To reach the course home page, go to the VCU Blackboard courses page (http://blackboard.vcu.edu).  After you login, you will be taken to a page called My Blackboard (your Blackboard home page). Under the title "My Courses" the Blackboard courses in which you are enrolled will be listed. Click on "Research Methods in the Social Sciences" to get into the home page.  Check the course home page frequently for announcements and changes to the course assignments/due dates or schedule.  (This is particularly important during the winter months, in case VCU classes are cancelled due to inclement weather!)

Dr. Julie Honnold

Department of Sociology

820 W. Franklin (Bird House), room 201

Office Hours: Monday 10-12; Wednesday 1-2. I have these times marked on my calendar. However, my office hours may be preempted occasionally by meetings at the Survey and Evaluation Research Laboratory. If possible, it's best to call first. If these times aren't convenient, we can arrange another time by appointment.

Phone: 828-2200

e-mail: jahonnol@vcu.edu

To send an e-mail to a fellow student (or to me) from the course home page, click on Communication, Send E-mail. E-mail is really the best way to get in touch with me.  I check my e-mail much more frequently than I check my phone messages, even when off-campus.

SOCY/POLI 205 Introduction to Social Science Computing is listed as a pre- or co-requisite for this course in the undergraduate bulletin. The department is offering two sections of SOCY/POLI 205 this semester:  SOCY/POLI 205-001 (8/26/03-9/25/03) (TR 3:30-4:45 in Hibbs B-008) and SOCY/POLI 205-002 (9/30/03-10/30/03) (TR 3:30-4:45 in Hibbs B-008). Please note that SOCY/POLI 205 is a requirement for the Sociology major. That said, I won't refuse to allow you to take this course without 205, since we don't go beyond an elementary level in our use of SPSS. However, you should be aware that the data analysis assignments involving use of SPSS will be easier if you have taken or are taking 205.

The importance of the collection, analysis, and interpretation of social scientific data increased dramatically during the last half of the 20^th century and will undoubtedly become even more critical in the 21^st. I doubt that I could overstate the importance of this trend. If you take this course seriously, you should finish with the ability to:

1. be a more sophisticated consumer of social scientific data;
2. evaluate research findings critically in your other social science classes by taking into consideration the research methods used to generate the results;
3. conduct elementary data analyses using a popular social scientific software program (SPSS).

The required textbook for the course is The Basics of Social Research by Earl Babbie, Wadsworth, second edition, 2002. The text is available at the VCU Bookstore.

Aside from the usual admonitions (e.g., come on time, stay for the whole class, keep on task, don’t disrupt the class), I’d like to add one that applies because we are meeting in a computer laboratory. During class meeting time, I expect every student to be paying attention to course materials, at the course Web site or another location relevant to what we are discussing.

You are strongly encouraged, but not required, to attend class. Beginning on September 3 (the first class meeting after the end of the add/drop period), I will keep a record of attendance for all classroom days. At the end of the semester, I will calculate the percentage of days that you have attended, using as the denominator all text chapter coverage days and the data entry day for the Chapter 9 assignment. If you habitually come in late, leave early, or use the computer for non-class purposes during class times, I will enter a participation black mark to that effect. If you attend 85% or more of the classes mentioned above without having any major participation issues, I will raise your final grade by one point (e.g., 79=>80=B, 89=>90=A). If you have a family emergency or documented, extended illness, please give me hard copy evidence of your absences for my files, so that I can consider this at grading time.

In addition to this incentive, you should be aware that successful completion of the SPSS assignments will be much more likely if you attend every class.  I will demonstrate the techniques needed to do the assignments in class on a regular basis. If you're lost or confused, please stop me and ask questions. You'll get much more out of the class if you let me know what I need to discuss in class.

If you have a disability and need special assistance in class or for exams, please bring the appropriate form from the Students with Disabilities Office to me. At that time we will make the appropriate arrangements for you. You should discuss this with me as soon as possible, since I may give extra credit exams on the Blackboard system at any time after September 3.  Further information about your rights and the Students with Disabilities Office can be obtained on the Web: http://www.students.vcu.edu/rg/rg1access.html.

