Spring 2020  |  SOC 4821 Section 001: Measuring the Social World: Concepts and Analysis (65581)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option No Audit
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
02/14/2020 - 05/04/2020
Tue, Thu 09:45AM - 11:00AM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 440
 
01/21/2020 - 02/13/2020
Tue, Thu 09:45AM - 11:00AM
UMTC, West Bank
Carlson School of Management L-126
Enrollment Status:
Closed (28 of 28 seats filled)
Course Catalog Description:
In this course, you will develop practical social science data analysis skills for use in the non-profit or corporate workplace or in a graduate program of research. You will assess the measurement of important social concepts, like race, health, or education, in large social surveys, and the strengths and weaknesses of those different measurement techniques. You will conduct data analysis on large datasets (see, e.g., www.ipums.org) using a statistical software program, such as STATA. You will develop a substantive, empirical final project (poster and paper) based on your analysis. prereq: SOC 3801 or equiv, and SOC 3811 or equivalent
Class Notes:
Click this link for more detailed course information: http://classinfo.umn.edu/?liebler+SOC4821+Spring2020
Class Description:

In this course, students will come to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the ways in which social concepts have been measured in important, large-scale data sets. The course will include extensive class discussion, a number of guest speakers, and substantial class time in a computer lab doing hands-on work with STATA or SPSS. Students will gain deep familiarity with the data sources available through www.ipums.org. We will also discuss basics of presenting results from the analysis of quantitative data. Using their quantitative analysis skills and a deep understanding of measurement issues, students will develop a substantive, empirical final project using one of the above data sets.

This course fits at the intersection between the sociology department's social statistics course (Soc 3811), its sociology methods course (Soc 3801), and substantive courses on topics such as race, class, gender, health, and education. Students will deepen their understanding of how ascribed and achieved social statuses are operationalized in real social science data and research, strengthening substantive knowledge. At the same time, students will apply the training they gained in their statistics and methods classes, thus enhancing their understanding of that material and their ability to use it. Students will become proficient in learning new data sets, getting the data on to their computer, producing high quality quantitative information, presenting this clearly, and thoughtfully describing what the data do and do not show. The combination of skills developed in this course has very practical applications, whether in the non-profit or corporate workplace or in moving forward with a quantitative or qualitative graduate program of research.

This course can be used toward earning a bachelor's of science in sociology. Course goals are consistent with the Student Learning Outcomes in which students master a body of knowledge and a mode of inquiry.

The data are hosted by projects at the Minnesota Population Center and students will benefit from guest speakers who work on creating and maintaining these data bases. As students become experts in the hands-on use of the web-based data extraction technology, they will develop practical skills and knowledge useful for handling other data sources.

Grading:

In-class participation and engagement = 20% of grade

Base Group presentations = 20% of grade

Detailed plan for empirical project (due week 12) = 10% of grade

Draft of poster (due week 14) = 10% of grade

Draft of write-up (at least 5 pages; due week 14) = 10% of grade

Final poster (presentation is during the scheduled time of the final) = 15% of grade

Final write-up (5-8 pages; due finals week) = 15% of grade
Exam Format:
There are no exams in this class
Class Format:

This class is organized into three sections. A substantive introduction to how and why we might measure ascribed and achieved statuses; a hands-on look at a number of large-scale survey/census data sets to understand how these master statuses are actually measured; and a concentrated time in which to develop and finalize an independent project.

Based on interest, students will be assigned to a Base Group of 3-4 students. Each Base Group will focus on a single core concept throughout the course (e.g., race, gender, families, education, migration, occupations, or health) and will have classwork and homework assignments targeted to the concept and collaborative with their Base Group. Each Base Group will be responsible for achieving a broad and deep understanding of material related to the concept and will serve as a resource on that topic for others.

Section 1: Concepts and Conceptualization - What are we trying to measure? Why? This portion of the class will have substantive readings, lectures, and in-class discussions about the Base Group concepts, including how other sociologists have conceptualized the concept and reasons for studying this aspect of the social world.

Section 2: Data Resources - In this section of the class, we will go through each of the data resources. Each data resource will be covered on a Thursday and then the following Tuesday. Thursdays will be devoted to getting an overview of the data from a guest speaker, extracting and opening the data, and creating Base Group reports on the primary concepts. On Tuesdays, each Base Group will give a 4-5 minute presentation about ways in which their concept has been measured in the data, pros and cons of each way of measuring, and any cross-time or cross-data set issues. After the presentations, students will complete in-class worksheets with the data to master data manipulation and analysis.

Section 3: Prepare and Present New Analyses - The final section will include time devoted to students finalizing their own projects, as well as lectures and discussions on how to effectively present results from studies using quantitative data. Final projects will include empirical analyses of relationships between course concepts. Students will develop and present analyses which include univariate and multivariate descriptive and inferential statistics, including a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the data, measures, and methods used.
Workload:
Consistent with university guidelines, students should expect to spend 6 hours a week outside of class doing work for this class.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/65581/1203
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
27 March 2018

ClassInfo Links - Spring 2020 Sociology Classes

To link directly to this ClassInfo page from your website or to save it as a bookmark, use:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?subject=SOC&catalog_nbr=4821&term=1203
To see a URL-only list for use in the Faculty Center URL fields, use:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?subject=SOC&catalog_nbr=4821&term=1203&url=1
To see this page output as XML, use:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?subject=SOC&catalog_nbr=4821&term=1203&xml=1
To see this page output as JSON, use:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?subject=SOC&catalog_nbr=4821&term=1203&json=1
To see this page output as CSV, use:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?subject=SOC&catalog_nbr=4821&term=1203&csv=1
Schedule Viewer
8 am
9 am
10 am
11 am
12 pm
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
6 pm
7 pm
8 pm
9 pm
10 pm
s
m
t
w
t
f
s
?
Class Title