Final Research Report

Lime cat sez use your brain. 

What do you need to create for the final research report?   The description of the assignment is  here:
Read these instructions:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kQQHDh6uhIuaoWl_LWCDaAYobMGSRriBFiFUT8YYQG8/edit
USE THIS DATA: http://db.tt/JjeomqVk

Create your document and share it with Ted Now:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dC00N0padE03NTZGM3FROWlfc2ZRbkE6MQ

See newly added examples on using excel here: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bsW0w9XxYwpiHOxDz-5b6c9CNPdXeHK0BOOg5_L8Ibw/edit


But here are the instructions in a nutshell:

1. Use the data we collected to describe patterns in the variables we collected. 
1. use your brain to find interesting things to look at
2. Here is the link to the final data set.   please download it and save a version of your own on your computer, or to your USB drive, or to Dropbox-- wherever you prefer to store your important files: USE THIS DATA: http://db.tt/JjeomqVk
2. look for patterns in how some variables are related to others. 
1. Use your brain to come up with interesting variables
2. Display the results in interesting ways
3. Then right up what you found in a summary with the same general format as the abstract assignment. 
1. The details of what to include are in the link above
4. The dataset is NOW ready.  
1. The first step is to create some basic descriptive statistics, and create some new variables that might be interesting. 
2. Next step would be to make some graphs that would be potentially informative.
5. This is an exploratory study--  you need to do some exploring.  Not all of your explorations will end up being noteworthy.  
1. I will start adding examples of things you can create in excel.   I will start with how to make transformed versions of your variables.
6. The phrase "use your brain"  is a joking way to emphasize that there are many hard parts of doing research-- but one of the most difficult is figuring out how to learn something interesting from the data. This takes effort, and is hard to teach, but is demonstrated in the research that we read for HW2.

Creating new variables: Tips and techniques

See the google doc for info on creating variables.  Leave comments there if you have questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bsW0w9XxYwpiHOxDz-5b6c9CNPdXeHK0BOOg5_L8Ibw/edit

Here is a link to the comment data sheet as an excel that I used in the above example. Use it to practice making variables.  I will post a different data set that combines both of our data sheets once we have all the data collected. http://db.tt/VWMbFBRk

Extra Credit

Go to the Login ID variables google doc.   Sorry I was so slow getting this posted-- but here is a pretty easy chance for some extra credit.  We need to enter karma and the other login ID variables for the rest of the posters in the first 500 messages that we collected content variables for.

So-- here is the deal.   You get 10 pts extra credit for a set of 20, each person is limited to 2 sets max.

1. Go to the google doc
2. claim a set of 20 login ids to code (put your name in the coder field for those 20
3. open the reddit thread
4. search for the login id
5. find it and click the link on the name
6. copy their info into the spreadsheet
7. Finish your 20
8. take a screen shot, and add it to your homework #4 page.
9. 
   

Home Work #4

Turn in Homework #4 here:

1. Step one:   create your google doc of your HW4. 
2. Share with anyone with the link 
3. Copy the link that the dialog box creates
4. Open the following survey, and enter your name and the paste the link. 
5. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFBzekozaS1iVTVYaWtRMV9XWGxacWc6MQ
6. Thanks!

Homework #4 involves data collection (and analysis) from a thread in an online community called reddit.   The thread is one of the most active in recent weeks where people discussed the situation of Scott Olsen.  Scott is a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war who was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister during an 'occupy' protest in Oakland California.

Here are the instructions on HW4-- you can get started on the first two tasks as soon as you want.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VVpqOjxgNSFaVBfPQQ5_EIC0kTaNNrDyRqiC7Nim8LE/edit

Here is a link to the thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/lq1y3/scott_olsen_twotour_veteran_of_the_iraq_war_who/?limit=500

Here is the link to the “Login ID Variables" datasheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArdK55LJYgKQdFdhWGhaOGVQaGkyUlZDQ19IUEFIMmc

Here is the link to the OlsenMessageContentCoding
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArdK55LJYgKQdHJfN3FBUk11M2ZyTklRbnh3R0JLeGc


Initial tasks:

1. Read some of the thread.  There are over 2000 posts in the discussion so you should read a selection.  
1. Notice that you can change the order of how posts are displayed by choosing different sort options (the default is best).   
2. Begin identifying attributes of the discussion that we might want to measure.  
1. attributes of the content
1. what people talked about, media, violence, etc.
2. attributes of how people talked to others
1. expressed thanks, criticized another poster, 
3. whatever else seems important
4. Note that the posts are voted up or down by other readers and low scoring contributions are, but default, not shown.
3. What do you think is important or interesting about this topic?
4. What do you think is interesting about this conversation?
5. Finally-- you might want to get a sense of related threads or conversations on the site.
6. Finally, finally, here is a quantcast plot of the popularity of the general reddit site over the recent years. 

