Department of Sociology
College of Liberal Arts
Texas A&M University

(2018 Spring) SOCI 420 – Advanced Methods of Social Research

Syllabus

– Course information

Meeting location: Academic Building 308, campus map

Meeting times:
Lecture, Monday and Wednesday, 1:50–2:40pm
Lab, Friday, 1:50–2:40pm

– Instructor information

Ernesto F. L. Amaral
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

Office location: Academic Building 415
Office hours: Monday, 3–5pm and by appointment
Phone: (979)845–9706
Email: amaral@tamu.edu

– Teaching assistant information

Michael Upchurch
Graduate Student, Department of Sociology

Office location: Academic Building 414A
Office hours: Wednesday, 3–4pm; Thursday 12–1pm; and by appointment
Email: michaelj.church@tamu.edu

– Lectures, Stata codes, and Exams

Day 01 – January 17, 2018 – Wednesday
Introduction
Lecture (chapter 1)

The Joy of Stats with Professor Hans Rosling
from Gapminder

Day 02 – January 19, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 1)

Day 03 – January 22, 2018 – Monday
Day 04 – January 24, 2018 – Wednesday

Basic descriptive statistics
Lecture (chapter 2)

Sample weights
Lecture (sample weights)

Material in Excel
Excel: Person-years, rates, probabilities
Excel: Examples of charts

Day 05 – January 26, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 2)

Material about graphs in Stata
Stata twoway bar command
Stata graphics by Dawn Koffman
Stata extra graphics programs
Stata color codes

Day 06 – January 29, 2018 – Monday
Day 07 – January 31, 2018 – Wednesday

Measures of central tendency
Lecture (chapter 3)

Day 08 – February 2, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 3)

Day 09 – February 5, 2018 – Monday
Measures of dispersion
Lecture (chapter 4)

Material in Excel
Excel: Examples of measures of central tendency and dispersion

Day 10 – February 7, 2018 – Wednesday
The normal curve
Lecture (chapter 5)

Material in Excel
Excel: Examples of normal distribution

Day 11 – February 9, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 4)
Stata code (chapter 5)

Day 12 – February 12, 2018 – Monday
Day 13 – February 14, 2018 – Wednesday

Introduction to inferential statistics
Lecture (chapter 6)

Day 14 – February 16, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (append different years)

Day 15 – February 19, 2018 – Monday
Day 16 – February 21, 2018 – Wednesday

Estimation procedures
Lecture (chapter 7)

Day 17 – February 23, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapters 6 and 7)

Day 18 – February 26, 2018 – Monday
Day 19 – February 28, 2018 – Wednesday

Hypothesis testing I: The one-sample case
Lecture (chapter 8)

Day 20 – March 2, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 8)

Day 21 – March 5, 2018 – Monday
Day 22 – March 7, 2018 – Wednesday

Hypothesis testing II: The two-sample case
Lecture (chapter 9)

Day 23 – March 9, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 9)

March 12, 2018 – Monday
March 14, 2018 – Wednesday
March 16, 2018 – Friday

Spring Break

Day 24 – March 19, 2018 – Monday
Day 25 – March 21, 2018 – Wednesday

Hypothesis testing III: The analysis of variance
Lecture (chapter 10)

Day 26 – March 23, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 10)

Day 27 – March 26, 2018 – Monday
Hypothesis testing IV: Chi square
Lecture (chapter 11)

Day 28 – March 28, 2018 – Wednesday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 11)

March 30, 2018 – Friday
Easter, reading day, no class

Day 29 – April 2, 2018 – Monday
Day 30 – April 4, 2018 – Wednesday

Bivariate association for nominal- and ordinal-level variables
Lecture (chapter 12)

Day 31 – April 6, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 12)

Day 32 – April 9, 2018 – Monday
Day 33 – April 11, 2018 – Wednesday

Association between variables measured at the interval-ratio level
Lecture (chapter 13)

Day 34 – April 13, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 13)

