THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Summer 2017 (6/28 - 8/9) Andrea L. Ruiz

MTWRF alr349@psu.edu
10:15am – 12:00pm TBA
071 Willard (computer lab) 307 Oswald Tower

Senior Research Seminar (3).

Major concepts and principles of sociology through reading, data analysis, and writing. Capstone course for
senior sociology majors. Please note that this syllabus is subject to change.

This course is the culmination of undergraduate training in sociology, the capstone that unites the knowledge
and skills you have gained as a major. The goal of this course is to practice social science through designing
and executing a quantitative research project tailored to your interests. This is it—the course you have been
working towards to show to yourself your growth and potential as a social scientist. In other words, this is your
chance to follow your interests, challenge yourself, become a better social scientist, and contribute to
sociological knowledge.

The course is both challenging and rewarding. The challenge is to overcome your mistakes and to endure
through one project. The reward is in discovering new knowledge and becoming better at researching, writing,
and presenting. The process of this course is intense, requiring your attention and focus across the whole
semester. It’s a time to excel on what you’re very good at and to get better at what you’re not yet good at. The
course is iterative, involving class discussion time; class computer labs, revising time; and one on-one tutorials.

We will use the General Social Science (GSS), a cross-sectional, representative study of noninstitutionalized
adults in the United States which has been called the “the mother of all quantitative social science. This syllabus
is a process of adjustment and revision. Students are responsible for keeping track of changes in the course
syllabus made by the instructor throughout the semester.

 Use intuition, evidence, and theory to design a project that links sociological and/or criminological
concepts and ideas to a set of testable research hypotheses.

 Become comfortable searching, evaluating, and understanding peer-reviewed scholarship.

 Know how to use secondary data within a statistical software program using programming code.

 Know how to interpret statistics and discuss substantive meaning.

 Produce a full research paper that reflects:

 The organization of complex ideas into coherent phrases and paragraphs
 Coherent tables presenting results of each statistical model and the levels of significance for each
coefficient included in your regression models
 Your ability to articulately discuss complex ideas, interpret statistical evidence, and discuss the scope
of your project and its main contributions
 How to methodically revise, edit, and improve your paper to produce a polished product.
 a. UCLA Academic Technology Services. Getting Started with SPSS
http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/sk/default.htm

b. Psychology Department, University of Toronto.

http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/courses/c1/spss/toc.htm

a. American Sociological Association

http://www.asanet.org/documents/teaching/pdfs/Quick_Tips_for_ASA_Style.pdf

b. Purdue On-line Writing Lab

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/583/01/

The total number of points possible is 500. Your final grade is based on your cumulated point total, as follows:

465-500 pts 60 12%

450-464 pts
440-449 pts 60 12%
415-439 pts
60 12%
400-414 pts
390-399 pts 90 18%
350-389 pts
180 36%
300-349 pts
< 300 pts 50 10%

1. Summary of research topic, research questions, dataset and variables of interest.

2. Preliminary Descriptive Statistics table of all variables after proper recodes.
3. Understanding the components of a journal article.
4. Literature review sections and corresponding hypotheses.
5. Methods: description of data, variables used, regression analyses and models tested.
6. Multivariate Regression Tables and results.

1. Opening the data, generating univariate descriptives.

2. Bivariate tables, collinearity and relevant statistics.
3. Running different types of multivariate regression models and interpreting coefficients.
4. Model building, model fit, and testing hypotheses.

Individual tutorials will be held during the regular class period in my office (307 Oswald). Each student will
have a designated 15 minute slot.
1. Introduction and Literature Review. Include hypotheses within each subsection.
2. Methods and Results, in addition to Discussion and Conclusion. Include all tables.

Your final paper should include 15-20 pages of text (abstract, introduction, literature review, and
hypotheses, methods and analytical strategy, discussion, conclusion, and references) in addition to tables.

Your presence in class is mandatory and it is expected that everyone contribute to class discussion. The only
way to learn is to interact. Thus, you will be evaluated for course points on your ability to contribute to class
discourse and lecture flow.

a) overview of schedule
b) discussion of potential topics
c) example of an A paper

a) Narrowing the focus and isolating key concepts.

b) Adhering to the limitations of survey data.
c) Developing research questions to guide your project.
d) Finding survey questions that relate to your research concepts.

a) How to download and save the data.

b) How to open the data in SPSS and start a Syntax File.
c) Levels of measurement and univariate statistics.

a) Missing data and recoding variables.

b) Dealing with missing data and variable recodes.
c) Producing descriptive statistics for variables.

a) Using SPSS output to describe your data.

b) How to organize a proper table.
 a) Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc.
b) How to select articles.
c) Compiling a reference list (ASA style)

a) How to hook audience and introduce topic.

b) Explaining how and why your topic is important.
c) Stating general research questions and intent.

a) Creating subsections that cover your topics and concepts.

b) Organizing sections and developing hypotheses.
a) Phrasing and proper citations.

a) Bivariate associations and bivariate tables.

b) Correlation coefficient (continuous interval data
c) Checking for collinearity.

a) Multivariate regression syntax.

b) Building regression models - testing hypotheses.
c) Interpreting findings both technically and substantively.

a) What to look for.

b) Interpreting statistics.
c) Review of regression interpretation.

a) Moderating effects.
b) Creating interaction terms.
c) Structuring multivariate regression tables.

a) Discussing your data.

b) Describing your variables.
c) Explaining your analytical strategy.
 a) Finalizing your tables.
b) Discussing descriptives.

a) How to present results of multivariate models.

b) Using statistics within the paragraph.
c) Explaining whether results support hypotheses.

a) Explaining the implications of your findings.

b) Discussing study limitations.
c) Future directions for this work.

a) Making concluding remarks.

b) Recommendations for other researchers.
c) Summarizing your contributions.

a) Stating research goal and aims.

b) Describing data and sample.
c) Summarizing your results.

