Sociology 651: Approaches to Sociological
Inquiry1
Professor: James Moody
Moody.77@sociology.osu.edu
Meeting Time: Monday &
Wednesday: 3:30 - 5:18.
Place: 1041 McPherson
Laboratory
Office Hours: MW, 12:00 – 1:00 (372 Bricker).
The official version of this syllabus is the one posted on the web. You should probably assume anything else is out-of-date.
Overview:
Think of this as a course in "applied epistemology:" How do we know
the things that we think we know? In particular, how can we build and
test social theory in a manner that is objectively consistent with the best
available evidence? The answer to this question, of course, depends on
research method and the most important aspect of method is research
design. This course takes us through the research design process,
starting with how we understand cause in social science, moving through a set
of common threats to sociological knowledge claims and finishes by examining
the strengths and weaknesses of the most commonly used data collection
strategies.
Throughout, we will explore these topics using a case study method. For
almost every topic, we will be reading a recent empirical paper from the
American Sociological Review, the American Journal of Sociology or Social
Forces. No published piece of research is perfect, but instead is a
creative compromise between the ideal elements of research design and available
empirical evidence. By criticizing each of these papers with respect to
the most common design threats, we can hopefully see how idealized research
design is commonly implemented. Class time will focus on discussion of
the empirical examples, in-class exercises, and critiques of methodological
instruments.
This course is also consciously about professional socialization. We will
cover topics relating to research ethics, publication, grant writing and
reviewing papers for scientific journals.
Course
Requirements
Reading
·
Primary text: Singleton and Straits (1999) Approaches to
Social Research (4th ed – though 3rd is fine too)
·
We'll be discussing Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean on the
first day of class
·
A course pack that contains handouts for classroom discussion,
grants and reviews that we will read over the course of the quarter.
·
All empirical example papers are linked directly from the on-line
syllabus.
(Most of these are AJS papers, not because I have any particular preference for
AJS, but because ASR does not post papers online until a 2-year window has
passed).
All
texts are available at SBX
Writing
·
2 Critiques. You will be required to turn in two critiques of
articles. These critiques are meant to be similar to a journal review,
though they will be focused on particular aspects of the research design.
·
Final Project. For your final, you can either turn in a 3rd -
more detailed and complete - critique of existing research or develop a
research design for a master's thesis proposal.
Participation
This class depends on group participation. I expect everyone to speak up during class with critiques of the reading and to constructively build on the comments and suggestions of your colleagues.
Grading
The grade breakdown for the class is:
·
Critiques: 25% (each)
·
Final project: 45%
·
Class participation: 5%
A
note on writing:
While
the majority of your Ph.D. training will focus on methods and particular
substantive issues, the life bread of a professional sociologist is
writing. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that you develop your
writing skills. Never turn in a paper that is not copy-edited, and always
give yourself time to re-write. I should never see a first draft of your
work. I expect all material turned in for this course to be written
within the standards of professional sociology. If you have trouble with
writing, independent of the sociological content of the work, go to the
university writing center. You may also want to purchase and read one of
a number of writing style guides, such as:
Corder,
Jim W. and Ruszkiewicz, John J. (1989) The Handbook of Current English
Elbow, Peter.
(1981) Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing
Process.
Lamott,
Anne. (1994) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
Doubleday
Strunk and
White (2000). The Elements of Style.
Thomas, F. N.
and Mark Turner (1994) Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose.
Zinsser,
William. (1990) On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing
Nonfiction. Harper Perennial
A
note on class participation:
This course is a seminar. Lecture will be limited, as I would prefer to moderate an active discussion centered on key issues of research design. This format mimics in miniature what you will be doing as professional sociologists, actively engaging in theoretical debates with colleagues. I expect discussion to be professional and polite (no personal attacks, please), but engaged. Do not shy away from points. Do push arguments. Do not accept two logically inconsistent points as "equally valid perspectives." Do seek to integrate alternative perspectives and understand the basic assumptions that drive different conclusions. I will push you on your arguments, and I trust you will do the same for each other. For this format to work, you must be active participants. If discussion does not emerge spontaneously, I'll ask you to answer questions directly and push for your point of view.
A
note on class reading:
We
will read a great deal in this course. Use the calendar view of the
syllabus to help plan your reading time, by reading ahead on weekends where we
cover a good deal of material. In many cases, you can get the central
points of the text fairly quickly (this is the advantage of using a well
written textbook), but prepare yourself for slower and more difficult reading
in the empirical papers. This class does not assume more than a basic
understanding of multiple regression, so don't let the statistical details of a
particular article worry you. Focus instead on the logic of the
analysis. The most fundamental problems in any piece of research largely
occur before any model is ever estimated.
Class
Schedule
A calendar view of the
course syllabus is available, which includes
all dates. Below I list each day's meeting, readings for that day and
anything that might be due. Any reading from the course pack will be
indicated as (CP) in the schedule below. To lower copyright costs, I have
tried to choose articles that are available on-line, though most of these are
only available from a campus computer. The on-line version of the
syllabus and calendar will link you directly to the articles.
