Undergraduate Sociology: Research Methods in the Public Sector Curriculum

This article presents, describes, and evaluates a semester-long digital ethnography project to teach research methods in six Introduction to Sociology courses. The project was a response to teaching sociology literature that pushes for significantly expanding research methods content and skills in nonmethods sociology courses. Previous research indicates that repetitive exposure to research methods throughout the sociological curriculum helps to increase student understanding and decrease anxiety concerning research methods for majors and nonmajors. I describe the digital ethnography project and evaluate quantitative and qualitative assessment data to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating such a project into an intro course. I argue that the project improved student learning related to sociological imagination, course concepts, research methods, and the relationship between theory and methods. Furthermore, students also report increased engagement with the course material and a better understanding of diverse perspectives.

Advanced undergraduate students struggle with executing complete research projects that involve data collection and analysis. Research indicates that engaging in undergraduate research is a high-impact practice. The American Sociological Association recommends that sociology majors engage in research beyond their research methods and statistics courses. We used a pre-/post-assessment model across three semesters in all upper-level undergraduate sociology courses at our institution. The assessment measured confidence, knowledge, and experience with research methods. Fifty-eight students completed at least one pre-/post-assessment pair. Of those, 27 students completed two pre-/post-assessments. No students completed three pre-/post-assessments. We find that experience and confidence had statistically significant increases at each survey point. Knowledge increased but was statistically significant for only two groups: the full sample on the first post-assessment (N = 58) and the students with two assessment pairs on their second post-assessment (N = 27) who participated across two semesters.

Serious work on the undergraduate curriculum in British sociology has begun. The CNAA, which has always had a watching brief for the discipline as a whole in the public sector, has produced a useful survey of sociology degrees (1988). The paper on research methods in the curriculum by Payne, Lyon and Anderson is one of the fruits of that and it helpfully picks up the long-standing concerns of the Social Research Association (1989).

Experiential education is a unique approach to teaching which can enhance student learning, engagement with material, and understanding of real-world situations. It particularly has potential to strengthen education in the social sciences, such as courses focused on topics related to social justice. This SaPP project aimed to explore experiential education in more detail in the literature and to map existing models of experiential education in disciplines related to social justice to identify ways to integrate experiential education more into SOCI 2170: Foundations in Social Justice, an undergraduate sociology course at Carleton University. The literature review conducted revealed service learning, problem-based learning, land-based learning, and place-based education as four key types of experiential education. The review of public course syllabi uncovered many samples of experiential education used in similar courses at other institutions. These literature findings and applicable real-world examples provide a strong foundation to improve experiential learning in SOCI 2170 for future years.

Debates regarding research methodologies in construction, engineering and management (CEM) literature are long-standing. However, in the growing literature on offsite manufacturing (OSM), such debates are lacking and some studies conflate different components of research methodologies such as research design, methods, data sources, data types, and analytical techniques. This study examines the components of research methodologies reported in the OSM literature and how they compare with the established relationships between the key components of research methodologies. We analyse 74 articles on OSM sampled from 26 journals and find that quantitative methods, case studies, primary data, bibliometric database and modelling are the most preferred methodological approaches. The methodological components reported also cohere with established relationships between components of research methodology, other than the relationship between research methods and data sources. The findings reveal a growing hybridisation of research designs, data sources and analytical techniques, which suggests that methodological plurality is emerging in the OSM literature. This re-echoes concerns regarding the dominance of quantitative methods and the limited use of theory in CEM research, and consequently highlights the need for diversity in methodologies to expand knowledge boundaries.

Quantitative literacy is increasingly essential for both informed citizenship and a variety of careers. Though regression is one of the most common methods in quantitative sociology, it is rarely taught until late in students’ college careers. In this article, the author describes a classroom-based activity introducing students to regression analysis in an introductory sociology course. Using a data set that draws on the students’ quiz and exam scores, students learn the basics of interpreting regression analyses in a manner that is relevant to their own lives. The activity also encourages students to think critically about potential predictors of exam performance and how they could be measured.

Resilience is often promoted as a boundary concept to integrate the social and natural dimensions of sustainability. However, it is a troubled dialogue from which social scientists may feel detached. To explain this, we first scrutinize the meanings, attributes, and uses of resilience in ecology and elsewhere to construct a typology of definitions. Second, we analyze core concepts and principles in resilience theory that cause disciplinary tensions between the social and natural sciences (system ontology, system boundary, equilibria and thresholds, feedback mechanisms, self-organization, and function). Third, we provide empirical evidence of the asymmetry in the use of resilience theory in ecology and environmental sciences compared to five relevant social science disciplines. Fourth, we contrast the unification ambition in resilience theory with methodological pluralism. Throughout, we develop the argument that incommensurability and unification constrain the interdisciplinary dialogue, whereas pluralism drawing on core social scientific concepts would better facilitate integrated sustainability research.

Experiential learning is a flexible instructional tool, adaptable to suit most courses. However, only a minority of instructors use these types of assignments in their courses. I examine whether short-term experiential learning reduces the drawbacks that may prevent instructors from using this instructional technique. I explore instructor and student perspectives on three types of short-term exercises: observations, participant-observations, and field trips. I find that short-term experiential assignments reduce the logistical concerns involved in experiential exercises and increase the opportunities for analytical reflection, especially for instructors of smaller courses and for non-field trip activities. In large introductory lecture courses, additional steps to structure the reflection process can successfully alleviate many of the problems dealing with lack of analysis. Proper selection of exercises included and careful choices about their use in courses or units with sensitive subject matter will help increase the chance of positive learning outcomes

In this paper I review my use of arts-based research practices as a set of pedagogical tools for teaching media literacy in an undergraduate sociology course titled "Images & Power: Popular Culture." The paper details how I incorporated arts-based research into my course as a part of my holistic and participatory approach to media literacy. Arts-based practices are an effective tool for fostering critical consciousness. Samples of student work are included.

