Sociology 760-401/ Advanced Statistical Methods in Sociology
SPRING 2013
COURSE SYLLABUS
Tuesdays, 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. in NWQ 7550 & 7:15 – 8: 15 p.m. in Bolton 263
Associate Professor Noelle Chesley
Department of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Email: [email protected]
Office: 7488 NWQ
Phone: 414-229-2398
Office Hours: Thursdays 11 – 12 (no hours 2/7 or 3/28) and Fridays 1 – 2 (no hours 2/1
and 3/29) or by appointment.
Teaching Assistant Matt McCarthy
Department of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Email: [email protected]
Office: 7472 NWQ
Phone: 978-551-4367
Office Hours: Thursdays 12 – 2 or by appointment
COURSE OVERVIEW
Course Description and Goals
Statistical methods are a critical tool used by social scientists as well as research
professionals outside the academy. Proficiency in the production and interpretation of
bivariate and selected multivariate statistics is the overall learning goal for this course.
Topics to be covered include analysis of variance, contingency tables, multiple linear
regression, and logistic regression. In the first two weeks of the course, we will review the
concept of distributions, the production and analysis of measures of central tendency and
variation, production and interpretation of confidence intervals, and the backbone of all
inferential techniques: significance testing. Later weeks will focus on key bivariate and
multivariate techniques. Practical data analysis will be a large part of the coursework, but
understanding of conceptual material will also be tested.
The material covered in this course will enable students to intelligently and critically read
professional publications as well as prepare students to successfully complete the steps in
the empirical research process, moving from a research idea to actual data analysis and
interpretation of statistical evidence.
Prerequisites
An undergraduate statistics course and a passing grade of 85% or higher on the diagnostic
exam for this course.
1
Learning Outcomes
Students completing this class should be able to:
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analyze different types of data using the statistical package SPSS;
explain the reasoning underlying statistical procedures;
select statistical models appropriate to particular analytic problems;
interpret computer output correctly;
write an empirical paper that links sociological theory and statistical methods and
analysis to create new sociological knowledge.
Course Format: In-Person Lecture and Lab
Lecture time will be spent taking questions or otherwise clarifying previous material (~15
minutes), the administration of a short quiz (~20 minutes), and covering new material
assigned for that week (~about 75 minutes). If all goes as planned, we will end lecture
about 6:15, take a fifteen minute break, and return for lab from 6:30 – 7:30. The lab session
is run by the course TA. Lab time will be spent answering questions, assigning and
returning homework and quizzes, and working through the lab exercise. All students
should bring a flash drive to lab in order to save any work produced there. Extra time
has been built into our weekly meeting to ensure that we can sufficiently answer your
questions and cover the required material from week to week, but my goal is to finish by
7:30 each week.
Course Work Load
It is expected that students will spend about 12-15 hours per week outside of class
completing tasks related to this course. As a general guide, students should expect to
spend about 3-5 hours reading and studying assigned course materials and preparing for
the weekly lecture and quiz, about 3-6 hours completing homework assignments, and
about 2-4 hours regularly working on tasks related to the semester-long empirical paper
project.
Weekly Email Communication
To make sure we all stay on track, I will typically send the class an email prior to Tuesday
(often on Fridays) with pointers about how to focus and prepare yourself for the upcoming
quiz; things to think about for the homework that will be due on Tuesday, and any other
information I think you need to prepare for the upcoming lecture and lab.
Attendance
Weekly attendance at both the lecture and lab are expected. Office hours for the TA and me
are intended to be used for clarification of material and assistance with assignments,
readings, and the final project and not to reiterate material that was covered in lecture
and/or lab. If you must miss a class, please plan to get notes and updates from a student
colleague.
Class website
Lecture notes, handouts, exercises, quiz solutions, and ancillary readings and handouts are
made available in class and on the course website. I encourage you to check the D2L
2
website prior to class so that you can have copies of the material available during the
lecture.
REQUIRED TEXTS AND SOFTWARE
Required Text
Rebecca M. Warner (2012). Applied Statistics: From Bivariate
Through Multivariate Techniques. Sage Publications.
Please purchase this text as soon as possible via the bookstore
or the outlet of your choice. Note that this is a new edition of
this text. There may be significant changes between this
version and the previous version. Students that choose to use
the 1st edition do so at their own risk.
In addition to the required text, supplemental readings will be
posted to the D2L website for the class.
Highly Recommended Texts
Fred Pyrczak and Randall R. Bruce. (2005) Writing Empirical Research Reports. Sixth
Edition. Pyrczak Publishing. http://www.pyrczak.com/ ($36.95 new; many low-price used
copies available through web sellers)
Glen Firebaugh (2008). Seven Rules for Social Research. Princeton University Press.
($24.95)
Required Software
SPSS 18.0 or higher (Readily available in the department and campus computer labs).
Student priced copies of this software can also be purchased through the university and
UW system.
