
12.4
|
Wrapup,
Review, and What's Next
Topics
Reading
C |