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Canyon College

online Introduction to Social Statistics course at Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: Introduction to Social Statistics


Course Title: PS311 - Introduction to Social Statistics
Department: Political Science
Instructor: Tanya Mueller, MA, MA, BA E-Mail - Vitae


Required Textbook: - Online Bookstore

Research design and methods (6th Ed), by K. Bordens & B. Abbot. Academic Internet Publishers (McGraw Hill), 2005/2006. ISBN-13: 9781428800168 ISBN: 1428800166

Recommended text – Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association

Course Description:

This course is intended to introduce the student to the complexities of research for the social sciences. An emphasis will be placed on research design and understanding the necessary steps a researcher goes through in order to be published.

Course Objectives:

At the conclusion of the course the student will be able to:
  1. Understand the research process.
  2. Read and understand professional published research
  3. Critique a research design
Overview

The textbook to be used for the course was designed for use in the academic field of psychology. Since the majority of social sciences publish work according to the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) it is best to know why these standards have been implemented for research design and methodology therefore this text has been chosen for this course. While most of the examples given in the text are intended for psychological research it is assumed that the student will be able to substitute their chosen social science profession for “psychology” when it is mentioned in the text.

This course will have weekly assignments to be drawn from the readings and one final project that will serve as the capstone for the course. All assignments are to be written in APA format with any necessary citations from any relevant sources.

Please review assignments in advance. It will be to the student's advantage to pace assignments appropriately.

Course Policies

On-Line Participation

Since this course is offered over the Internet, which allows students to participate at "any time, any where," it is important to plan your time carefully. Students are expected to pace themselves to access assignments, prepare their work and necessary research, and submit assignments to the instructor by the established due dates. Students are expected to make use of local resources as well as required readings.

Course Week and Due Dates

Generally, Monday is the first of the course week, and Sunday is the last day of the course week. Assignments scheduled for completion during a class week should be sent to the instructor via email or fax by end of the day Sunday, determined by your own time zone. If a student is sending assignments through the postal service, please make prior arrangements with instructor, as there is no postal delivery on Sunday.

Submitting Assignments - Instructions

Students may submit work in MS Word (any version) or Word Perfect (any version). Please send as a file attachment. If you use another word processing program (such as Works), please save as an .rtf file before sending it to me. Formats for files received other than those specified here that I cannot open using MS Word or a Word converter program for PC or Mac will be returned to you for reprocessing, and will considered late. Any questions on formatting of your file attachment documents, please email me with any questions now and we can find a format that will work for your particular needs. Thanks in advance on this matter.

Please include name, reply address, title of assignment, title of course, and date submitted on the document itself, in addition to the email text. Please indicate PS311 in the subject line of your email.

Late Assignment Penalties

I must receive weekly assignments not later than Sunday midnight (your time zone) of the week due according to the syllabus. Students who anticipate that their schedule may cause assignments to be out of compliance are advised to contact instructor at least one week in advance, as an extension may be permitted with prior mutual agreement. Instructor discretion regarding point penalties for any late work will be considered final.

Absentee Policy

While this course is designed to be completed through independent study, "attendance" is recorded through assignment submissions in a timely manner to the instructor's email address (or via post or fax). However, please note that any student who has not participated (completed assignments) for 14 consecutive days without prior discussion with the instructor regarding such absence shall be recommended for administrative withdrawal. The school shall make recommendations to the instructor as to what action will be taken.

Academic Honesty

Canyon College policies are in effect. All work must be your own. Presenting as one's own the words, ideas, or expression of another in any form is cheating through plagiarism, and will not be tolerated.

Grading

You will receive a grade for each completed project. Your final grade will be based on points earned as a percentage of total points possible. Grades will be determined in the following manner:

Assignment Grade Points
Homework Assignments 300 (6 at 50pts each)
Final Project 100
TOTAL 400
Students will be able to determine their final grade by adding the total number of points given on all assignments. Final grades will be determined by the following grade scale:
A 381 - 400
A- 360 - 380
B+ 348 - 359
B 332 - 347
B- 320 - 331
C+ 308 - 319
C 292 - 307
C- 280 - 291
D 240 - 279
F below 240 points
Reading and Assignments

Week One

Read:
Chapter One Explaining Behavior
Chapter Two Developing Ideas for Research and Evaluating Theories of Behavior

Assignment:
Answer the following questions from the text
CH 1 (2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,15,16)
CH 2 (1,2,3,4,6,7,8,11,1,5,16,17,18,20,21)

Week Two

Read:
Chapter Three Reviewing the Scientific Literature
Chapter Four Choosing a Research Design

Assignment:
Answer the following questions from the text
CH 3 (1,2,3,4,5,10, 11,12,13,14,15,16,17)
Ch 4 (1,2,4,6,7,8,9,12,13,14,15,20)

Week Three

Read:
Chapter Five Making Systematic Observations
Chapter Six Choosing and Using Participants and Subjects: Pragmatic and Ethical Considerations

Assignments
Answer the following questions from the text
CH 5 (1,2,4,5,6,8,10,11,13,15,19,20,22,23)
Ch 6 (1,2,3,4,5,9,10,11,13,16,17,22,25)

Week Four

Read:
Chapter Seven Using Nonexperimental Research
Chapter Eight Using Survey Research


Assignment
Answer the following questions from the text
CH 7 (1,2,7,10,11,12,14,15,17,18,20,21)
CH 8 (1,3,4,5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,16,18)

Week Five

Read:
Chapter Nine Using Between-Subjects and Within-Subjects Experimental Designs
Chapter Ten Using Specialized Research Designs
Chapter Twelve Describing Data
Chapter Thirteen Using Inferential Statistics

For chapters 9, 10, 12, & 13 only read the section of the text relating to the questions listed below

Assignment
Answer the following questions from the text
CH 9 (1,9,16)
CH 10 (1,4,5,17)
CH 12 (2,5,7,11,12,14,19)
CH 13 (2,5,6,7,17)

Week Six
Read:
Chapter Fifteen Reporting Your Research Results


Assignment
Ch 15 (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,20,21,22,23)

Week Seven

Reading:
None

Assignment
Begin research project

Students are to create a research project that includes an abstract, purpose of study (include mini-lit review if necessary), methods, and hypothetical results section. The actual research will not be fulfilled however it should be a project that is capable of being carried out. The methods section must include the necessary items that would allow for the project to be carried out (e.g. the actual survey questions). The results section will include data based on hypothetical data collected and will not be actual data.

If the research design includes live testing participants (humans or animals) students must not conduct actual experiments or collect any real data. Data does not need to be real for the purposes of this assignment as what is most important is that students understand what needs to happen in the experiment construction and distribution process, not necessarily that they carry out an actual research project.

Week Eight

Reading:
None

Assignment
Research design due