Prof. Emily Tumpson Molina | Fall 2021
Prof. Emily Tumpson Molina | Fall 2021

Schedule

Date

Topic

 

Due at the beginning of class

 

In-class lab

Wednesday 8/25

 

Introduction to the course

 

1/Infographic critique and math review

Monday 8/30

Description: Arrow circle outline

When + why are quant methods useful in research?

Read Pager and Shepherd, “The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets,” Annual Review of Sociology 34: 181-209

 

2/When are quantitative methods appropriate?

 

Wednesday 9/1

Description: Cause And Effect outline

When, how, + why to measure/ quantify social “stuff”

 

Read Harvard University Program on Survey Research, Tip Sheet on Question Wording )

+

Read Raskoff, “Measuring Abortion Beliefs” http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2009/06/measuring-abortion-beliefs.html

3/ Operationalizing

Monday 9/6 – Wednesday 9/8

NO CLASSES

 

 

 

Monday 9/13

Description: Clipboard Partially Checked outline

When/why to design surveys

Read

Sternheimer, “The Art and Science of Survey Writing” http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/04/the-art-and-science-of-survey-writing.html

 

4/Online surveys

Wednesday 9/15

NO CLASS

 

 

 

Monday 9/20

Description: Cycle with people outline

How to design sampling strategies

* Exercise 1 due *

+

Read: Guide to sampling methods and best practices: Find out how sampling works, when to use it and how to select a representative sample for your research survey.: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/sampling-methods/

+

Read

Sternheimer, “Sociology and the Census” http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2010/03/sociology-and-the-census.html

5/Sampling strategies

Wednesday 9/22

Putting it all together:

research design +

spreadsheets

Read KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: Parents and the Pandemic: Aug 11, 2021: https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-parents-and-the-pandemic-methodology/

+

Read through this Google Forms tutorial: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9991170?hl=en&ref_topic=9348489

Group proposal work – turn in progress by end of class

Monday 9/27

You have a spreadsheet! Now what?:

Basic descriptive statistics

* Exercise 2 due *

+

Read and examine infographic: Absolutely everything (including housing) is more expensive in NYC, BY VIRGINIA K. SMITH | FEBRUARY 3, 2017 – 9:59AM  https://www.brickunderground.com/live/cost-of-living-infographic-NYC

Group proposal due by end of class

Wednesday 9/29

Visualizing data

Read Steelberg, “Data Presentation: Showcasing Your Data with Charts and Graphs,” from Creating Data Literate Students: http://datalit.sites.uofmhosting.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Chapter_7_Steelberg.pdf

6/Graphs and charts in Excel

Monday 10/4

Summary statistics: measures of central tendency

Read “Central Tendency and Variability” https://soc.utah.edu/sociology3112/central-tendency-variability.php

+

Read Raskoff, “Measures of Central Tendency” http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2015/04/measures-of-central-tendency.html

7/Measures of central tendency in Excel

Wednesday 10/6

 

Summary statistics: measures of dispersion

Read and examine the infographic:

Infographic: shows most common birthdays. Emma Waverman.  September 17, 2014 https://www.todaysparent.com/blogs/birthdays-most-common/  

Look at these examples of histograms, pick a favorite, and come prepared to explain why:

Examples of histograms: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/search/?q=histogram&restrict_sr=1

8/Measures of dispersion in Excel

Monday 10/11

NO CLASS

 

 

 

Wednesday 10/13

Description: Ringer with solid fill

MIDTERM REVIEW

Come prepared with questions!

 

Monday 10/18

Description: List outline

MIDTERM EXAM

 

 

Wednesday 10/20

Description: Dice outline

Probabilities +

Z-scores + the “normal distribution”

Listen (9 minutes): NPR Podcast (9 minutes): https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/998375633/were-bad-at-calculating-risk

 

Read Stewart, Evan. “Normal Distributions in the Wild – Sociological Images.” The Society Pages (blog), September 11, 2019. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2019/09/11/normal-distributions-in-the-wild/.

