SOC497: Sociological Research Methods
Extra-Credit Opportunity:
Review a Methodology Article
Comments
You may receive extra credit by reviewing an article that fits the methodological focus of this course. The grade
on this assignment, if completed, will be counted as an additional homework. (That means there would be ten
total, of which still only three are dropped, leaving seven rather than six. It does not mean an additional “lowest
grade” is dropped, or that another assignment is replaced.)
Instructions
Select an article which explores and attempts to answer a methodological question. (If you select something that
addresses an empirical or theoretical question, you will not receive the extra credit, so don’t waste your time. I
recommend that you run the article, or at least a citation and abstract, by me for approval in advance.) Typically,
this will mean that there is an independent variable which is a methodological choice, such as about something
you’ve learned, read, or studied in this course.
You will find some sociology journals, such as the American Journal of Sociology, in CSUN’s library. However,
you are strongly encouraged to consider journals such as Sociological Methodology, Studies in Qualitative
Methodology, Political Methodology, or Political Analysis, in which almost every article will fit.
Read the article with the questions below in mind. Write an annotation and/or review of at least 300 words, which
answers at least some of the questions below, and include a complete citation for the article.
Submit your typed work no later than the beginning of the last lecture meeting of the course.
Questions
1. What is the methodological question at issue?
• What is the research hypothesis?
• What is the dependent variable?
• What is the independent variable?
2. How it that question addressed or resolved?
• What kind of data is considered, and how is it analyzed?
• What conclusions are made about data (if any)?
• What conclusions are made about the research question?
3. Does this methodological research also answer any empirical or theoretical questions?
4. Was the given data and/or method an appropriate test of the methodological question?
• What would you do differently to address that question?