Week 5 Quantitative Research

Organizing thoughts for readings examples etc. this week.

1. Meet with Brandon via google hangout at start of class. 
1. Bring questions and thoughts from our discussion of his thesis last week.  
2. Bring questions about research and thesis work in general
3. Other questions for student in PhD program
2. Prepare for discussion of readings
1. We will use the two readings as examples to think about illustrations of steps in the research process, of decisions about what to do with data, how to ask questions.  
2. Do  your best to understand the research cycle steps as they apply to both studies
1. wonder, conceptualize, theorize, operationalize, etc.
3. Consider that both studies are quantitative but differ in their focus in terms of description and explanation.
4. Discuss issues from chapters of Neuman book on their own and as they relate to the example research.
3. Look ahead to quiz coming up for this weekend.  Example questions from last year are posted online. 
1. Quiz 1 from last year
2. Quiz 2 from last year
3. This year will be parts of 1 combined with parts of 2, with something new. . .

Revising your research proposal

Revising your research proposal is the focal point of this course.  Everything so far has lead up to this point-- this week we talk about writing and look at examples of scholarly writing to help us improve our own writing.

See the shared google document :654 Writing Advice for the links to the documents listed below.

Note that the second draft has a 2000 word limit (twice that of the first draft).

Following is from that document.

Writing advice:  

You should have several short term writing goals.  First, read your paragraphs and write a sentence that directly states the argument of that paragraph (thesis statement).  Use your improved thesis statements to improve the rest of your paragraph.  Make each sentence more purposeful and active.  Second, revise the content of your proposal by making the important sociological contribution of your work clear.   Finally, improve the consistency of your argument between different analytic levels:   title, abstract, paragraph, section, paper.   Your message needs to be consistent across these levels.  In other words, your title should be the heart of abstract, your abstract should be the core of the paper; the thesis statement of each paragraph should be a good short version of your paragraph.

Here are suggestions and links to the exemplars:

Hechter paper:  Read the introduction.  400-405.   Notice his use of example--how and why does he use the example that he does?   What is the role of drama?   What is the thing that he wants to explain?


Papachristos paper:   74 to 82.   What sort of puzzle does Papachristos solve?  Why is this an especially sociological answer to this puzzle?  How can you frame your research questions to make them fully sociological?


Stark paper:   All 5 pages.  Pay attention to the direct, active sentences.   Notice the clear sentence and paragraph level construction.  Also note his advice about writing and revising.  


Kreager paper:  351-357  Pay attention to how Kreager uses theories in his study.   Can you identify theories in your research topic that would predict contrasting patterns in how people behave or interact?

Course update

1. I shared two examples of digital portfolios from last year.  We will discuss goals for the assignment in class.  However, here is the summary:   a digital portfolio is where you get to collect, describe and interpret what you have done in and because of involvement in 654 this fall.  
1. Students are encouraged to think of general areas of involvement, including, but not limited to:
1. Knowledge
2. Accomplishments
3. Skills
4. Cooperation
2. Opportunities for these will increase as the quarter continues, but you should be thinking about what you have done in these areas so far, and consider upcoming assignments as opportunities in those directions. 
2. I have been ill-- and have been awake very little since Sunday evening.   Therefore I have not reviewed peoples quiz answers yet.    We will discuss those answers in part this week, in part next week. 
3. Review articles for next week.  
4. Field research, (13)
1. Field research exercise

Quiz 2

I will be adding questions for quiz #2 below.  It will not be due until Oct 9th.  We will be able to discuss the questions during class on Monday.




Click on the image of the question to see it more clearly.




1. Thinking about why and how you sample

2.  Conceptualization and measurement

3.  Operationalizing deliberation

Based on Black et al 2011, describe how to operationalize deliberation.  In your description define, and apply to this research the following terms:  content analysis, coding scheme, exploratory research, small groups, descriptive statistics, and network visualization.   What are the most important findings?  What sort of research should be done to extend, refine or improve upon the current study?

Interpreting quantitative results:

4.  Based on Yuan et al 2009, what can we learn about diffusion from studying interactions in online community?    Provide a detailed explanation of how each important concept was operationalized and measured.  Make sure you pay special attention to the attributes and measurement of key independent variables, and the dependent variable.  Then, using the results reported in tables 1,2, and 3 explain what the results are, how they should be interpreted, and what they mean.

When you are done with your answers, open this link to turn them in.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGF2bndoNERRTEdLY3NCMjl3dTFncWc6MQ

No quiz this week!

Readings for Monday:
Chapters 6,7,8 Neuman!!
Survey, part 1: http://db.tt/b2ixTcP5
Survey, part 2: http://db.tt/YZbXSPSL
IRB form: http://db.tt/52IZj6DE
Status updates article:  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2011.562221
(access while on campus or through library proxy)
or try this: http://db.tt/HSxa90HL


Come prepared to talk with Brandon about thesis research, his thesis, and grad school.

2011 Quiz 1

Quiz #1

1.  How are the steps of quantitative research process similar to those of the qualitative research process?

2.  Where do the approaches differ?  Explain why those differences exist.  

3.  What are the main differences between basic and applied research?

4.   What are the major types of data collection techniques?

5.  Time point of data collection is a dimension on which research studies vary. Briefly describe the three main types of longitudinal research.

6.  Explain what a cohort is and give an example of your own (not from class or the book).

7.  Why does social research need theory?

8.  Go to page 74 and read the section on causal explanation through the first full paragraph of page 78.  Using concepts introduced in that section and elsewhere in the book, explain why the politicians plan in example 3.3 (3.5 in sixth edition) is faulty.

9.  Describe the defining aspects of positivist, interpretive and critical approaches to social science.   (chapter 4)

10.  What is the most important reason to perform a literature review?

11.  Neuman discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet for social research (p. 140).   Here is a description of google scholar-- including some criticisms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_scholar

To what extent do his comments apply or fail to apply to google scholar?

12.  Use google scholar to find a research for each of three faculty members from our department.  Use google scholar to then find 1 article that cited each of those articles.

Copy and paste the item details from the search result, like this:

Faculty research:     Becoming a nonexpert and other strategies for managing fieldwork dilemmas in the criminal justice system Find it with OLinks

U Castellano - Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 2007 - jce.sagepub.com

In this article, the author presents three fieldwork strategies for managing role conflict in criminal
justice settings. One of the most critical issues for ethnogra- phers immersed in fieldwork is balancing
the tension between the researcher and participant-observation roles. Ethnographers in ...

Cited by:

Probation officers' perspectives on recent Belgian changes in the probation service

Find it with OLinks
A Bauwens - Probation Journal, 2009 - prb.sagepub.com
Abstract Throughout the last decade Belgium's criminal justice sector – and its probation service
in particular – has undergone a period of rapid change gener- ated by public criticism, political
pressure and calls for reform. This qualitative study highlights how structural changes ...

13.  What are the most important ethical considerations for social science researchers?

Click here when you are ready to upload your answers:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHVMVkRkSGFTYjZMM3lIWDJEVXoyRnc6MQ

Link list

Weeks

Week    01     Readings        Discussion     Survey

Week    02    Readings      Discussion     QuizW2

Week    03    Readings      Discussion     QuizW3

Week    04    Readings      Discussion     QuizW4

Week    05    Readings      Discussion     QuizW5

Week    06    Readings      Discussion     Other

Week    07    Readings      Discussion     Other

Week    08    Readings      Discussion     Other

Week    09    Readings      Discussion     Other

Week    10    Readings      Discussion     Other

Week    11    Readings      Discussion     Other