Our objective is to explore and put into practice a variety of social science methods; and to complete individual proposals for the senior thesis.  Attendance and active participation are essential and will factor heavily into the final grade.  All reading is to be done by the beginning of the week in which it is assigned.  Mondays are dedicated to the presentation and discussion of concepts and methods; Thursdays focus on student topics.  In addition to assigned readings, newspaper reports figure prominently as to how social research is represented and to stimulate research interests.  You will keep a journal consisting of newspaper article commentaries.  The proposal is to be 12-15 pages, with a thesis statement, a review of the relevant literature, an outline of an original research component, and a bibliography.  The final grade will be based equally on the semester's work and the thesis proposal.

 

Readings are available through Library’s Electronic Reserves.

Week I                   Overview

 

Week II                  The Sociological Imagination

                                reading: Mills, The Promise

 

Week III                 Varieties of social science research

                                rdg: Durkheim, What is a Social Fact?

 

Week IV                Concepts and Indicators

                                reading: Schutt ch. 3

 

Week V                  Consciousness: survey methods

                rdg.: Schutt, ch. 7

 

 

Week VI                Empiricism

                                video: Social life of Small Urban Spaces

 

Week VII               States and statistics; graphs; census tables

                U.S. Census Bureau; Schutt, ch. 4

 

Semester Break                   

 

 

Week IX                Quantitative measurement: world inequality

World Bank web site

                                               

Week X                  Ethnography

                rdg.: Osborne, "Consuming Rituals of the Suburban Tribe"

Mitchell Duneier, Sidewalk (note on method)

 

 

Week XI                Historical Method

                                Braudel, "History and the Social Sciences"

 

Week XII                Defining the Area

 

 

 Week XIII             Researching the Area

 

 

Week XIV             Writing the Area

 

 

Week XV               Proposal Discussion

                Proposal Due

 

 

 

Some on-line data sources (links at docutek)

American Sociological Association: Data Sources

The Pew Research Center

World Bank: Data and Statistics

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington Post: Data Directory