DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY



Department of Sociology

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Soci 100: Introduction to Sociological Research

Fall 2016

Professor Wilde

Office: 292 McNeil Building

Office Hours: MW: 1:00-2:00pm ***Please email Marcus Wright (marcuswr@sas.upenn.edu) to request an appointment with Professor Wilde if you plan to attend office hours

Lecture: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:00am – 12:00pm, McNeil 286

Teaching Assistants & Recitations:

Liz Jacobs (eljacobs@sas.upenn.edu)

Recitations: 404 – Friday, 10-11am; 405 – Friday, 11am – 12pm

Office Hours: Monday 12:00-1:00pm in McNeil Atrium, 2nd Floor

Tyler Baldor (tbaldor@sas.upenn.edu)

Recitations: 402 – Thursday, 9:30-10:30am; 403 – Thursday, 10:30-11:30am

Office Hours: Tuesday 12:00-1:00pm in McNeil Atrium, 2nd Floor

Overview: This course will give students an understanding of the common research methods social scientists use to conduct social research – in other words, we will be learning how “to do” sociology. Ethnographic, interview, survey, experimental and historical research methods will be covered. Three themes will be explored: 1) the various advantages and disadvantages of those methods, 2) when the use of one method is appropriate or inappropriate for the research question, and 3) how to evaluate researchers’ claims on the basis of the evidence they present. These themes will be explored by reading examples of and through exercises using each of these methods.

Required Books:

Armstrong, Elizabeth and Laura Hamilton. 2015. Paying for the Party. Harvard University Press.

Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nausbaum. 1974. Salem Possessed. Harvard University Press.

Davidman, Lynn. 1991. Tradition in a Rootless World: Women Turn to Orthodox Judaism. University of California Press.

Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Crown Publishers.

Edin, Kathryn and Maria Kefalas. 2011. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put

Motherhood before Marriage. University of California Press.

Klinenberg, Eric. 2002. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. The University of

Chicago Press.

MacAdam, Doug. 1990. Freedom Summer. Oxford University Press.

Macleod, Jay. 1995. Ain’t No Making It. Westview Press.

Smith, Christian et al. 1998. American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving. University of Chicago Press.

Viscelli, Steve. 2016. The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream. University

of California Press.

Wilde, Melissa J. 2007. Vatican II: A Sociological Analysis of Religious Change. Princeton University Press.

Optional Reading:

Becker, Howie and Pamela Richards. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish your Thesis, Book or Article. University of Chicago Press.

Evaluation: The grade scale for this course is: A+ (100), A (98-95), A- (94- 90), B+ (89-87), B (86-84), B – (83-80), C+ (79-77), C (76-74), C – (73-70), D+ (69-67), D (66-64), D – (63-60), F ( ................
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