Sociology 8
Sense & Nonsense of Social Research
California State University, Sacramento
Course
Objectives
Reading
Materials
Other
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Grades
Assignments
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Units
Catalog Description: Introduces basic steps in the research process, enabling critical evaluation of research reports that affect social decision-making and actions. This course emphasizes the logical steps involved in thinking critically about social research and social issues such as, quality of operational definitions, adequacy in research design, magnitude of sampling errors, value assumptions, logical consistency between premises and conclusions, and the structure of arguments.
Students are taught to use electronic resources to recognize common errors in social research by searching through literature, parcitipating in discussions and conducting surveys on cyber space.
Computer knowledge is desirable but not required.
The overall goal of the course is to provide students with the skills to evaluate research and weigh its implications for decision-making. The research may be reported in newspapers, TV commercials or in web sites, with reference to consumer products, policy issues in education, engineering, medicine, etc. As citizen, consumer, or professional, we are frequently required to decide upon and justify a course of action. The quality of our decision depends upon our ability to gather and evaluate appropriate information and to distinguish opinions from facts, beliefs from knowledge.
The secondary goal is to furnish students with competence in electronic communication and data processing.
Intermediate steps in the achievement of these goals include:
- Learning to search for research reports on the web (Webquest).
- Conducting surveys through ListServ and Newsgroup.
- Participating in debate via Conferencing and Chatting.
- Exchanging opinions via E-mail.
The class will engage in a research project in "Ethics of American Youth":
- Value orientation
- Honesty
- Responsibility
- Respect for others
The class will be divided into small groups each to examine one of the above substantive areas by one of the following methods:
- Webquest to search for existing research
- Survey to collect public opinion
- Exchange opinions via computer conference and chat session
The following assignments are due on the dates indicated. Refer to the course calendar for a quick overview of assignments, exams and events.
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Webquest: assignment detail page or unit detail page. |
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Netgroups: |
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Conference and chatroom |
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Research Proposal: |
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Oral presentation |
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Written report |
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Look at the detail given in the
Essay
Expectations example from Santa Rosa Junior College
and the posting of a student's
"A"
paper.
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A |
Outstanding achievement; you might want to
link to an "A" paper or project |
Minimum points or percentage |
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B |
Excellent performance; clearly exceeds course requirements |
minimum points or percentage |
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C |
Average |
minimum points or percentage |
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D |
Passed, but not at average achievement standards |
minimum points or percentage |
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Incomplete: Enter information on the department's policy for issuing incomplete. | |
Required: The text for the course this semester is/are:
Earl B. Babbie, Social Research For Consumers. Wadsworth(Bookstore)
Suggested Readings: The list below contains supplemental readings pertaining to the course.
- Josephson's Institute, Ethics of American Youth.(Reserve Book Room, Library): recommended
- Link to web resources listed on the Course Resources page
- Ethics survey
- Multicultural Education Discussion Board
Course Unit 2: Ethics of American Youth
Course Unit 3:
Course Unit 4:
Course Unit 5:
Samples from other sites:
Introduction
to Philosophy,
Nursing
591,
Writing
122,
Text
Books and Course Materials example,
Computer
Access information on BIO 100/101 course (listed at the
bottom of the page)
DEPARTMENT / CSUS