All of the stories on reddit are contributed by readers / users of the sites, and the links and each persons comment are all subject to voting.   

Last quiz: Hooray!

The last quiz is on lecture and reading material from week 8 (Chapters 9 Experiments + 10 Surveys) and week 9 (Chapters 11 Existing Data + 12 Quantitative Analysis).

The questions will be posted here by Tuesday evening.  The format will be similar to the previous quiz that included 3 or 4 MC questions per chapter and a couple of short answer questions.  To make sure everyone has plenty of time to complete the quiz it will not be due until class time on Thursday.

I still need to create the form for entering the quiz answers-- but here are the questions.

1.   A true experiment is defined by the following conditions:
A.   random stratified sample;  an intervention;  and a control group.
B.   random assignment to experimental condition; an intervention where you change the value of the key variable; and pre- and post tests.
C. random stratified sample; an intervention where you change the value of the key variable; and pre- and post tests.
D.  random stratified sample; an intervention where you change the value of the key variable; and a control group.

2.  Why do researchers do experiments?
A.  To thwart Perry the platypus.
B.  To measure the diversity of opinions in a population.
C.  To distinguish between multiple causal mechanisms.
D.  To test the influence of a key causal mechanism.

3.  Threats to internal validity include
A.  How events unrelated to the treatment occur during the experiment and influence the dependent variable.
B.  The maturation effect.
C.  When some research participants drop out.
D.  When the pretest measure itself affects the result.
E.  Population generalization.
F.  The placebo effect.
G.  A, B, C, D and F
H.  OMG LOL 2-Many choices
I.   A, B, C, D, E and F

4.  Why don’t sociologists use experiments more often?

5.  What is the most widely used data gathering technique in the social sciences?
A.  Experiment
B.  Use of non-reactive data
C.  Survey
D.  Field experiment

6.  A double negative is not different than the opposite of
A.  An untrue answer
B.  Wut?
C.  This question is bad because it confuses the respondent by using multiple negative constructions.
D.  Pinocchio.


7.  One disadvantage of using an open ended question is that

A.  They permit an unlimited number of possible answers.
B.  They are easier and quicker for respondents to answer.
C.  They can suggest ideas that the respondents would not consider.
D.  Responses may be irrelevant and buried in useless detail.


8.  What types of things make people less likely to cooperate with a survey?

9.  What is the key difference between using data from surveys or experiments compared to archival data, like arrest records?
A.  Experiments and surveys are designed by researchers.
B.  People think about the fact they are will be studied when they get arrested.
C. People do not think about the fact that they will be studied when they participate in a survey.
D.  When people get arrested they are not thinking about being the subject of sociological research.

10.  Non-reactive measures that emphasize the fact that that people being studied are not aware of it because the measures do not intrude.
A.  Double blind experiments
B.  Floaters
C. Unobtrusive measures
D. Erosion measures

11.  The study on SES and social capital discussed in Tuesday, Nov 1st’s lecture is an example of how
A.  Survey research can be combined with data from unobtrusive measures.
B.  Collaboration within a single department.
C.  Content analysis and social network analysis.
D.  Unobtrusive data can extend the reach of experimental studies.  

12.  What are some ways that data from online communities provide new insight into social interaction?

13.  What does it mean when the mean is larger than the mode?
A.   The distribution is normal
B.  The distribution is right skewed  (more cases with small values)
C.  The distribution is left skewed  (more cases with large values)

14.  The ability to adjust for the influence of multiple control variables is the advantage of
A.  Correlation
B.  Suppressor variable patterns
C.  Multiple regression analysis
D.  Bi-variate correlations

15.  When a relationships is described as significant it means that
A.  a relationship of that strength is unlikely to be found due to pure chance.
B.  the probability of finding a relationship of that strength is greater than one.
C.  Inferential statistics rely on principles of probability sampling.

