SYA6305: Methods of Social Research I
Fall 2011
Class:
Tuesday 3:00-6:00 p.m. in 2303 Turlington
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Instructor |
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Name: |
Monika Ardelt, Ph.D. |
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Office: |
3350 Turlington |
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Phone: |
392-0265 ext. 247 |
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E-mail: |
ardelt@ufl.edu |
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Office Hours: |
T, Th
1:30-2:45 p.m. and by appointment |
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WWW: |
http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/ardelt/ |
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Course Content
Required Readings
Bernard,
H. Russell. 2000. Social
Research Methods. Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Course packet (abbreviated as “CP” in
the reading list) available at Target Copy (1412 West University Avenue right
next to Chipoltle Resturant).
Highly Recommended Readings
Esterberg,
Kristin G.
2002. Qualitative Methods in Social Research. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
Maimon, Elaine P., Janice H. Peritz, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. 2010. A Writer’s Resource. A Handbook for Writing and Research. 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Requirements
Readings and Class Participation: An interaction between students and instructor will
be the basis of most classes. Hence, it is absolutely essential that you read
the assigned material in advance so that you are able to participate in class
discussions.
For each class, you will prepare one or more questions based on the
assigned readings and write down possible answers to those questions or issues
that should be considered when attempting to answer those questions. Questions
and answers should contain a heading that identifies the reading(s) that
inspired the question(s). Each set of questions and answers is worth 1 point if you write at least 300 words of original
text (excluding headings and quotations) for a total of 10% of your final
grade. You will have 12 opportunities to submit a Q&A entry, but you only
need to submit 10 entries.
Q & A entries for each class are to be submitted via e-Learning in
Sakai after the file has been saved either
as a Word document (*.doc or *.docx) or as a rich text format (*.rtf) file. I will not be able to download,
read, and grade any other file format. The
deadline for submission is noon each Tuesday for which there are readings assigned
(except for the first day of class), so that I have time to compile a list of
questions for discussion before class. For
general information about e-Learning
in Sakai visit https://lss.at.ufl.edu/sakai-training/student_index.shtml.
To submit your MS Word file or *.rtf file in e-Learning, go to the
University of Florida e-Learning Support Services home page at <http://lss.at.ufl.edu/> (bookmark this page). To sign into e-Learning in Sakai, click on the “Continue”
link under “Sakai System Entry” using your
assigned Gatorlink
username and password. If you do not have a Gatorlink
ID or if you cannot remember your Gatorlink login
information, go to the Gatorlink website at <http://gatorlink.ufl.edu> or to the
CIRCA Help Desk in the Hub (phone: 392-HELP) for assistance.
After you have successfully logged into e-Learning, you will be taken to your My Workspace, where you can
access the sites you own and/or the sites you belong to. The “?” icon
set to the right side of each title bar will bring up a help file associated
with that window. Note: You can also access the Help tool in the
left tool bar of each site. For further assistance please contact e-Learning Support Services at
(352) 392-4357 select option 2 or email: learning-support@ufl.edu
To submit a Q & A entry via e-Learning, navigate to our course and click on Assignments in the menubar. Assignments are displayed in the order they are
due. Do the following to submit a Q & A entry:
Step 1: Click
the Q
& A entry you want to submit.
Step 2: Follow
the directions.
Step 3: To add an attachment, click the Add Attachments button. Browse
for a Local File and click Continue.
Step 4: Click Submit when you are done. Once you have submitted the
assignment, you can view it later, but you cannot modify it.
To view your grades, click on Gradebook in the menubar.
Attendance:
Attendance of class is required because non-attendance by several students at a
time will destroy the dynamic of the class. Students who miss all or part of a
class session must e-mail or hand in a written
excuse for their absence.
Term Paper:
There will be one group term paper that is due on December 6 during regular
class time. The term paper will consist of qualitative fieldwork, qualitative
interviews, and the examination of one or more social groups. If you like to
use the term paper as the basis of your thesis, you will need to get my
permission and individual instructions to write an individual term paper.
