The research project assignment can create meaningful opportunities for students to apply sociological concepts. For grading these projects, assessment rubrics are useful pedagogical tools to evaluate students' abilities in achieving course learning objectives. In this study, I analyzed final research papers collected over multiple semesters in my…

This paper describes an innovative and replicable approach to teaching qualitative research through archived oral histories. Undergraduates with no research experience were able to pursue individual research questions and prepare a public conference presentation within one semester. In so doing, this approach overcame the barrier of a shortened…

Research terminology is an under-examined challenge in the teaching of social science research methods and statistics courses. An important problem in research terminology is that many of the common terms have more than one meaning in English, which students often confuse. For example, the words random, pretest, validity, and regression have more…

Active learning approaches have shown to improve student learning outcomes and improve the experience of students in the classroom. This article compares a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning style approach to a more traditional teaching method in an undergraduate research methods course. Moving from a more traditional learning environment to…

A four-week summer project for 100 rural tenth graders in the University of Alabama's Biomedical Sciences Preparation Program (BioPrep) enabled students to acquire and apply social sciences research skills. The students investigated drinking water quality in three rural Alabama counties by interviewing local officials, health workers, and…