Thirty years ago, Hubert M. Blalock Jr. published an article in "Teaching Sociology" about the importance of teaching statistics. We honor Blalock's legacy by assessing how using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) in statistics classes can enhance student learning and increase statistical literacy among social science gradaute students. In…

This teaching note describes the design and implementation of an activity in a 90-minute teaching session that was developed to introduce a diverse cohort of first-year criminology and sociology students to the use of documents as sources of data. This approach was contextualized in real-world research through scaffolded, student-centered tasks…

From the perspective of doctoral students and instructors, we explain a developmental, interactive process based upon the Checklist for Qualitative Data Collection, Data Analysis, and Data Interpretation (Onwuegbuzie, 2010) for students' writing assignments regarding: (a) the application of conceptual knowledge for collecting, analyzing, and…

The Introductory Sociology Survey (ISS) is designed to teach introductory students basic skills in developing causal arguments and in using a computerized statistical package to analyze survey data. Students are given codebooks for survey data and asked to write a brief paper predicting the relationship between at least two variables. (Author)

Authors outline a two-quarter, graduate sociology course in fieldwork that they teach at the University of California, Davis. The course addresses the tasks of data collection, focusing gathered data scientifically, data analysis, and dealing with consequences of the research. (GC)

To provide a meaningful research experience for undergraduate methods students, students participated in an ongoing research project. The progress of the project to encourage the adoption of a curriculum in which theory building informs methods, and in which actual field experience is provided, is described. (MLW)

Compares providing staged assignments for teaching research methods to providing a spotter for safety in gymnastics. Describes guidelines for a research proposal. Discusses problem definition, literature review, hypothesis development, data collection, and analysis. Argues that students must know the rules and reasons for the ideal model of…

Finds that introductory psychology textbooks present limited and often confusing coverage of research methods. Presents two research models that delineate separate dimensions for data collection procedures, research designs, and research settings. Contends that these models provide better coverage of research strategies. Includes suggestions for…

Suggests using simulated data to teach students about the nature and use of statistical tests and measures. Observes that simulated data contains built-in pure relationships with no poor response rates or coding or sampling errors. Recommends suitable software. Includes information on using data sets, demonstrating statistical principles, and…

Describes the use of a student-designed questionnaire to generate data for teaching statistical procedures and concepts. Maintains that students learn firsthand that data analysis is an integral part of the research process. Concludes that students find real data more interesting. (CFR)

Teachers have incorporated active-learning techniques into the sociology classroom for many years, but the types of applications and evaluations are quite varied. In this paper, the authors quantitatively test a particular form of active learning that they call "living-data exercises," which instructors can use to introduce sociological research…

Describes an introductory sociology class that used two forms of an in-class survey to conduct experiments regarding response framework: response order and question order. The results of the experiment are presented to the class. This encourages critical thinking and informed skepticism about research methodologies. (MJP)

This module offers students opportunities to examine the theories and research associated with a range of different disciplines that focus on relationships between family life and work life. The module is organized around articles that have been nominated for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Work-Family Research. This award process identifies…

This document contains eight newsletters prepared by the Minnesota Social History Project (MSHP), an experimental curriculum project in local social history. The newsletters offer classroom exercises, participant suggestions, and supportive essays designed for teachers working with the MSHP. The premise of the project is that "American history can…