SOC 3358 - Methods of Social Research

This is a hands-on class that involves students in the methods used by sociologists to create knowledge by thinking logically and by analyzing problems using quantitative reasoning. In addition to class discussion on the various protocols for data collection in sociology, students will design and implement both quantitative and qualitative research on a self-selected topic that they must conceptualize and operationalize. Students will prepare an extensive review of the literature on their topic and generate testable hypotheses. Class exercises and homework are focused on how students can interpret and use quantitative data to answer sociological questions. The relative merits and pitfalls of survey research, interviews, experiments, secondary data analysis, and observation research are explored. Extensive time in the course is devoted to learning and applying descriptive statistics and measures of association and on the construction of scales. Key to this process is the role of such statistical measures in hypothesis testing.
McDaniel Plan: Quantitative Reasoning