While our book will include examples that utilize SPSS output, some of you with little to no
experience with SPSS may want to purchase a handbook designed with very specific
instructions about how to generate different kinds of statistics and interpret output using
this statistical software package. These sorts of texts can serve as a tutorial for those of you
who need to improve your SPSS skills. I have a few SPSS texts in my office if you want to
look them over before making a purchase.
Calculator
You don’t need a fancy statistics calculator for this course (we will rely on statistics
software for many of our calculations), but you do need one that can easily calculate the
square root and that can exponentiate/do logarithmic functions. I have a pretty
inexpensive Texas Instruments calculator (TI-30XA) that works fine for what we do in
class. I think it was $10 at Office Max.
3
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADES
Grading for the course will be based on the following:
1. Weekly Homework Assignments (150 points). There will be 10 homework
assignments throughout the semester. Each is worth 15 points. The list of assignments
can be found in the attached schedule. The assignments will be given out during the lab,
at which time you will have an opportunity to read the assignment and ask questions.
Exercises will be turned in during lab.
The homework will typically require you to use SPSS or other software to complete the
assignment. It is okay if you talk with each other about how to do your homework; in
fact a little collaboration concerning statistical programming is encouraged. However,
you are required to write up your own answers to the homework, independent of
other students. You are also required to produce and attach your own computer
printout, whenever a printout is needed. No photocopies or second printings of
other students’ printouts are allowed. Violations of this policy will result in serious
penalties.
Late homework assignments will be downgraded by 3 points per day past the due
date.
NOTE: Although each of the homework assignments is worth the same amount of
points, the homework does get progressively more complicated and long as the
material we encounter gets more complex. In general, the homework will require
somewhere from 3 – 6 hours per week to complete, but this will vary from week to
week, with assignments at the beginning of the semester requiring less time and
assignments at the middle and end of the semester requiring more time.
2. Weekly Quizzes (90 points). At the beginning of each class period (beginning with the
second week), there will be a short quiz covering the material from the previous week.
Each quiz will be worth 10 points. If you miss a quiz because you are late or absent, you
will get zero for that quiz. The two lowest quiz scores will be dropped from the
calculation of your grade (11 quizzes given, 9 count toward your final grade).
3. Empirical Paper Prospectus (25 points). This assignment is described in detail in my
handout entitled Requirements for the Empirical Paper.
4. Empirical Paper Dataset (10 points). You will be asked to meet individually with me
in week 8 to discuss: 1) the data you will use to address the research question you have
articulated (you must have these data downloaded and in SPSS); the analytic sample
you will draw using these data; measures of your independent and dependent variables
(including descriptive statistics of these measures), and any other questions you have at
this point about how to get started on your analysis. Students must come to this
meeting with an actual dataset in hand, documentation of the data, and relevant
output to facilitate our meeting to earn these 10 points.
4
5. Final Empirical Paper (125 points). This assignment is described in detail in my
handout entitled Requirements for the Empirical Paper. Writing this paper will require
you to locate a dataset and draft a hypothesis (or hypotheses) you wish to examine
using these data. Please begin to consider topics of interest to you and locate data files
that would allow you to address the topic as soon as possible. (Note: This is a great
opportunity to find the data for your master’s paper or thesis and begin to conduct
preliminary analysis!).
6. Final Exam (100 points). A final exam will be given during the last class period. The
exam will consist of two parts; the first part will focus on lecture materials/readings
(comprehensive) and the second part will focus on the interpretation of computer
output for techniques covered throughout the semester. This exam is expected to take
the entire class period (3 hours).
Summary of Grading Structure
Requirement
Weekly Homework
Weekly Quizzes
Empirical Paper Prospectus
Empirical Paper Meeting
Final Empirical Paper
Final Exam
Total Points
Points
150
90
25
10
125
100
500
%
30%
18%
5%
2%
25%
20%
100%
Matching Points and Letter Grade
Letter Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
F
% of Total Points
93
90
87
83
80
77
73
70
67
63
Below 63
5
SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Date
Week 1
1/22
Topic
Reading
Review: Samples and Populations;
Descriptive Statistics; Levels of
Measurement; The Normal Distribution
Course Syllabus
(web); Empirical
Paper Handout
(web); Warner,
Chp. 1-2;
1/29
Review and Expansion: Statistical
Significance Testing
Week 3
Contingency Tables; Odds and odds ratios
2/5
Quiz #2
Week 4
The Empirical Paper: Locating a Data Set;
Data Screening, Project Management
Week 2
2/12
Warner, Chp. 3
Exercise
Handed Out
Exercise
Due
#1
#2
#1
#3
#2
Quiz #1
Knoke et. al
(web)
Warner, Chp. 4
Firebaugh, Chp. 1
(web)
Student-authored
empirical papers
(web)
Chesley, Fox.