16.   Assume that we collect a bunch of variables from the reddit discussion thread data.  What might the descriptive statistics tell us?


click here to enter your answers:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dE05dkNpQzRMTkM1eXNMYkY1cWRpZkE6MQ

Field research update

Update:    How to turn in your HW3:  

• Turn it in online by sharing your google document with Ted at his gmail address.
• Please add the letters HW3:  to the name of the google document.
•  For example, the group studying interaction in the front room could use
  HW3: Frontroom Group Final Paper  as the title of their google doc.
  By including HW3 it makes it easier for me to find all of the final versions of homework 3.
• The project is due on Thursday, by midnight.  I can clarify any questions in class.

1. Due date changed to Thursday the 27th
2. We will spend 1 hour of time in class on Tuesday working in groups.  
1. other hour is lecture on experiments. 
3. Check the assignment description document for links to additional resources (examples)
1. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqxA--uNaq7MN9b-BQSqeJvHnV0eKBIABpANc8U8uXg/edit?hl=en_US
2. Check the BW3 example (linked in the google doc) for comments
3. Examples of ASA reference style are in that document too.
4. Keep collecting observations
5. Type up your notes on your google doc
1. Make sure you share it with h.t.welser@gmail.com
2. Make sure I have an email from your group 
1. Make sure all group member emails are cc-ed in the email.
6. Talk with each other about what you observed to generate possible themes.
7. Come to class on Tuesday with all your observations done and themes identified
8. Send me an email (after sharing notes) it you want comments on theme ideas.  
1. make sure you notes are typed up and interesting parts highlighted if you want comments. 
9. Have a good weekend

Field Research!

Homework #3 should be fun.  It involves people watching and taking notes about interactions you observe in public places.   There are two general steps.

1. Practice making observations.  The first is practicing the art of creating field notes on your observations.  Our initial data collection happened at Baker Center food court area during class on Thursday Oct 12.   Use chapter 13 of Neuman as a guide (see especially 441-449).
1. Make sure you write down you observations and your interpretations.  Many times we interpret before we realize exactly what we observed that lead us to that interpretation.  Reflect on and record both parts. 
2. Deliverable:   Post two note cards to the shared notes on the Baker Center observations, see below.  Due-- before class on Tuesday Oct 18.
3. Thanks everyone who went to the Baker Center for observations
1. Here is the link to the google doc where you can post your note cards.
2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqxA--uNaq7MN9b-BQSqeJvHnV0eKBIABpANc8U8uXg/edit?hl=en_US
4. Below is a template for a digital note card.  Each person should submit two cards to the google doc.  Make sure you include your name on both.

---

Notes:  This is a template-- copy and paste this into a document and overwrite the content with your notes and interpretations.  .  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  ah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.  Blah blah blah blah.

Interpretation: , comment comment, interpretation. .  Blah, comment comment, interpretation.Blah, comment comment, inn.Blah, comment comment, interpretation.

Claim or theme:   people do XYZ

Name:  Ted Welser

---

Writing up your field note in an interesting report  (Due Thursday Oct 27th)

1. Report on Field Research
2. What it includes:    
1. Create it as a google document;  share it with your group and with me.
2. Title should be based on themes that you found
3. Include an image or multiple images (s)
4. Main text describing what you found
1. Introduction
2. General description of setting
3. Findings
1. Finding one
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
2. Finding two
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
3. Finding two
1. Quote or description
2. Interpretation
3. Significance
4. Other observations, as necessary
4. Discussion and conclusion
1. Relevance of observations and themes to other research
1. You need to find sociological and social psychological theory and research that is relevant to your interpretations and observations. This sections should make clear how concepts from research and theory improve or expand our understanding of your setting. 
2. Suggest further investigations:  based on what you have observed, what further inquiries would be worth doing?
5. References
1. Format them in standard ASA format.   

See example of start of a write up here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PqxA--uNaq7MN9b-BQSqeJvHnV0eKBIABpANc8U8uXg/edit?hl=en_US
Part #3.5:     Advice on your write up

The first helpful thing to consider is that there were three general questions that everyone went in with:  
1.  what is the place like
2.  what are the people like
3.  how do they interact

Given those as your general questions, your write up should include info that provides particular answers to those questions.  