Class
1. Introduction. What counts as data? How do we evaluate evidence?
What is a research question?
Class
2. Social Science Reasoning. What makes a question scientific? How do we
move from general ideas about how the world works to scientific research
questions?
Class
3. Causality I: The standard view. How do we determine if one thing causes
another?
Class
4. Causality II. Alternative Views. What really counts as a cause in
Social Science? Are we justified in using model coefficients as summaries
of cause? What are (some of) the alternative models?
Supplementary or background
Roberto Franzosi. 1997. "Narrative Analysis-Or
Why (And How) Sociologists Should be Interested in Narrative" Annual
Review of Sociology 23:517-554
Abbott, Andrew.
1997. "Of Time and Space: The Contemporary Relevance of the
Lieberson,
Stanley. 1987. Making it Count: The improvement of Social Research and
Levine, John H.
1983. Exceptions are the Rule: An Inquiry into Methods in the Social
Sciences Westview Press, Chapter
2 is particularly salient.
Class
5. Reliability and Measurement. How do we move from theoretical concepts to
empirical measurement? What are the pitfalls associated with this move?
Class
6. Validity.
Experiments represent a gold-standard for scientific evidence. What are the
threats to inference in non-experimental designs? What are the tradeoffs
between internal and external validity?
Class 7.
Human Subjects and Research Ethics. What are risks to participants in social
research? How do we weigh these risks relative to the benefits of the
research? How do we protect subjects from unwarranted risk?
***
Critique 1 is due ***
Class
8. Writing Research Proposals. What do successful research proposals look
like? What are the key elements in generating successful research grants?
·
Read one of the following:
o
Moody " ITR/SOC: The Structure and Dynamics of Electronic Social
Networks" - NSF (Funded)
o
Peterson & Krivo "Law and the Social Sciences" -
NSF (Funded)
o
Hodson "Analyzing Organizational Ethnographies" - NSF
(Funded)
o
Meyer "SGER: Political views of middle east citizens following
western military intervention" (Funded)
·
Read one of the following:
o
Kinsman & Moody. "How does diffusion affect adolescent
risk initiation" - NIH (not funded)
o
o
Kiester and Moody "Childhood Family Processes and Adult
Wealth" - NIH (Funded)
·
One NSF Dissertation Grant
o
Jin Liu. "Social Welfare Reform and Its Impact on Chinese Firms
During Economic Transition"
o
Marc Dixon. "The Politics of Union Decline: Business Political
Mobilization and Restrictive Labor Legislation, 1938-1958"
·
All readings are in the course pack.
Class
9. Sampling I. Coverage. How do we optimally select cases? How
do sampling schemes affect our results?
Class
10. Sampling II. Time. We usually sample cases not just in "space" but also
in time. How do different strategies for temporal sampling affect the
conclusions we can draw from our research?
Supplementary Reading & Background
Petersen,
Trond. "Recent advances in Longitudinal Methodology" Annual
Review of Sociology, Vol. 19. (1993), pp. 425-454.
Class 11.
Survey Research. This is the first of our detailed examination of particular
types of data collection. Survey's are among the most common sources of
data for sociologists. What are the primary issues in fielding a survey?
Class 12.
Questionnaire Construction. The basis for survey research ultimately rests on how
respondents answer questions. How do you ask questions that ensure the
highest quality data?
****Critique 2 is due ****
Class 13. The
Review Process.
What do real reviews look like? How should you respond to reviewers
comments on papers? What should you do with contradictory reviews?
Class
14. Field Research. What are the advantages and disadvantages of various
field research techniques? What are the empirical and ethical challenges
of fieldwork?
Other
background:
Burawoy, Michael 2003. "Revisits: An Outline of
a Theory of Reflexive Ethnography" American Sociological Review.
68:645-679
Class
15. Secondary Data. There are many data sources that have already been collected for
(usually) other purposes. Such data often admit to many of the same
techniques we might use with survey data, but also allow numerous other approaches
such as content analysis or case based historical analyses.
· Approaches “Research Using Available
Data”
· Example: Goesling, Brian "Changing
Income Inequalities within and between nations: New Evidence" American
Sociological Review 66:745-761
Class 16.
Archival Data. We continue our discussion of secondary data, focusing on data from
archival sources. Such data are usually even further from our research
questions than most secondary data sources, but often admit to novel and
interesting findings.
Class
17. Historical Comparative Research. How do we answer questions about society-level
topics, such as the conditions that lead to revolutions or democracy?
What are the unique challenges of making causal inferences when you have very
small numbers of cases?
Background reading:
Class
18. Social Simulation. In many cases the theoretical processes we are interested in
cannot be adequately studied using any available data. In such cases, it
may make sense to make the data up through a principled social
simulation. What are the costs and benefits of using social simulation?
Supplementary Reading & Background
1. Special thanks to Randy Hodson, Barbara
Entwisle and Peter S. Bearman for sharing their syllabi for similar courses.