(2012)
Email Use and
Family Relationship
Quality (web)
Quiz #3
DUE: Empirical Paper Prospectus
Week 5
Data Weighting and Reduction
2/19
Quiz # 4
Week 6
T-tests; ANOVA
2/26
Quiz #5
Week 7
Correlation and Bivariate regression
3/5
Quiz #6
#3
Warner, Chp. 20-21
Warner, Chp. 5-6
Warner, Chp. 7, 9
6
#4
Prospecti
Returned
#5
#4
#6
#5
SEMESTER SCHEDULE
Date
Topic
Reading
Week 8
Individual Paper Consultations
3/12
Come prepared to discuss: 1) your
dataset (NOTE: you must have a dataset
downloaded and ready to go); 2) your
analytic sample; 3) your independent and
dependent variables; 4) any questions
you have about how to proceed.
Week 9
Exercise
Handed Out
Exercise
Due
#6
**** Spring Break ****
3/19
Warner, Chp. 11
Week 10 Multiple Regression
Quiz #7
3/26
#7
Week 11 Multiple Regression: Dummy Predictor
Variables and Interaction Terms
4/2
Quiz #8
Warner, Chp. 12, 15
Week 12 Multiple Regression: Partial F-test and
Diagnostics
4/9
Warner, Chp. 14
#8
#9
#8
#10
#9
Quiz #9
Warner, Chp. 23
Week 13 Logistic Regression
4/16
Quiz #10
Week 14 More Logistic Regression
Quiz #11
4/23
#10
Week 15 Review for Final Exam
5/30
Week 16 Final Exam (3 hours)
5/7
Exam
Week
DUE: Empirical Papers by 9 a.m.
Monday, May 13th
5/13
7
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn’d astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns
before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add,
divide, and measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he
lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.
I have included this poem in the syllabus to remind all of us that statistical methods attempt to provide
broad descriptions or approximations of very complex social phenomenon. You may sometimes feel like
all the mathematical machinations we produce do not adequately capture the true meaning and
complexity of the world, much like the narrator in this poem.
While there is no substitute for looking up at the stars to gain an appreciation for the universe, I hope you
will become more sympathetic to the role of the astronomer over the course of this semester. We will try
to “add, divide, and measure” the components of social life this semester in order to advance our
understanding of them. While we will never completely succeed in capturing all aspects of complex social
processes in our statistical analyses, my hope is that a greater mastery of statistical methods will allow
you to get at the parts of these processes that really matter in shaping key aspects of social life.
8
UNIVERSITY AND SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT POLICIES
The Secretary of the University maintains a web page that contains university policies that affect
the instructor and the students in this course, as well as essential information specific to conduct
of the course. The link to that web page is: http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Students with Disabilities. Verification of disability, class standards, the policy on the use of alternate
material and test accommodations can be found at the following:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/DSAD/SAC/SACltr.pdf
Religious Observances. Policies regarding accommodations for absences due to religious observance
are found at the following: http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S1.5.htm
Students called to active Military Duty. Accommodations for absences due to call-up of reserves to
active military duty are found at the following:
http://www4.uwm.edu/current_students/military_call_up.cfm
Incompletes. You may be given an incomplete if you have carried a course successfully until near the
end of the semester but, because of illness or other unusual and substantiated cause beyond your
control, have been unable to take or complete the final examination or to complete some limited
amount of course work. An incomplete is not given unless you prove to the instructor that you
were prevented from completing the course for just cause as indicated above. The conditions for
awarding an incomplete to graduate and undergraduate students can be found at the following:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S31.pdf
Discriminatory Conduct (such as sexual harassment). Discriminatory conduct will not be tolerated by
the University. It poisons the work and learning environment of the University and threatens the
careers, educational experience and well-being of students, faculty and staff. Policies regarding
discriminatory conduct can be found at: http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S47.pdf
Academic Misconduct. Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their
work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors.
Policies for addressing students cheating on exams or plagiarism can be found at the following:
http://www4.uwm.edu/osl/dean/conduct.cfm
Complaint Procedures. Students may direct complaints to the Sociology Department Chair or the
Associate Dean for Social Sciences in the College of Letters & Sciences. If the complaint
allegedly violates a specific university policy, it may be directed to the Sociology Department
Chair, the Associate Dean for Social Sciences in the College of Letters & Sciences, or to the
appropriate university office responsible for enforcing the policy. Policies may be found at:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S49.7.htm
Grade Appeal Procedures. A student may appeal a grade on the grounds that it is based on a capricious
or arbitrary decision of the course instructor. Such an appeal shall follow the established
procedures adopted by the department, college, or school in which the course resides or in the
case of graduate students, the Graduate School. These procedures are available in writing from
the respective department chairperson or the Academic Dean of the College of Letters & Science.
Procedures for undergraduate student grade appeal can be found at
http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/upload/grievance_procedure.pdf
Procedures for graduate student grade appeal can be found at
http://www.graduateschool.uwm.edu/students/policies/
Final Examination Policy. Policies regarding final examinations can be found at the following:
http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/docs/other/S22.htm
Book Royalties. In accord with Department of Sociology policy, the royalties from the sale of facultyauthored books to students in their classes are donated to a UWM Foundation/Sociology Account
to support future awards and activities for UWM students in Sociology.
Update 06/2012