It is helpful to start by assuming that your readers don’t know anything about [your study site], can you describe what it is like a bit? You should do this in a way that is accurate and INTERESTING. Vivid details that truly reflect what the place, people, interaction are like are great. Think of observations that EXEMPLIFY what the place is like. It is often helpful to think of the intro as a narrative, as though you are painting a scene for a movie or other type of vivid window into a social world.

After you have moved beyond the sort of general intro to what the place, people and interaction is like, you would want to provide particular observations and themes (your three themes) that give us a more in-depth window into particular folks/interaction/etc. that are interesting and related to ideas from sociology. Consider that your intro has set the stage, now your three key observations should be organized as themes, with the observations providing evidence, an in-depth slice into what some key part of that social world is like, what it means, and should be interesting to us for sociological reasons.

Hope that helps.

Quiz #4!

Seize the toupee!

This quiz covers material from 6,7,8 and 13.  Emphasis is placed on concepts discussed in the book and class.  Remember that you can use your notes and the book while completing your quiz. But you need to do all of your own work on the quiz.

1.  Employing multiple systems to learn about the same question or context is called:

A.  Theoretical sampling
B.  Triangulation
C.  Perspective taking
D.  Operationalization


2.  Suppose that you wanted to study what OU students are like today, and you suspected that because of the higher cost of education more students are behaving like “serious students”.  If you wanted to study this, the first thing you would need to do is refine your __________ of serious student.  Then you would need to ______________ that by creating __________ to measure different levels of being a serious student.   

A.  conceptual definition  . . . .  operationalize . . . indicators
B.  variable   . . . . . . measure . . .. . . dimensions
C.  indicator . . . . .  opererationalize . . . . . dimensions
D.  indicator . .. . . . dimensionalize. . . . . . constructs


3.  A major difference between quantitative and qualitative research design is that qualitative designs will often start by finding a _____________ and deciding on a ____________

A.  community to study . . . . variable to operationalize.
B. dimension to analyze  . . . ..population to sample.  
C.  bicycle     . . . .  fish to pedal it.
D.  community to study . . . . .  perspective to approach that study from.


4.  The process of operationalization is one of

A.  combining down home wisdom with a few raw facts
B.  translating concepts into a set of conditions that can be observed from data.
C.  translating indicators into concepts that can be collected from populations
D.  populating models of social processes


5.  Indicators are the questions you actually ask when you want to measure an underlying construct or concept.

A. True
B. False


6.  Someday, Dr. Welser hopes to be as famous as

A.  Howard Hughes
B.  Daffy Duck
C.  Howard the Duck
D.  Howie Becker


7.   When people know they are being studied they sometimes give a different answer depending on how they think their answer will be evaluated.  This general process is called ________ and often involves a ____________.

A.  interactivity  . . . . .  slide towards acceptance
B.  reactionary . . .. .  biased shift
C.  interaction . . . . . . social approval slide
D.  reactivity . … . .  slide towards acceptance


8.   A valid measurement is said to be an accurate representation of the concept it is intended to measure.  

A.  True
B.  False


9.   A measure is reliable if it is consistent, even if it is off target.

A. True
B.  False



10.   Why do we sample?

A.   Samples keep sociologists busy
B.  For most questions, it is too much hassle and expense to ask everyone
C.  To measure diversity in a population
D.  To increase generalizability


11.  Random samples are good for assessing range of variation for diverse populations with rare types

A.  True
B.  False

12.  Probability sampling gives good estimates of central tendencies because of

A.  the law of large numbers
B.  the fact that sampling error is the difference between sample characteristics and population characteristics.
C.  the true average

13.  An important step in field research is to make the familiar strange.

A.  True
B.  False

14.  Explain why people do field research.

15.  Describe the key steps and procedures involved in taking good field notes.

When you are ready to upload your answers-- click this link.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFh3RlJIc0k4NmJLa0NISUFhTDJLQlE6MQ

Quick upodate:

Presentations are scheduled for today, Tuesday October 4th.   Presentations are worth 30 pts, including preparation, slides, and verbal presentation.  Time will be strictly limited to 8 min per presentation.

