Syllabus

Research Methods 500

SYLLABUS

SOC500 SEMINAR IN APPLIED SOCIOLOGY

Frank Taylor, Ph.D.

332 Centennial Hall

ftaylor@edinboro.edu

Phone: ext. 1591

Offices Hours: MWF 9:00 am to 10:00 am and MW 5:00pm to 6:00pm

                        TR by appointment

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce you to applied sociology. The emphasis will be on using The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), a computer software program which performs statistical operations. You will learn how to use SPSS to create a data base, access, examine and save data, and how to perform descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. You will learn how to construct and recode variable. Additionally, you will learn to use SPSS to assess the degree to which two variables are associated, to compare group means, and to assess the influence of multiple independent variables on one dependent variable. You will work in the classroom, in the computer lab, and on your own.

Text

Sweet, Stephen A. and Karen Grace-Martin. 2003. Data Analysis with SPSS: A First Course in Applied Statistics.

Course Requirements

1.      Attendance and Participation: You are expected to attend the class and obtain my permission to be absent. Participation is extremely important to success in this class and you will not be successful if you are absent. At some point you may be assigned data to enter in the program, either for a project the EUP has asked the department to work on, or for another student collecting original data. You will receive credit for this.

2.      Weekly homework Assignments: You will be assigned exercises from the book on a regular basis. It is a good idea to form study groups and to help each other out as much as possible with these. I will have a graduate assistant who will be available for you to consult with on these matters.

3.      Examinations: There will be only two examinations – one midterm, and one final. Both examinations will be taken in class.

4.      Research Project and Report: You will work on a research project which includes accessing data, conducting a statistical analysis, and writing a report. You report will include a literature review, methods section, analysis section, findings and conclusions, and a bibliography. Depending upon the discretion of the instructor, you may complete an independent project, which includes the collection of your own data. Most likely, you will work in a group.

Standards of Achievement

Grade Scale

Lecture Room

Hendricks 125

We will move to a laboratory if it can be arranged.