SOC316 - Community Research Seminar

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Academic Year 2005/2006

Community Research Seminar
SOC 316 SP

Clusters:

Service-Learning

Small teams of students will carry out research projects submitted by local community groups and agencies. These may involve social science, natural science, or arts and humanities themes. The first two weeks of the course will be spent studying the theory and practice of community research. Working with the community groups themselves, the teams will then move to design and implementation of the research projects. Throughout the semester, the course will convene twice weekly to allow for discussion of research methodology and to track problems and progress in the individual projects. The instructor will assign further specific readings germane to the individual projects.

MAJOR READINGS

Dewey, "Experience and thinking"
Park, "What is participatory research?"
Stoeker, "The imperfect practice of collaborative research"
Hondagneu-Sotelo & Raskoff, "Community service-learning"
Gaventa, "The powerful, the powerless, and the experts"
Babbie, "The logic of sampling" & "The research report"
Horton & Friere, WE MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING
Rosenthal, "Dilemmas of local antihomelessness movements"

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One major research paper written as a member of a research team, including evaluations of each component (research design, implementation, etc.) along the way, an ongoing journal of field notes, and two 6-8 page papers summarizing and analyzing field notes.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

By permission of the instructor, 16 students, all juniors and seniors, will be admitted. First-year and sophomore students are not elegible. Students in all disciplines may apply. Students applying to be admitted to the course will write a statement indicating: 1) which project they wish to work on and why, and 2) what methodological training and research experience in the field, if any, they would bring to the project. This course is open to non-majors.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS SOC Grading Mode: Graded

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Rosenthal,Rob

Times: .M.W... 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: 167 HIGH;

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 16)

Special Attributes:

Curricular Renewal: Ethical Reasoning, Writing

Permission: Permission of Instructor Required
POI forms will be distributed by the instructor during the browsing period of pre-registration and must be submitted to the Registrar's office prior to the on-line registration appointment

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006