This course introduces students to both methodologies, particular qualitative methods, used in social science field study as the student works on honors-level, individual research projects.
In this course, the students will:
1. design and prepare a field study project utilizing the learned research methods
2. understand the proper ethics and protocols involved in social science field work
3. learn the basic logic, principles and methods of conducting field work
4. prepare a written and oral presentation of their field work
The Honors Research seminar is organized into three parts:
Part I: Social research and methodology workshop
The course will introduce students to issues related to conducting social research, such as formulating research hypothesis, ethics of social research, limitations of social research in China, and methodologies appropriate to research topics. By the end of this period, students should be able to choose the appropriate research methodology, develop a hypothesis and a means to test it, and plan a timeline for completing the project.
Part II: Field Work and writing workshop
Students will follow the professor’s lead in approaching the field work and conducting the research on their topics. During this phase of the seminar, students will report to the class on their data collection process, issues and problems. Some seminar meetings will address the actual write-up of the research project and approaches to preparing for and delivering a scholarly presentation.
Part III: Final Paper and Presentation
The final paper will be between 15-25 pages with full bibliography. Students will also present there paper in an academic conference setting at our end of semester IES Research Symposium.
Prerequisites:
None
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the semester, students should be able to
1. identify and formulate a researchable question in a scholarly manner and appropriate in the Chinese society
2. formulate a hypothesis and place it into the real context
3. identify the most appropriate research methodology and tools for data collection
4. analyze the research result and test the research hypothesis
5. write up research hypothesis using scholarly norms
Method of presentation:
The course will be conducted through lectures, discussions, in- class work and written assignments. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, with students working both individually and as a team on different aspects of the same core research topic.
The course will include an in-class component and a field component. Students are expected to be in class for two hours every week and devote a minimum of 10 hours each week on actual research.
Required work and form of assessment:
Class Participation (10%); Regular written assignments, home work and check-ins to monitor progress of field study work (25%); Final Research Paper (50%); final research presentation (15%).
content:
Part I: Social Research and Methodology Workshop
Week of 1/16 Introducing advisors and students; expectations and outcomes; course schedule (group session) /Begin identifying sources
Week of 2/6 Social sciences; human inquiry; theories; ethics (session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors) Group Session Topic: Research Ethics (Jeremiah Jenne)
Readings:
(1) Mills, C. Wright. 1957. Chapter 1. The Promise; Chapter 2. Grand Theory
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 1. Human Inquiry and Science
(3) Babbie, Earl. 2005. Chapter 2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research
(4) Babbie, Earl. 2005. Chapter 3. The Ethics and Politics of Social
Research
(5) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapter 15. Ethical Dilemmas: Balancing Distance with Involvement
Week of 2/13 Topic selection; observations; sources and resources; hypotheses; causality; research approaches; research design
(session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors) Group Session Topic: Students discuss the resources and the
expected outcomes of the research projects; practice participatory and non-participatory observation (Brian Eyler)
Readings:
(1) Harvey Russell Bernard. 2000. Chapter 9. Participant Observation (2) Harvey Russell Bernard. 2000. Chapter 10. Direct and Indirect Observation
(3) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 4. Research Design (4) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement
(5) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapter 2. Discovery, Research
(Re)design, and Theory Building
Group Homework: Checking on the background information on the research topic
Part II: Fieldwork and Writing
2/20 Preliminary Research
Week of 2/27 Literature Review (session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors)
Group Session Topic: Qualitative Field Research (Shawn Shieh)
Readings:
(1) Babbie. Earl. 2005, Chapter 9. Survey Research
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 10. Qualitative Field Research
(3) Geertz, Clifford. 1973. "Thick Description: Toward an
Interpretative Theory of Culture"
(4) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 11. Unobtrusive Research
Assignment Due: Literature reviews due to individual advisors
Week of 3/5 Research Design
Data collection and analysis (cont.)
