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OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION OF COURSE
This course has two objectives. The first is to develop an understanding of and basic skills in the design of empirical research for answering social science and policy research questions. In this regard, the course complements required doctoral courses in qualitative methods and statistical analysis. By building on those courses and the information and methods covered during the semester, you will be able to design and execute empirical research. In the companion to this course, URBN 7030 Research Practicum, you will be able practice the skills you begin to develop during this semester. In combination, URBN 7020 and URBN 7030 are designed to help you further develop the skills needed to execute a dissertation project.
The second objective is to foster an ability to critically evaluate the products of empirical research. In that regard, we recognize that you will be both producing and consuming research during the course of your career. Using the material covered during the semester you will be in a better position to discern good research from bad research — an important skill, because what we know about the world (government programs, business decisions, etc.) is based, in part, on the products of empirical research.
The course is organized into four sections.
- The first examines the scientific and logical foundations of social science research.
- The second introduces the basic terminology of social science research design and looks at a number of key elements and decisions in executing a research project, including conceptualization and measurement; converting concepts into operational measures; creating indexes, scales, and typologies; and sampling.
- The third examines different ways of gathering data to answer research questions (experiments, surveys, field research, case studies, available data, and mixed methods), along with data processing and research ethics.
- The final part of the course is devoted to the presentation and critique of student-generated proposals for research that will be conducted during URBN 7030.
PROCEDURES AND REQUIREMENTS
Seminar sessions will combine diagnostic quizzes, discussion of key concepts and points by the instructors, and student-led review and discussion of the assigned reading.
One student will be assigned as discussion leader for each class session, but all students are responsible for completing the assigned reading prior to class and considering the review questions and exercises that follow each chapter in the principal text (Singleton and Straits). Since all seminar participants will have read the assigned reading, discussion leaders should avoid merely summarizing what they have read, although provision of an outline of the reading will be useful. Instead, discussion leaders should focus class attention on key issues or considerations raised in the assigned reading, bring to seminar participants' attention ancillary reading from the research methods bibliography, and in other ways supplement what we learn from the assigned reading.
In many seminar sessions, students also will be responsible for presenting the results of short exercises designed to provide practice in using the concepts discussed in the reading assignments. These include: construction of operational measures of concepts; construction of samples; and outlines of research designs using experimental, case study, and survey methods. Material prepared by discussion leaders and all student assignments to be presented at class sessions must be distributed to seminar participants by 5:00 PM of the Monday before class at the latest. Material may be distributed via e-mail attachments to the instructors and to participants.
Finally, at the conclusion of the course, students are responsible for preparing a detailed research design in the form of a research proposal, which will be presented during the final class session on December 4. The paper presenting the proposal is due December 6. No incompletes other than for medical reasons will be given. |