Abstracts will be due on Thursday by the start of class.  Bring a printed hard copy.  Make sure yours conforms to the length and style guidelines.

Readings from Tuesday will be combined with those from Thursday and discussed / presented in class on Thursday.

Quiz for this week is postponed and combined with next weeks quiz.  

Quiz 3: Chapters 4&5 Neuman

1. What does the Matrix (spoon is real, there is no spoon issue) have to do with each of the following: ontology, epistemology and social science?


from wikipedia: The film depicts a future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually asimulated reality created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Upon learning this, computer programmer "Neo" is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, involving other people who have been freed from the "dream world" and into reality.




2.  Describe the defining aspects of positivist, interpretive and critical approaches to social science.


3.   What are two of the most important reasons to perform a literature review?


4.  What are the most important ethical principles to consider when designing a social scientific research study?


Quiz due on Wednesday @ 6:00 pm.  turn in your quiz here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFFnVkhfV0NNMUI0ZEpQVEctVnNZd0E6MQ

Article sign up, Homework #2

Please chose the three articles that interest you the most.  I will group people by interest as best I can and assign each student to a group.  Your group will work together to read and summarize the research described in your assigned article.  Groups will present, but individuals will write up their own final drafts of the summaries of the articles.  Details of the assignment are posted in the assignment description, which will be linked on this page on Thursday.

1. “Guarded Borders: Interracial Teen Dating and Difficulties with Peers.”
2.  “Too Cool for School? Peer Status and High School Dropout.” 
3. “Unnecessary Roughness? School Sports, Peer Networks, and Male Adolescent Violence.”
4.  “When it’s Good to be “Bad”: Violence and Adolescent Peer Acceptance.” 
5.  "Strangers in the Halls: Isolation and Delinquency in School Networks.” 
6.  “Delinquency and the Structure of Adolescent Peer Groups.” 
7.  “Dangerous Liaisons? Dating and Drinking Diffusion in Adolescent Peer Networks.” 

Sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFllX3M0andyOFNtYS1scUtUWHdaNVE6MQ

Instructions are here-- don't start working on it till class on Thursday:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11veqfvZ6_fz1AsyrCDIADdIDY29xq2Y3R7rVopRsUL0/edit?hl=en_US

Quiz Week 2

Week 2 Covers Chapters 2 and 3.  The following quiz questions are based on ideas from those chapters.

The quiz is open notes and open book.  But you need to do your own work, the quiz is not group assignment.

Cheers- Ted

Chapter 1 offered an initial, but somewhat simplified description of social research.   There are several important ways that social research varies.

• Use: basic vrs applied
• Purpose: explore, describe, explain
• Case structure:   within case studies, across cases
• Time points:  cross sectional, longitudinal (time series, panel, cohort), case study
• Data collection techniques.   

1.  What are the main differences between basic and applied research?

2.  What are the major types of data collection techniques?

3.  Time point of data collection is a dimension on which research studies vary. Briefly describe the three main types of longitudinal research.

4.   Explain what a cohort is and give an example of your own (not from class or the book).

Chapter 3

5. ____________  are statements about the nature of things that are not directly tested by a theory.
A. Concepts
B. Assumptions
C. Ideal types
D. Implications

6.   What is a theoretical explanation?

7.  What is a positive relationship?

8.  From our GapMinder (countries) example in class today, describe the relationship between per-capita gdp and life expectancy

A.  causal, positive, though possibly spurious and explainable by other variables like inequality
B.  causal, negative, though possibly spurious and explainable by other variables like inequality
C.  not causal, structural, nonspurious
D.  longitudinal, causal, negative

9.  Why does Neuman call the relationship between theory and research a dynamic duo?

A.  Theory does not remain fixed over time.
B.  Theory frames how we look and think about topics.
C.  Theory has a place in virtually all research
D.  Researchers can extend, refute or modify theory on the basis of results.
E.  All of the above
F.  A, C and D; but not B
G.  A, B and C; but not D

10.  An ideal type is

A.  The best type available
B.  A general description of a situation
C.  An abstract model of an event, process or idea
D.  A pure cross classifying combination of simple concepts


The end!

Submit your answers here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEV1c2lxZ190c0VNWmJpeVJiVXBpSmc6MQ