Introduction to Sociology using Computers
A93.0001.003
Professor Caroline Hodges Persell
Department of Sociology, New York University

    Spring 2003

Group Project and Assignments

Revised last 12/30/02

In your labs, each of you will be randomly assigned to a project group comprised of 4 or 5 people.  You will work in this group to research, analyse, write, and orally present your group research project.  There are a number of reasons for working in a group.  Since you are studying groups and societies, you will get some chance to apply sociological understandings you are obtaining.  You will also be developing intergroup skills that will be very useful to you in your work, community, and family lives after college.  Finally, you will be able to do a more extensive project than one person working alone could do, and you will learn from each other in the process.  

This description has five parts: 1 ) Possible Questions to Investigate in Your Project ,  2)  Elements of the Project and the Final Report, 3) A Timetable of Tasks and Intermediate Assignments, 4) Hints for Working Well in Groups, and 5) Useful Library Resources and Links.

Possible Questions to Investigate in Your Project

1)      What is the status of women and men in society, and how has it changed?

2)      Is education an agent of social reproduction or an engine for change?  Why? 

3)      What social conditions promote interracial or interethnic interdependence and peaceful coexistence?  What conditions promote interracial or interethnic           conflict?  Why? 

4)       How are definitions and configurations of the family changing?  Why?  What are the likely consequences of those changes?

5)       What is the place of religion in the world?  Is its importance increasing or decreasing?  Why?  With what possible consequences?

6)       What is happening to earnings inequality, and why is it happening?

7)       What  are the likely consequences of earnings inequality? 

8)       What is happening to wealth inequality in society, and why?

9)       What is happening to crime rates?  What explanations exist for changes in the rates of criminal activity and how do they relate to crime rates?

10)      Who controls the media?  What are the possible consequences of this control?

11)      What is the impact of the media?

12)       What are the likely consequences of emerging forms of media?

13)       How and why do new norms emerge?

14)       What social factors affect life expectancy and why?

15)        Is a “creative class” necessary for the life and health of a city?  Why or why not?

Elements of the Project and the Final Report

I.         A statement of your question.  What is already known about this question in the research literature?

II.        Definitions of the relevant concepts in your question and articulation of relevant theories.  Statement of hypotheses or questions based on those concepts and theories.  Who or what are you going to compare?  Why?

III.      What data would be most useful for addressing your question.  What relevant data were you able to find and analyze to address your question?  How do you interpret those data?  What are the limitations of the data?

IV.    What are the limitations of the data and analysis you have?

V.      How does what you have found relate to what you have learned in this course?

VI.     What new sociological questions does your work suggest?

VII.    A full bibliography of all sources cited, using American Sociological Association style.  

    Parts I-V need to be connected.  The final paper needs to have coherence, flow, advance an argument, and support it with data (of various kinds).

A Timetable of Tasks and Intermediate Assignments

Fri.1/31           Get group member assignments from the course website.

2/4 & 2/6        Rank the questions listed above according to your preferences for working on them.  It is very important that everyone in the group have a voice in ranking the questions.  Perhaps you can have group members rank their individual preferences so that even if everyone does not get his/her first choice s/he could at least work on an issue of interest.

Fri. 2/7            Group project questions are assigned.

2/18 & 2/20     Meeting of groups in lab.  Work on 1)  Stating your question(s), 2) defining the relevant concepts, 3) articulating the sociological theories you think may be relevant, and 4) stating hypotheses or questions based on those concepts and theories.  5)  Indicate who or what you think you may be going to compare and say why.  Individual group members, prepare for this meeting in advance so you have something to contribute.  Turn in a typed statement of your current reflections on these five points at the end of lab, Group Project 1.

2/25 & 2/27    Groups work in lab searching Sociological Abstracts for theoretical and research abstracts that relate to your group's question.  Turn in copies of your abstracts at the end of lab.  Keep a copy to work on next week in lab.  This is Group Project 2.

3/4 & 3/6        Groups work in lab, refining the key terms used in their searches, sorting the abstracts they have found with respect to whether they are theoretical or research papers.  For the research papers, have at least two members of your group analyze them, using the eleven questions in the lab assignment for this date. At the end of lab, turn in at least four analyzed abstracts that are relevant for your project.  Do you need to find more abstracts for your project?  This is Group Project 3.

