POEC 5310: Research Design I

Fall 2006
3.606 Green Hall
Professor Kimberly Kempf-Leonard
972-883-4969
kleonard@utdallas.edu
2.120 Green Hall
Office hours: Tuesdays & Wednesdays 3-3:50, and by appointment

No Pre-requisites. Any graduate student in the School of Economics, Political & Policy Sciences is welcome to enroll
and encouraged to take the class early in their graduate studies. Students from other UTD graduate programs who are
interested in social science research methods are also welcome.

Course Description
This course on research design is the first in a series of graduate courses offered in the School of Social Sciences to
teach graduate students about methodology used in the social sciences. The task of the methodologist is to explain
what the investigator is doing and to determine whether the procedures will lead the investigator to the kinds of
statements he or she wants to make. This course explains strategies for devising social science studies, compares the
relative benefits of various designs, and identifies the tools necessary actually to conduct studies that will yield data
worthy of analysis, publication, tenure, and promotion! This material will be valuable not only for students who will
conduct research and administrators who must evaluate the research of others, but also for those who, in the course of
daily lives, wonder how and why people behave and organizations develop as they do.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

Students will demonstrate their understanding of the first five stages of social science research, listed below.
Students will develop a research design capable of explaining a social science relationship of their own choosing.
Stages of Social Science Research
1. Define a research problem
2. formulate a meaningful hypothesis
3. Conduct a literature review to determine what is known about the research problem.
4. Identify dependent, independent, and intervening variables.
5. Formulate a research design.
- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
6. Conduct the study.
7. Analyze and interpret the results.
8. Implications for future research and/or policy

Required Textbooks and Materials

Please purchase and bring to class the two books listed below. Other assigned readings will be distributed in class or
made available on library reserve.
De Vaus, David A. 2001. Research Design in Social Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (ISBN: 0-7619-
5347-7; www.oup.com)

Bryman, Allan. 2004 Social Research Methods, 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (ISBN 0-19-
926446-5; www.sagepub.co.uk)
[first edition is fine too: 2001. (ISBN: 0-19-874204-5)]

Recommended Resource: The Encyclopedia of Social Measurement (2005)

available for consultation in the reference section of the library

Course Structure
The outline of course topics and reading assignments are listed below. The course will be a combination of lecture,
discussion, and activities. During most weeks, I will begin the session by presenting techniques, issues, and concerns
that I consider most important on the methodological topics for that week. We will then have an open discussion and

Course Syllabus Page 1

relate the issues to substantive examples within the social sciences. Students are especially encouraged to share
examples in class; the more practice we get at evaluating research design, the better methodologists we will become!

1: Aug. 22 Purposes & Paradigms of Social Science Research

Exploration, description, comparison, explanation, prediction, & evaluation
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 1: The Context of Design

2: Aug. 29 Epistemology & the Role of Theory in Social Science Research

Induction, deduction, hypotheses & Propositions, and the scientific method
Read: Bryman, Ch. 1: Social Research Strategies
G. Taubes (2002) “What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” New York Times
Magazine, 7/7

Come prepared to discuss concerns for the social scientist about epistemology and
researcher objectivity. What lessons might be learned from the article on dieting
research?

3: Sept. 5 Standards for Assessing Social Science

Reliability, validity, generalizability, objectivity, ethics, & methods
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 2: Tools for Research Design
Bryman Ch. 3: Nature of Quantitative Research
Bryman Ch. 13: Nature of Qualitative Research

Assignment 1 due today: Decide on a social science topic that you intend to investigate this
semester. Choose a topic of interest to you and about which you will be able to locate
related refereed journal articles because this topic will become the focus of many
assignments and lead to the research proposal that contributes heavily to your course
grade. Identify five articles from refereed journals that describe some sort of research on
this topic, provide me with a bibliography listing these articles and the authors’ abstracts.
It will be important that you have access to the complete article.