The last day this semester to withdraw from a course with a mark of "W" is October 31. For this year's full University academic year calendar, see the following link: http://www.vcu.edu/academiccalendars/pdf/ac0304.pdf

In-class Exams (300 points)

Each of the three regularly scheduled in-class exams will consist of 50 multiple choice or true/false questions on the chapters indicated. Questions can come either from the text or from classroom activities/presentations. Approximately one week before each exam, I will post a sample exam in the Course Documents section. Depending on the difficulty of the exam, I may award grade curve points to be added to your score.

If you have to miss a regular exam due a verified medical or personal emergency, I will allow you to take a make-up exam. All make-up exams will consist of essay questions only.  I will not award any grade curve points on a make-up exam.  During Finals Week, I will offer an optional final exam (same format as the in-class exams; 125 questions). The final will cover all materials in the course, and no grade curve will be given on the final. Some of the questions on the final exam will be from previous exams; however, other questions will be new. You should study all course materials if you want to get a good grade on the final exam. If your score on the final exam is higher than your lowest regular class exam, I will substitute the final exam score for your lowest score, up to a maximum of the two lowest regular class exams. For example, if your three exam scores are 61, 70, and 75, and you get a 68 on the optional final, your three exam scores for final grade calculation will now be 68, 70, and 75. If you had gotten an 80 on the final, your three exam scores for final grade calculation would now be 80, 80, and 75. If you miss a regular exam and don't take a make-up exam, you'll need to take the optional final. This is not advisable.  It's very difficult to review all of the course materials at the end of the semester and get a high grade on the final. I strongly suggest that you keep up with the pace of the course, study hard, and take all of the exams when they are scheduled.

Chapter Exercises (130 points)

For many of the chapters covered in the Babbie text, I will assign an exercise.  On the Has2 share drive (the L drive on the lab computers), you will find two data files that you will be analyzing using SPSS: (1) the 2000 General Social Survey (l:/faculty/jhonnold/socy 320-fall03/data files/gss2000_320.sav) and (2) social scientific data from 109 countries (l:/faculty/jhonnold/socy 320-fall03/data files/world95.sav). We will be working with the GSS file first. You should copy the GSS file onto a diskette or zip disk at the beginning of the semester and use your copy for the exercises, since you will be creating variables in earlier exercises that you will want to save for use in later exercises.  If you wish to purchase SPSS for your personal use, you may do so at Online@VCU for a price of $15 (http://www.at.vcu.edu/faq/stats/spss.html).

The exercises will be posted in the Assignments section of the course and will be due according to the schedule in this syllabus. Nine of the ten exercises will be worth 15 points each and one (Chapter 9) will be worth 25 points. At the end of the semester, I will count the highest seven of the nine 15-point exercises (maximum=105 points) and your score on the 25-point Chapter 9 exercise (maximum=25 points). All exercises must be typed. If you turn in an exercise after its due date, I will deduct three late points for a 15-point exercise and five late points for the 25-point exercise before I grade it, no matter what the reason for the lateness. If you have a verified medical or personal emergency, I will consider not assigning late points. Since computer malfunctions are difficult to verify independently, I will not accept any computer-related excuse for a late exercise.  

Extra Credit Opportunities

I will give several unannounced extra credit quizzes during the semester. Each quiz will contain material covered within the past few classroom days and may be administered at any time during the class period. Because these are extra credit, you will not be able to make them up if you are absent, no matter what the reason for your absence. Each quiz will be worth a maximum of 10 points.

The total number of possible points in the course is 430 (in-class exams=300 points, chapter exercises=130 points).  This is the denominator of the grading fraction.  For the numerator, I will add your scores for the three in-class exams, the chapter exercises, and the extra credit exams. The grading scale is: 90% or above=A, 80-89%=B, 70-79%=C, 60-69%=D, 59% or below=F.  If your total grade has a decimal point value (e.g., 385/430=89.53%), I will round up to the next highest integer (90, in this example). I will also round up one point on the final grade for good attendance (85% or more) and participation during the semester (see discussion above).

The Honor Code is an important part of academic life at VCU. Note that in the VCU Honor System (http://www.students.vcu.edu/rg/policies/rg7honor.html) there are two kinds of course work, pledged and unpledged. Pledged work must be completed independently, without giving or receiving assistance from another. All exams and extra-credit quizzes in this class will be pledged work. Unpledged work may be completed in collaboration with others as directed by the instructor. The chapter exercises include both pledged and unpledged portions  For the parts of these exercises involving the use of SPSS, you may give assistance to other students or receive assistance from them.  However, the written parts of the assignments must be completed independently, without giving or receiving assistance.

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