Day 35 – April 16, 2018 – Monday
Day 36 – April 18, 2018 – Wednesday

Elaborating bivariate tables
Lecture (chapter 14)

Day 37 – April 20, 2018 – Friday
Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 14)

Day 38 – April 23, 2018 – Monday
Day 39 – April 25, 2018 – Wednesday

Partial correlation, multiple regression, and correlation
Lecture (chapter 15)

Day 40 – April 27, 2018 – Friday
Day 41 – April 30, 2018 – Monday

Statistical software
Stata code (chapter 15)

Day 42 – May 1, 2018 – Tuesday
Redefined day (overall review)

Day 43 – May 7, 2018 – Monday, 3:30–5:30pm
Final exam
Healey (chapters 1–15)

– Assignments

Assignment 1
Instructions
Rubric

Assignment 2
Instructions
Rubric

Assignment 3
Instructions
Rubric

– Resources to write about numbers

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Manuscript formatting (American Sociological Association – ASA style)

Site

Purdue Online Writing Lab
Writing with statistics

Site

Examples of tables and figures
PDF file

– The General Social Survey (GSS)

GSS official website
Site

GSS Data Explorer
Site

GSS resources for this course
Material

– Stata Resources

Instructions for Accessing Stata Through the Virtual Open Access Lab (VOAL) at Texas A&M University
VOAL Instructions

Stata: Data Analysis and Statistical Software
Resource links

Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Stata material

Carolina Population Center (CPC)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)
Introduction to Stata

Generalized Linear Latent And Mixed Models (GLLAMM)
Stata Programs for estimating, predicting, simulating

Stata extra modules
Material

– U.S. Census Bureau

Census Bureau official website
Site

American Community Survey (ACS)
Site

American FactFinder
Site

Current Population Survey (CPS)
Site

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
Site

– Demographic data and resources

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
Minnesota Population Center (MPC)
University of Minnesota
Site

Population Division
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
United Nations
Site

Population.io
The World Population Project
Site

Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Site

Population Reference Bureau (PRB) DataFinder
Site

Population and Poverty Research Network (PopPov)
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Population Reference Bureau (PRB)
Site

The Human Mortality Database
Site

Latin American Human Mortality Database
Site

The Human Fertility Database
Site

Human Fertility Collection
Site

European Fertility Project
Office of Population Research (OPR)
Princeton University
Site

World Migration Map
Site

Foreign-Born Population: A Nation of Overlapping Diasporas
Digital Scholarship Lab
University of Richmond
Site

Internal Migration Around the GlobE (IMAGE)
School of Geography Planning and Environmental Management
The University of Queensland Australia
Site

Mexican Migration Project (MPP)
Princeton University & University of Guadalajara
Site

Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS)
Iberoamerican University (UIA)
Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE)
Duke University
Site

The New Immigrant Survey
Princeton University
Site

– Other microdata and surveys

American Life Panel
RAND Corporation
Site

Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
Site

World Values Survey
Site

Latinobarómetro: Opinion Pública Lationamericana
Site

Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP)
Site

Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES)
Site

– Aggregated-level data

Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact-based worldview
Site

World Bank Data
Site

National Vital Statistics System
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Site

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
Data Visualizations
Site

Pew Research Center Data
Site

Brookings Institute
Site

– Academic associations

American Sociological Association (ASA)
Site

Population Association of America (PAA)
Site

American Political Science Association (APSA)
Site

American Marketing Association
Site

American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
Site

– Sources for literature review

Web of Science
Scientific citation indexing service
Site

JSTOR (Journal Storage)
Digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources
Site

American Journal of Sociology
Site

American Sociological Review
Site

Annual Review of Sociology
Site

Science Direct
Source for scientific, technical, and medical research
Site

PubMed
Citations for biomedical literature, life science journals, and online books
Site

– Public-opinion polls

RealClearPolitics
Political news and polling data aggregator
Site

FiveThirtyEight
Statistical analysis about elections, politics, sports, science, economics and culture
Site