The Scientific Research Cycle

In today’s class, we discussed the Scientific Research Cycle. We learned that this process has eight stages:

1.) wonder/doubt

2.) conceptualize

3.) theorize

4.) operationalize

5.) hypothesize

6.) observe

7.) analyze

8.) assess

We learned that different types of research (i.e. explanatory and descriptive research) put more emphasis on particular stages in the scientific research process. As the following chart illustrates, descriptive research is concerned with the observe stage of the research cycle, whereas explanatory research is more concerned with the hypothesize and assess stages.

Sociological Imagination

Another important concept of today's lecture is the concept of the Sociological Imagination. This refers to the capacity to discover how social outcomes emerge from:

-social contexts

-the people involved

-what those people do

-how they do it

The sociological imagination allows people to begin to understand the relationships between macro-level forces and the actions of groups or individuals.

An example might be looking at the issue of poverty in a city like Athens. Using the sociological imagination, we can step back from the problem and analyze it.

Are city policies causing a lack of jobs? What about federal government policies? How might other institutions such as family and education affect the situation?

Groups (Jan 4)

Today in class, one of the concepts that was discussed was that of groups, which is defined as "any set of 2 or more persons who maintain a stable pattern of social relations over a period of time ". Examples of groups that were given in class are clubs, cohorts, class, and citizenship.

We also talked about primary and secondary groups, and how they differed in terms of intimacy and association.

People may be born into primary groups and have greater intimacy than secondary groups. An example of a primary group would be a family.

Within secondary groups, however, people associate by choice. For example, a person interested in bowling may join a bowling league, thus making the league that person's secondary group.

Gmail and Google Docs video tutorial

Are you having any issues with getting a Gmail account or using Google docs? I  brought together some video tutorials/information for your viewing pleasure.

If anyone has other tutorials they think are worthy of viewing post them in the comments!



First of all why switch to Gmail? I'll let the Google theater answer that question.




How to create a Gmail account



What is Google Docs?





How to share docs!

Monday, January 3 2011

In class today, we discussed social outcomes and how they are explained. We used the example of baby name popularity across time, and discovered that certain names have become more or less popular over time. For instance, we discovered that traditional names like John have become less popular while more nontraditional and individualized names such as Xavier and Quinn have become more popular. We also discovered that certain names, such as Jennifer, have large spikes in popularity.

This is an example of the relationship between individual choices (or actions) and social outcomes, which is summed up in the following graph:

Teh Syllabus

Here is the syllabus:      http://bit.ly/gckeVX
As a pdf:  http://db.tt/D86S63N

Here is the course schedule:  http://bit.ly/ed0qBF
As a pdf:    http://db.tt/TfokVG2


Here are the books:  http://introsociology2011.blogspot.com/2010/11/get-organized.html

Share your skillz

Home for Winter Break?

Several years ago I bought a laptop for my parents.  I wanted to usher them into the exciting new world of Windows XP.   I will visit them for Christmas, and I will probably help them with their computer somehow.  Perhaps you play a similar role in your family.   Here is a link to help you out:

http://www.teachparentstech.org/     Here is a screen shot of the web page.

 How did I make that screenshot?   (hint:  this video is linked on the Tech Support Page!)   Also, In windows 7 you can use the "Snipping tool" listed under accessories. or just press the PrtScn button above insert.   In Mac, just press shift/command/4  and click drag the part you want.

What could you use screen shot for?  Well, for one thing you could crop it and create an image for your blogger profile.  You could use a photo of yourself, or if you prefer more anonymity, you could use a found image from the interwebs!  Here are some options that I picked up from a simple image search in about 10 min.

Let's shed those default profile images, shall we?

Remember that the books are listed below in the first blog entry.  Buy your books ahead of time.