4: Sept. 12 Features & Types of Designs

Causation, triangulation of methods, and feasibility
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 3: Causation and the Logic of Research Design
de Vaus, pp. 203 -211, section on elaboration
Bryman Ch. 21: Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide
Bryman Ch. 22: Combining quantitative and qualitative research

5: Sept. 19 Concepts and Variables

Hypothesis construction, operationalization, levels of measurement, scales, indices & typologies
Read: Bryman (pp. 65-70) concepts & measurement

Come prepared to share the research problem you will propose to study. You should
propose to study a relationship that is explanatory, predictive, or evaluative. No
exploratory, descriptive, or comparison proposals will be allowed.

7: Sept. 26 Research Subjects

Populations, sampling strategies, units of analysis, attrition, weighting, Human subjects
Read: Bryman Ch. 4: “Sampling”
Bryman Ch. 25 “Ethics in social research”

Assignment 2 due today: Turn in draft of the hypothesis you anticipate to propose. Write a
paragraph describing why this is a good example of a hypothesis. Be certain to identify
important concepts and the causal relationship specified in the hypothesis.

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8: Oct. 3 Experimental designs
Types, elements for construction, strengths and weaknesses, & implementation issues
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 4: Types of Experimental Design
de Vaus, Ch. 5: Issues in Experimental Design

Come prepared to talk about how your topic might be investigated through an
experimental design and what difficulties would need to be overcome.

Assignment 3 due today: Construct a table that provides an overview of the articles you are
reviewing. This table should identify the research subjects and how they were identified.
You will also need to distinguish the independent and dependent variables, and how they
were operationalized. I will provide you with a template for this assignment, or you may
devise your own.

9: Oct. 10 Cross-sectional Designs & Case Study Designs

Reliance on existing differences, data collection methods, and practical issues
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 10: Cross-Sectional Design
de Vaus, Ch. 11: Issues in Cross-Sectional Design
de Vaus, Ch. 13: Case Study Design
de Vaus, Ch. 14: Issues in Case Study Design

Come prepared to discuss various units of analysis you could propose to examine and
what a potential case study for your topic look like.

10: Oct. 17 Longitudinal designs

Types, purposes, strengths and weaknesses, implementation issues, and examples
Read: de Vaus, Ch. 7: Types of Longitudinal Design
de Vaus, Ch. 8: Issues in Longitudinal Design

11: Oct. 24 Methods of Quantitative & Qualitative Data Collection I:

Unobtrusive observation, experience, & physical traces.
Read: Bryman Ch. 8: Structured Observation
Bryman Ch. 9: Content Analysis
Bryman Ch. 10: Secondary analysis & Official Statistics

12: Oct. 31 No Class Meeting (annual meetings of American Society of Criminology)

13: Nov. 7 Methods of Quantitative & Qualitative Data Collection II: Obtrusive Asking.
Read: Bryman, Ch. 5: Structured Interviewing
Bryman Ch. 6: Self-Completion Questionnaires
Bryman Ch. 7: Asking Questions

14: Nov. 14 Methods of Quantitative & Qualitative Data Collection III: Field research
Read: Bryman Ch. 14: Ethnography & Participant Observation
Bryman Ch. 15: Interviewing in qualitative research
Bryman Ch. 16: Focus Groups

Assignment 4 due today: Write a short paper in which you describe two different data collection
methods you could use to measure critical concepts and examine the relationship of
interest about your topic. Describe the data collection instrument you would use to
measure key variables, and justify your decisions.