 

9/Probabilities and risk

Monday 10/25

Description: Normal Distribution outline

The logic behind polling: the sampling distribution

Read Nate Silver, The Polls Weren’t Great. But That’s Pretty Normal. NOV. 11, 2020, AT 12:53 PM. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-polls-werent-great-but-thats-pretty-normal/  

SUST students read “Developing a Wastewater Surveillance Sampling Strategy | Water-Related Topics | Healthy Water | CDC,” June 23, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/wastewater-surveillance/developing-a-wastewater-surveillance-sampling-strategy.html.

10/Evaluating polls

Wednesday 10/27

Description: Scales of justice outline

Estimation, confidence intervals, + the margin of error

 

Read Sternheimer, “Get to Know MoE: Why the Margin of Error Matters” http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2016/02/get-to-know-moe-why-the-margin-of-error-matters.html (on Blackboard)

+

Read Lopes, Lunna, Mellisha Stokes, et al. “KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: Parents and the Pandemic – Methodology.” KFF (blog), August 11, 2021. https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-parents-and-the-pandemic-methodology/

11/Confidence intervals + margin of error

Monday 11/1

Description: Ringer with solid fill

QUIZ REVIEW

Come prepared with questions!

 

Wednesday 11/3

Description: List outline

QUIZ

 

 

Monday 11/8

Description: Open book outline

Intro to bivariate analysis +

T-tests

Everyone read: Urban Institute. “Paired Testing,” December 10, 2014. https://www.urban.org/research/data-methods/data-analysis/quantitative-data-analysis/impact-analysis/paired-testing  

SOC students read: Whaling et al. (2020), “Reduced child maltreatment prevention service case openings during COVID-19” : https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-30930/v1


SUST students read: Weber et al. (2017) “The impact of urban greenways on residential concerns: Findings from the Atlanta BeltLine Trail” (https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/2017/ja_2017_johnson_003.pdf)

12/T-tests

Wednesday 11/10


χ2

Bivariate tables +

Chi square

Read Misra et al. (2020), “Determinants of Depression Risk among Three Asian American Subgroups in New York City” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518536/)

13/Bivariate tables and chi square

Monday 11/15

Description: Filter outline

Working with bivariate tables in Excel

Sue, V., & Griffin, M. (2016). Data visualization & presentation with microsoft office. SAGE Publications, Inc https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781483397375 https://methods.sagepub.com/Book/data-visualization-and-presentation-with-microsoft-office

(EMILY F – help?)

14/Bivariate tables in Excel

Wednesday 11/17

 

Visualizing info from bivariate tables

https://methods.sagepub.com/Book/data-visualization-and-presentation-with-microsoft-office

(EMILY F – help?)

15/Visualizing bivariate relationships

Monday 11/22

Description: Scatterplot outline

When you have interval variables:

Scatterplots

Correlation

* Exercise 3 due *

+

Read Ryzin et al. (2008), “ Measuring Street Cleanliness: A Comparison of New York City’s Scorecard and Results from a Citizen Survey“ (https://www-proquest-com.ez-proxy.brooklyn.cuny.edu/docview/197174673?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:primo&accountid=7286)

 

16/Scatterplots + correlation in Excel

Wednesday 11/24

Description: Linear Graph outline

Getting fancier:

Simple regression

Read  Regression Analysis: In: Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods Edited by: Paul J. Lavrakas Published: 2008 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963947.n461 https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-survey-research-methods/n461.xml

(Emily F – help?)

 

17/Regression in Excel

Monday 11/29

Description: Postit Notes outline

Bivariate analysis review

 

18/Interpreting bivariate analyses

Wednesday 12/1

Description: Group brainstorm outline

Group research and preparation

* Exercise 4 due *

 

 

Monday 12/6

Description: Customer review outline

Group research and preparation

 

 

Wednesday 12/8

Description: Presentation with pie chart outline

Presentations

* Individual report + Infographic due *

 

 

Monday 12/13

Description: Ringer with solid fill

Review for final

Come prepared with questions!

 

Monday 12/20

Description: List outline

FINAL EXAM

NOTE: 1-3p

 

Schedule.SOCY2112F21Draft

 

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