Catholic University of America Department of Sociology

SOCIOLOGY 202/501 - RESEARCH METHODS

Fall Semester 2005, MW 9:10-10:25 a.m., Pangborn 303

Instructor: Dr. Sullins

   Welcome and Overview    Requirements    Texts    Assignment Schedule    

Welcome and Overview

This course is designed to teach the methods, techniques and skills needed to engage in scientific social research and to evaluate the research of others. Students will learn the steps of the research process and be exposed to various forms of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Special emphasis will be made on formulating researchable questions; proper scientific research design; issues of sampling, measurement and causality; and ethical issues involved in social research. Students will gain practical, hands-on experience in library research, data entry, online data retrieval and analysis, computerized analysis using SPSS, and survey administration.

SOC 202 (Undergraduate) and SOC 501 (Graduate) are separate but related courses. The two courses are organized around actual research projects, for which the graduate students serve as project and team leaders. In turn, the graduate students present research proposals, for which the undergraduates serve as the evaluating committee.

Course Requirements (202)

• Two Midterms and a Final Examination
• Research Project Participation
• Two Research Reports
• Class Attendance

Graduate students (501) will also do:

• Research Article Evaluations (Graduate students only)
• Archival SPSS Exercises (Graduate students only)
• Research Proposal (Graduate students only)

Note: This course requires occasional participation in research projects off-campus and outside of normal class time, and assumes a basic knowledge of SPSS.

See the exact point values for all assignments for this course.
See my general policies on grading, assignments, extra credit and exams.

Texts/Required Reading

• Babbie, Earl. The Practice of Social Research. 10^th ed. Wadsworth, 2004.
• Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Rand/McNally, 1963.
• Course Handouts/References.

ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

Notes to note well:

• Unless otherwise specified, all reading assignments are expected to be complete by Monday (or first day class meets) of the week assigned, and written assignments are due Friday (or last day class meets) of the week assigned.
• Since I craft them according to the particular learning needs of each class, exercises and study guides will not be posted until two weeks before they are due. I have left exercises and study guides from a previous class up in order to give you an idea of the types of questions they contain. Your exam questions are likely to be similar, but they will not likely be the same. DO NOT print out exercises and study guides early in the semester and use these as a basis for assignments or study throughout the course. They will be the wrong ones!
• Any items marked "Sociology Reserve" are on reserve in the Sociology Department Office in Room 116 of the Life Cycle Institute. They are available 9-5 Mon-Fri for 2-hour checkout, or you can obtain a photocopy at cost.
• An excellent study resource for research methods is: Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd Edition. Internet WWW page, at URL: <http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/index.htm> (version current as of November 16, 2007 ). Some lecture material for this course is adapted from this source, under fair use.
• Assignments followed by "(G)" are for 501 students only. Enterprising undergraduates are welcome to do the graduate-student-only exercises for extra credit.
• I am happy to make reasonable accommodations for students with learning disabilities. In accordance with CUA policy, all requests for accommodation must be made directly to the Office of Disability Support Services, ext. 5618.

Check out Dr. Sullins' other course this semester, Social Problems.

All contents copyright ©
D. Paul Sullins and/or
The Catholic University of America
Revised 11/16/07