15: Nov. 21 Finish up; discuss research proposal projects…

Evaluation & Applied Research (if time permits)

Read: P. Rossi, H. Freeman, & M. Lipsey (1999). Evaluation (ch.1, 2 & 12)

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Nov. 27: Proposals are due by 4 pm in my office, 2.120 Green Hall. (Paper copies only)

Grades
Half of the course grade will be based on the final research proposal, due Nov. 27, which should also become part of
your portfolio. The other half of your course grade will be based on assignments that lead up to the research proposal,
including the following assignments and exercises:
1. 5-8 journal articles on topic of your choosing (due Sept. 5)
2. hypothesis for research proposal (due Sept. 26)
3. Summary table of subjects and variables (due Oct. 3)
4. triangulation of methods (due Nov. 14)

Instructor’s Policies & Expectations of the students

Active attendance. Students should come to class meetings ready to discuss the topics and assigned materials for the
week. Research methods are best learned by doing, so we will have several opportunities to practice. Assignments
culminate in a final research design proposal in which students convey their skills in research design and readiness to
proceed to other methodology courses.

Progress and achievement. The course activities and assignments are designed to provide a foundation in research
design and multidisciplinary methods for graduate students in the social sciences. Activities and assignments will
require different levels of attention, time, and skill; in part, because students enroll in the course with various
backgrounds, knowledge, and biases about social science methodology. I hope every student meets with me to
discuss his or her interests in methodology, progress in the course, and most certainly if problems arise.

Colleagial interaction. Especially given our different substantive and methodological interests, it is important that class
participants be open-minded and respectful of one another. In addition to being courteous and responsible, it is
important for learning that students attend class, so repeated absence or tardiness, regardless of the reason, will not
be considered favorably. Moreover, except in unusual circumstances, late submissions and make up assignments will
not be allowed. Written work is expected to be turned into the professor on the assigned date. Electronic copies are
discouraged.

Instructor’s Philosophy regarding Research Design

The word methodology is used in various ways within the social sciences. As such, and especially in the orientation of
this course, it is worth considering that among the many design strategies, methods of data collection, and analytical
techniques, there are standards and “rules of thumb,” but also exceptions and lack of consensus. The more of each
that you understand and appreciate, the better the methodologist you’ll become. I list below a few favorite quotes that
help to convey the message I intend.

The world lies waiting for the curious to observe, manipulate, make judgments about, and understand. The
fundamental question is how this will be done….Learning which questions to ask and which tools to use is essentially
the business of research methods.
-R.A. Singleton et al. (1993), Approaches to Social Research, p. 3

Methodology … [has] developed as a bent of mind rather than as a system of organized principles and procedures.
The methodologist is a scholar who is above all analytical in his approach to his subject matter. He tells other scholars
what they have done, or might do, rather than what they should do. He tells them what order of finding has emerged
from their research, not what kind of result is or is not preferable. This kind of analytical approach requires self-
awareness on the one hand, and tolerance, on the other. The methodologist knows that the same goal can be reached
by alternative roads.
-P. Lazarsfeld & M. Rosenberg (1955) The Language of Social Research, p 4.

Riddle: When it comes to reading the report of an empirical study, what is the difference between a layman, a
researcher, and a methodologist? Answer: The layman reads the text and skips the tables; the researcher reads the

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tables and skips the text; and the methodologist does not care very much about either the text or the tables, as long as
they both agree with each other.
-T. Hirschi & H. Selvin (1973) Principles of Survey Analysis, p. 8

Avoid the fallacy fallacy. When a theorist or methodologist tells you you cannot do something, do it anyway. Breaking
rules can be fun!
-T. Hirschi, 21 (2) Social Problems, pp.171-2.

And, recognizing my personal bias, I offer these…

“abstracted empiricism” helps insure “that we do not learn too much about man and society”
-C.W. Mills (1959) The Sociological Imagination, p. 75

[In] the interplay between design and statistics, design rules!

-W. Shadish, T. D. Cook, & D.T. Campbell (2002). Experimental &
Quasi-experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, p. xvi

Field Trip Policies, Off-campus Instruction and Course Activities

Off-campus, out-of-state, and foreign instruction and activities are subject to state law and University policies
and procedures regarding travel and risk-related activities. Information regarding these rules and regulations
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Additional information is available from the office of the school dean. Below is a description of any travel
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 Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other source is
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The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:

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 The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688, Richardson, Texas 75083-0688, (972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

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These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.

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