3/11 & 3/13     Does what you learned from Group Project 3 change the ideas you wrote in Group Project 1?  Discuss this in lab and turn in a revised version of Group Project 1, using Track Changes in MS Word to indicate what is new.  This is Group Project 4.

3/25 & 3/27    In lab this week you will be investigating data sources that may be used to shed light on the question you are investigating.  What census data resources help to describe the variables in your question?  (See ssdan.org) Can you use the General Social Survey (GSS) to analyze hypotheses that bear on your project or to describe trends through time?  Look through Healey et al. to see if any of the chapters, exercises, or projects may relate to your project.  Print out and turn in the GSS and Census data you have found that you think are relevant for your project.  This is Group Project 5.   Keep a copy to work on in your groups next week.

4/1 & 4/3        If you continue to see the data you have found to be relevant for your project, work on analyzing the data in relation to your question.  How does it bear on your question.  Write up this analysis.  What new questions does your analysis suggest?  What are the limitations of your analysis?  This is Group Project 6.

4/8 & 4/10       Continue to work on your group projects, investigating other data sources if needed, finding other theoretical resources, analyzing other abstracts,    or whatever else your project needs.

4/15 & 4/17     Plan, outline, and prepare written report of your project.

4/22 & 4/24      Prepare group oral presentations

4/29 & 5/1       Take lab exams.

Hints for Working Well in Groups

    Research on collaborative groups in education and the workplace suggests that groups work well when:

            1)    Each member attends all group meetings (in this case labs and classes).

            2)     Each member comes prepared to contribute productively to the tasks facing the group.

            3)     Each member participates in group discussion, problem-solving, and work.

            4)     Group members treat each other with respect and civility at a minimum, or better yet in a friendly way.

            5)     Group members realize their interdependence, i.e., the group will not do well unless every member contributes his/her best effort.

            6)     Every member does a fair share of the work.

            7)      They consider assigning roles to group members, such as facilitator, either for a given day or a period of time.  Roles may rotate through time.

Useful Library Resources and Links

Basic Library Links that may be helpful to you:

Bobst Library Home Page  at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/

Find a book

Search BobCat (NYU’s online catalog) to find a book, journal title, video, and more, at: http://www.bobcat.nyu.edu/

Step-by-step guide   at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/info/instruct/book/

Find an article

Search a database to find an article on your topic at:  http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/database.htm

Step-by-step guide at:  http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/info/instruct/article/   

Virtual Reference Shelf

Use online dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, and more  at:  http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/vrs.htm

If you are connecting from off-campus

Instructions for Connecting from off-campus http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/database/proxy.htm

Proxy Configuration Instructions (call 212-998-3333 if you have problems doing this):  http://www.nyu.edu/its/faq/connecting/proxy.html

Sociology Resources

Librarian's Subject Guide for Sociology by Jim Terry at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/soc/sociolog/

Sociological Abstracts (via Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) http://www.csa3.com/htbin/ids52/procskel.cgi?fn=f_advselect.html&ctx=/wais/idstmp/ctxAAAabFj7a&cat=socialsci

All of Bobst Library's Social Science-related Databases at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/database/d_soc.htm

Evaluating Web and Print Sources:

Evaluating Web Sources, a guide prepared by NYU Libraries at http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/info/instruct/evaluate/webeval.htm

Web Evaluation Guide by Paula Hammett at: http://libweb.sonoma.edu/web/eval.html

Evaluating Print and Web Sources prepared by NYU Libraries at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/info/instruct/evaluate/printguide.htm

Style Guides for Citing Materials:

A style guide for citing web resources :   http://libweb.sonoma.edu/web/citingweb.html

A more general link for style manuals :  http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/vrs/writing.htm

The American Sociological Association Style Guide for preparing articles:  http://www.asanet.org/pubs/NoticeAuthors.doc

Another useful guide for citing resources is at: http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/sociology/resources/writing_citation.html

Need help?

Take a library tutorial at: http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/howto.htm  

Ask a Librarian at http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/ask/aska.htm

Take a library class (Here's the schedule) http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/info/instruct/sched.htm

Acknowledgments:

I would like to thank Paula Feid, Jim Terry, and the other librarians at Bobst Library for their help with these library weblinks.