Methods and Techniques of Social Research 
Schedule and Assignments Page
Fall 2008
For the Syllabus click here. 


Instructor:  Ted Goertzel     Teaching Assistant:  Ronald Passarella
Our offices are in the Sociology and Criminal Justice building at 405 Cooper, you enter from the rear of the building on Lawrence Street.  Ronald will generally be available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the free period either in Ted Goertzel's office, the second door on the right as you enter the building from Lawrence street (room 110) , or in the Computer Lab which is the next room on the right (room 111).  Appointments can be made with either of us for other times. 

Weekly Schedule and Assignments:

Week One:  September 6 to September 15.  The SAKAI quiz on the reading will close at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 15.  The first workbook exercise will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17. 

Week Two:  September 16 to September 22.  The SAKAI quiz on the reading will close at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 22.  The workbook exercise will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, September 24. 

Week Three:  September 22 to September 28.  Measurement.  The SAKAI quiz on the reading will close at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 29.  The workbook exercise will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1. 

Week Four:  September 29 to October 4.  Review for Midterm One.  The first midterm will be held in 204 Law at 9:00 a.m.  Attendance is required from 9 to 11:30 a.m. 

Week Five:  October 4 to October 12.  Descriptive Statistics. There is one SAKAI quiz/assignment for this week.  You must take it by 5 p.m., October 10 to get attendance credit for the week.  You may take it as often as you like until it closes on Wednesday, October 15 at 2 p.m.

Week Six:  October 13 to October 19.  Indexes, Scales and Typologies. 

Week Seven:  October 20 to October 26.  Theory and Research:  Testing a Hypothesis. 

Week Eight:  October 27 to Second Midterm Exam on Saturday, November 1, 9 to 10 a.m. in Law 204  -
  Lecture on Sampling Statistics 10 to 11:30.  Attendance will be taken at the end of class. 

Week Nine:  November 2 to November 10  Sampling

Week Ten:  November 11 to November 17   Experiments

Week Eleven:  November 18 to November 23 - Unobtrusive Research
Extra Credit Assignment on the Ethics of Research with Human Subjects.   TEST MUST BE PASSED BY DECEMBER 10.
Extra Credit Assignment on Linear Regression.  Must be submitted by Monday, December 8.    Note:  This is an enrichment assignment for students who are good at working with computers and want to go beyond the material in the course.  It is not really the best thing for students who are having difficulty with the exams.   This assignment sheet is in Google Documents so I could include pictures.  If you do not have a Google Documents account you can still open it but you may have to click on a box for opening the file in your browser.  Google Documents accounts are free and can be quite useful, go to docs.google.com. 


Week Twelve:  November 24 to December 1  - Ethics and Politics of Research
Feedback Questionnaire:  Please answer a short feedback questionnaire about your experience with the Hybrid Internet format of this course.  Answering the questionnaire will count as one day's attendance.  Enter the Questionnaire Here. 

Week Thirteen:  December 2 to December 8  -  Criteria of Measurement Quality and Statistics Review.

Week Fourteen:  December 9 to Final Exam on Saturday, December 13, 9:00 a.m. in Law 204

General Information:

It is important that everyone make sure that Rutgers has their current email address.  In most cases, Rutgers sends mail to your clam address.  You can change this, or have the mail forwarded, at this WEB site.  This is important for getting all your official Rutgers mail as well.

This Hybrid Internet course will meet in the classroom four times, from 9:00 to 11:30 on September 6, October 4, November 1 and December 14.  There will be in-class, closed book, multiple choice and short-answer exams on October 4, November 1 and December 14.   There will be weekly online quizzes and assignments due in Sakai on each of the other weeks.  Detailed rules for the quizzes and assignments will be given on each week's assignment page.  Quizzes and assignments will be due no later than Tuesday at 1 p.m. 
Grading will be as follows:
First in class test = 15%
Second in class test =15%
Third in class test = 30%
Weekly quizzes and assignments = 30%
Attendance on Saturdays, participation in chat room room discussions = 10%

Since this is the first time this class has been offered in this format, some changes may be made in the grading and other activities based on experience during the semester.

In this kind of course it is very important to do assignments on time since we do not have the discipline of regular classes.   If you do not take a quiz on time, you will receive a zero for that week's quiz unless you have a really convincing excuse such as being in a coma.  Routine illnesses, travels and social obligations should not be insurmountable obstacles since the quizzes are available all week.  Technical problems, computer crashes, etc., must be reported immediately.

Scheduled chat room discussions will be held at least twice each week, at times to be arranged on September 6.   Each student is expected to log onto the chat room at least once each week;  this is our equivalent of classroom attendance..  To participate in a chat discussion, log onto Sakai and click on Chat Room.  You can also post questions to the Discussion List to make sure you get an answer; click on Discussion and Private Messages. A new chat discussion file will be opened each week and will be available all week.  Students may also organize informal chats at any time during the week.  The transcripts of the chat discussions will available on SAKAI.  Material covered in the scheduled chats is considered class discussion and may appear on the quizzes and tests, so it is a good idea to read the chats you are unable to attend. Please post questions about class material to the Discussion List or Chat Room instead of private email.   That way, we don't have to answer the same question over and over and everyone can benefit from the answers.

Consult the Course Syllabus for a description of this course and the required textbooks.  Since many computers today lack floppy disk drives, the publisher has made the software and data sets that come with the Ayers book available for download on their WEB site.  If you have a good Internet connection, it is quicker and easier to install it from the WEB site than to use the cd-rom and floppies.  To do this you go to the WEB site for the textbook, then "Companion Site" and then on "Student Microcase Download."  You can also find this software in our SAKAI home page in the Resources Folder under Software.  The software is also available in the computer labs.  To find it there, click on the Statistics icon on the home page.  Look through the various Microcase programs for the one that is for the Social Research class.

 Computer problems are not accepted as an excuse for late assignments in this course.  If your home computer doesn't work, you should use one at Rutgers, your public library, or elsewhere.  The Babbie book has a Companion Site with practice tests and other useful material.

This class meets in room 204 in the Old Law School Building.  However, you have to enter the New Law School building across Fifth Street where you will have to show a photo ID.  Go up to the Second Floor of the New Building.  Then cross over to the New Building on the bridge over 5th street.  This puts you on the third floor of the Old Law School building.  Go down the stairs just past the Law Library to the Second Floor of the Old Building.




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