Detailed instructions for the group term paper can be found in the course
packet.
Cheating: I define copying parts or all of an author’s or
another student’s work, allowing another student to copy parts or all of your
work, or simply duplicating parts or all of your fieldnotes, interview notes,
interviews, analysis, or critique as cheating.
WARNING: Students who are caught cheating in this way will fail the
class immediately! If cheating occurs within a research group, all members of
the group will be held accountable.
Exams:
There are no exams in this course. J
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.
Grading
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Requirement
Statement
of intent IRB
approval Qualitative
research assignments (Group)
Term paper (Group)
Presentation |
% of Final Grade
10%
1% 3%
46%
30%
10% |
I will not grade on a curve, i.e. your grade will depend on your
absolute performance, not your performance compared to other students.
The points that you will earn can be translated into letter-grades as
follows:
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92.5 - 100.0 = A 90.0 - <92.5 = A- 87.5 - <90.0 = B+ 82.5 - <87.5 = B 80.0 - <82.5 = B- 77.5 - <80.0 = C+ |
72.5 - <77.5 = C 70.0 - <72.5 = C- 67.5 - <70.0 = D+ 62.5 - <67.5 = D 60.0 - <62.5 = D- <60.0 = E |
For information on current UF grading policies for assigning grade
points, see http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html.
Three Tips for
Staying Awake in Class (and make class more interesting to you):
(1) Ask questions. (2) If you feel yourself
falling asleep, ask provocative questions. Challenge your professor. (3) Read
the assigned material before class to do (1) and (2).
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Tentative Class Schedule |
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Date |
Topic |
Readings |
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08/23 |
What
is social research? |
Bernard: Ch.1; Esterberg:
pp.1-12; Lomand: Appendix A. Optional: Ragin: Ch. 1 & 2; How to
Read a Journal Article in Social Psychology (“Methods I” folder on the
S-drive) |
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08/30 |
Qualitative
vs. quantitative research |
Emerson: Ch. 13; CP: Shrum and Kilburn: Ritual Disrobement at Mardi Gras (“Methods
I” folder on the S-drive); Optional:
Ragin: Ch. 3 |
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09/06 |
Getting
started: |
Bernard: pp. 66-70 & Ch. 9; Esterberg: Ch. 2 & 4; |
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09/13 |
The process of social research: |
Emerson: pp. 134-149, Ch. 12,
pp. 295-306, Ch. 17; |
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09/20 |
Qualitative interviewing |
Bernard: Ch. 6; Esterberg:
Ch. 5; CP: Qualitative
interviewing; Example of interview and interview notes |
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09/27 |
General
characteristics of qualitative research |
Emerson: pp. vii-x, Introduction, pp.
113-116 & 123-131, Ch. 11. Optional:
Workshop on scientific foundations of qualitative research (“Methods I”
folder on the S-drive) |
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10/04 |
Theory in qualitative research |
Emerson: pp. 27-53,
Ch. 1-4 & 16; Esterberg: pp.12-22 |
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10/11 |
Direct and indirect observation |
Bernard:
pp.376-397
& 403-409; Esterberg: Ch. 6 |
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10/18 |
Analysis of qualitative data |
Bernard:
Ch.
11-13; Esterberg: Ch. 8 & 9; |
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10/25 |
The praxis of qualitative field research:
Issues of race/ethnicity, gender, and age |
Emerson:
pp.
116-123, Ch. 6-10 |
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11/01 |
Practicing qualitative data analysis: |
CP: Methods of Objective (or
Structural) Hermeneutics; Titscher et al. 2000. Objective Hermeneutics |
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11/08 |
General issues and problems of qualitative
research. Presenting and publishing qualitative research. |
Esterberg: Ch. 10; Bernard:
pp. 87-92; Emerson: pp. 306-315; Lomand: Ch. 35-41. |
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11/15 |
Discussion of published qualitative
research |
Lomand: Ch. 35-44 |
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11/22 |
THANKSGIVING Week: No class! |
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11/29 |
More discussion of published research |
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12/06 |
(Group) presentations of research findings |
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