Individual Meetings as Needed.

Individual Meetings as Needed.

Individual Meetings as Needed.

All students are expected to attend class regularly and on time. If you are late, you will be marked
absent for that entire class period. A first-rate university education is increasingly a privilege. It is also
a rare time to create community focused on shared interest. Especially when supported by the public,
this means you should return that generosity.

If you need to miss class for an unavoidable life event like illness or a family emergency, please notify
me as soon as possible. You are allowed to miss one day, but to receive full credit for attendance,
participation, and labs, you must submit an official excuse for that day. Students who will need to
miss class due to religious observance should notify me at least a week in advance.

Students who will miss a class due to travel related to team sports or other official university activities
should present a class absence form at least one week in advance of a planned absence. Conflicts with
dates on which assignments are scheduled are especially important to discuss in advance. I will
determine the minimal attendance and participation required in order to meet course responsibilities.

Participation includes paying attention, asking questions, offering opinions, and correcting others’
errors as we go. Certain behaviors indicate non-participation and disrupt other students’ learning. The
following will not be tolerated: private conversations, computer/tablet/phone use, arriving
consistently late for class, or reading non-course materials. The only exception is lab work on a lab
computer during lab time.

All assignments are due on ANGEL by 10am on the due date. No late assignments will be accepted.
Your work should be well-written without spelling or grammatical errors and should following the
following format: 12pt Times New Roman, 1” margins, double-spaced, student name in upper left-
hand corner. If too many errors are present in your assignment, it will be returned to you. You will be
given 24 hours to revise it, with an automatic 5 point reduction.

None.

If you call or e-mail the instructor, I will reply within 1 business day. If I am traveling, you will receive
an autoreply stating the date of my return, and I will get back to you within 24 hours. There is no
guarantee that e-mails sent the day of a class, exam or assignment will be received before class
begins. All relevant course material (syllabus, review sheets, supplementary readings, and assignment
guidelines) will be available for download from ANGEL.

I will use turnitin to ensure that everyone does her or his own work and follows the standards of a
citizen-supported community of free inquiry, personal development, and academic achievement. I will
pursue academic dishonesty processes for anyone suspected of any type of academic dishonesty. In
past courses, this has meant students failing an assignment, failing a course, receiving a transcript
notation, and being recommended for expulsion.

Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest, and responsible manner.
Academic integrity is a basic guiding principle for all academic activity at The Pennsylvania State
University, and all members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this
principle. Consistent with this expectation, the University’s Code of Conduct states that all students
should act with personal integrity, respect other students’ dignity, rights, and property, and help
 create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts.
Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or tolerate acts of falsification,
misrepresentation, or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the fundamental ethical principles of
the University community and compromise the worth of work completed by others.

1. Cheating: using crib sheets of any kind, preprogrammed calculators or cell phones, use of notes
during a closed book exam
2. Copying on tests: looking at other students’ exams, copying with a plan with another student,
passing notes during exams; exchanging exams with another student
3. Plagiarism: fabricating information or citations; copying from the internet of submitting the work
of others from journals, articles and papers, or books; submitting other students’ papers as one’s
own. Any material, regardless of length, that is the work of somebody else and who is not given
explicit credit by citation, submitted as one’s own, is plagiarized material.
4. Tampering with work: changing one’s own or another student’s work; tampering with work either
as a prank or to sabotage another’s work
5. Acts of aiding and abetting: Facilitating academically dishonest work by others; unauthorized
collaboration; permitting another to copy ; writing a paper for another; inappropriately
collaborating on home assignments or exams without permission or when prohibited
6. Unauthorized possession: Buying or stealing exams or materials; failing to return exams on;
selling or photocopying exams; possession of exam without instructor’s permission
7. Submitting previous work: Submitting a paper, lab report, or any assignment that had been
submitted for credit in a prior class without the knowledge and permission of instructor
8. Ghosting or misrepresenting: Taking a quiz or exam or performing a class assignment in place of
another student; having another student do the same in one’s place; signing in as present in class
for another student or having another student do the same in one’s place
9. Altering exams: Changing incorrect answers and seeking favorable grade changes when instructor
returns graded exams for in-class review and then collects them; asserting that the instructor
make a mistake. Other forms include changing the letter/or numerical grade.
10. Computer theft: Electronic theft of computer programs or other software, data, images,
art, or text belonging to another.

General University procedures for addressing academic integrity situations as well as different
sanctioning guidelines for minor, moderate, or major offenses of academic integrity can be found at
http://www.psu.edu/oue/aappm/G-9-academic-integrity.html Detailed information about the
expected student behavior, student rights, and the judicial process is available at the
Office of Student Conduct: http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/conduct/

The University is committed to equal access to programs, facilities, admission, and employment
for all persons. It is the policy of the University to maintain an environment free of harassment
and free of discrimination against any person because of age, race, color, ancestry, national
origin, religion, creed, service in the uniformed services (as defined in state and federal law),
veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related
conditions, physical or mental disability, gender, perceived gender, gender identity, genetic
information or political ideas.

Academically qualified students with disabilities are welcomed in this course. If you have a
disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, contact the Office for
Disability Services (ODS) in 116 Boucke Building at (814) 863-1807 (V/TTY). More
information can be obtained at www.equity.psu.edu/ods. Please contact me as early as possible
in the semester regarding the need for reasonable academic adjustments. In-class computer usage is
only allowed for students with a documented request for disability adjustment.