This is a book that will be of interest to scholars of U.S. religion and culture and to scholars of emerging adulthood. It would be useful i undergraduate sociology courses in U.S. religion, in sociology of religion, or sociology of c lture. It would be useful in graduate courses in these areas, as well, but only if coupled with other sources on emerging adulthood and religious commitment in the United States, so that students could assess for themselves the interpretive arguments about the implications of the patterns of belief and behavior that Smith describes so evocatively.

Research in public administration and public management has distinctive features that influence the choices and application of research methods. Periods of change and upheaval in the public sector provide ample opportunities and cases for research, but the standard methodologies for researching in the social sciences can be difficult to follow in the complex world of the public sector. In a dynamic political environment, the focus lies on solving social problems whilst also using methodological principles needed for doing scientifically sound research. Research Methods in Public Administration and Public Management represents a comprehensive guide to doing and using research in public management and administration. It is impressively succinct but covering a wide variety of research strategies including among others: action research, hypotheses, sampling, case selection, questionnaires, interviewing, desk research, prescription and research ethics. This textbook does not bog the nascent researcher down in the theory but does provide numerous international examples and practical exercises to illuminate the research journey. Sandra Van Thiel guides us through the theory, operationalization and research design process before explaining the tools required to carry-out impactful research. This concise textbook will be core reading for those studying research methods and/or carrying out research on public management and administration.

Over the years the research endeavours in social sciences have been directed towards producing profound discoveries about humankind and the society they live in. Now-a-days qualitative research has been flourishing in many fields of the social sciences. Rapid social change and the resulting diversification of life scenarios are increasingly confronting social researchers with new social contexts and perspectives. There is a specific relevance for qualitative research to the study of social contexts and life situations. This has lead to the development of several social theories and social research methods which have still continued to develop in order to understand the diverse social problems. The challenge for social scientists and researchers worldwide is to continue in the search for a unified consensus on what methodology is to be adopted for research for meeting the emerging diverse needs of humankind and the society. This thought has led to the proliferation of pluralism or multi-method research in which the researcher synthesizes multiple research methodologies in order to study social problems in a holistic way. This concept of pluralism in research has to a greater extend subverted methodological tribalism which had existed till the recent past. This paper focuses on the philosophical assumptions as guidelines to research paradigms have influenced the development of social research theory and social research methods towards pluralism. This paper intends to explore pluralism in qualitative Social Science researches as it may be applied methodologically and philosophically. In this context, the paper heeds a thought on refocusing pluralistic qualitative research in terms of its needs and demands based on the level and depth of the study undertaken. Key Terms: Qualitative research, methodological pluralism, research paradigms, philosophical assumptions

Alongside claims that ‘the methodological pluralism debate has been won’, worries grow just why the victory is not shared by the wider social sciences and applied disciplines. Remedies are sought but mainly tinkering on presentation tactics. Against this status quo, this article argues for a critical reflection on theoretic approaches to methodological pluralism. Seemingly convenient for legitimating diverse methodologies though, the Paradigm root metaphor has from the very beginning trapped methodological pluralism theorising in a no‐win battle. Drawing on Kuhn's later perspective of scientific change as ‘proliferation of specialties’, this article posits that the enhanced evolutionist metaphor fits better with methodological pluralism by depicting the increasing variety of methodologies as deepened division of labour and combined‐use of methodologies as enlarging human competence. In Kuhn's spirit, this article calls for a strongly pluralist, responsive approach, not so much in flexibly ‘managing paradigms’ or ‘living with incommensurability’ as in reflexively deliberating the comparative advantages of adopting different theoretic approaches in terms of efficacy in facilitating compelling theorising and sharing ideas with practitioners.

The use of scientific methods is no longer restricted to science. Knowledge of social science methods has proliferated beyond scientists to public sector organizations of all types. Nevertheless, the methodology of administrative ethics research is dominated by descriptive hypotheses, small- and medium-n analysis, single-country/single-shot research designs, and document analysis as data-collection instruments. This study shows the blind spots of predictive propositions, comparative research designs, interviews, and observations as data-collection instruments or triangulation. Against the background of the evolution of the discipline, as well as the specific topography of the field, it is argued that administrative ethics research has room to unleash its full methodological power for solving, describing, exploring, explaining, and predicting the major problems of ethics research. The theme addressed has a direct bearing for scientists and decision-makers in the public sector. Research and policymaking could both profit from a new methodological pluralism.

Growing interest in qualitative research methods and methodological pluralism in psychology since the 1990s is placed in the historical contexts of long-standing philosophical and scientific rationales and the more recent “qualitative revolution” in other social sciences that began in the 1970s. An examination of areas in which qualitative methods have become most strongly established—applied, feminist, and multicultural psychologies—suggests practical and social motivations as primary and as energizing renewed expression of previously ignored ontological, epistemological, and scientific reasoning in the turn to qualitative methods. Methodological diversification in the arenas of human suffering, women's issues, and cultural politics is traced to psychologists' deeply rooted ethical obligations. The existential philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas articulates an implicit ethics at the heart psychology's increasing acceptance of qualitative methods and provides an understanding of how the emerging methodological...