Conducting research in China
Group discussion on research progress and problems (Jeremiah Jenne)
Readings:
(1) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapters 8 – 11
Assignment: research designs due
Week of 3/12 Field Research
Sessions: Discuss research designs (group); Meet with individual advisors
Week of 3/19 Field research
Meet with individual advisors
Group Session Topic: Quantitative Data Analysis (Brian Eyler) Readings:
(1) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 13. Qualitative Data Analysis
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 14. Quantitative Data Analysis
Week of 3/26 Field research
Meet with individual advisors
(1) Babbie. Earl. 2005, Chapter 15. Reading and Writing Social Research
Week of 4/2 Field research
Meeting with individual advisors
Week of 4/9 Field Research
Meeting with individual advisors
Week of 4/16 Writing; Rough Draft Due
Week of 4/23 Re-writes; follow-ups;
Week of 4/30 Final Presentations/Projects Due
Required readings:
Babbie, Earl. 2005. The Basics of Social Research. Third edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bernard, Harvey Russell. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage Publications Inc.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture." In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Heimer, Maria and Stig Thogersen, eds. 2006. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
Mills, C. Wright. 1957. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Brian Eyler holds a Master of Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) from UC San Diego specializing in China’s economic development and received his undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. He has studied and worked in China for nearly 10 years, joining IES Abroad in 2005 and now serves as the IES Abroad Beijing Center Director. His current academic research focuses on the international downstream effects of China’s economic development projects in the Mekong River basin in China’s Yunnan province.
Jeremiah Jenne is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in 19th-century Qing history and is currently researching anti-foreignism and colonialism in the coastal ('treaty port') cities of the Qing Empire. Other research interests include the Qing as an imperial(ist) power, the construction of identity during the Qing Dynasty, nationalism in modern China, and gender and the family in Late Imperial China. His essays have appeared in China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance and The Insiders Guide to Beijing, 2009
Edition.
Shawn (Shih-hung) Shieh was previously an Associate Professor of Political Science at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has been teaching, traveling, working, and doing research in China since 1984. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University where he specialized in Chinese politics. He has taught a wide range of courses on political thought, international politics, Chinese/Asian politics, and U.S.-China Relations, and has led two student groups to China. He has written and published a number of articles and book chapters on central- provincial relations, government-business relations, corruption and civil society in China in leading journals like The China Journal and Journal of Contemporary China. He is the coeditor of State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People (Routledge, 2009). This book examines the role of government and NGOs in responding to environmental, migrant labor, child welfare, and public health issues in contemporary China. He is currently working on a book on social activism and civil society in China.
This course introduces students to both methodologies, particular qualitative methods, used in social science field study as the student works on honors-level, individual research projects.
In this course, the students will:
1. design and prepare a field study project utilizing the learned research methods
2. understand the proper ethics and protocols involved in social science field work
3. learn the basic logic, principles and methods of conducting field work
4. prepare a written and oral presentation of their field work
The Honors Research seminar is organized into three parts:
Part I: Social research and methodology workshop
The course will introduce students to issues related to conducting social research, such as formulating research hypothesis, ethics of social research, limitations of social research in China, and methodologies appropriate to research topics. By the end of this period, students should be able to choose the appropriate research methodology, develop a hypothesis and a means to test it, and plan a timeline for completing the project.
Part II: Field Work and writing workshop
Students will follow the professor’s lead in approaching the field work and conducting the research on their topics. During this phase of the seminar, students will report to the class on their data collection process, issues and problems. Some seminar meetings will address the actual write-up of the research project and approaches to preparing for and delivering a scholarly presentation.
Part III: Final Paper and Presentation
The final paper will be between 15-25 pages with full bibliography. Students will also present there paper in an academic conference setting at our end of semester IES Research Symposium.
None
By the end of the semester, students should be able to
1. identify and formulate a researchable question in a scholarly manner and appropriate in the Chinese society
2. formulate a hypothesis and place it into the real context
3. identify the most appropriate research methodology and tools for data collection
4. analyze the research result and test the research hypothesis
5. write up research hypothesis using scholarly norms
The course will be conducted through lectures, discussions, in- class work and written assignments. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, with students working both individually and as a team on different aspects of the same core research topic.
The course will include an in-class component and a field component. Students are expected to be in class for two hours every week and devote a minimum of 10 hours each week on actual research.
Class Participation (10%); Regular written assignments, home work and check-ins to monitor progress of field study work (25%); Final Research Paper (50%); final research presentation (15%).
Part I: Social Research and Methodology Workshop
Week of 1/16 Introducing advisors and students; expectations and outcomes; course schedule (group session) /Begin identifying sources
Week of 2/6 Social sciences; human inquiry; theories; ethics (session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors) Group Session Topic: Research Ethics (Jeremiah Jenne)
Readings:
(1) Mills, C. Wright. 1957. Chapter 1. The Promise; Chapter 2. Grand Theory
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 1. Human Inquiry and Science
(3) Babbie, Earl. 2005. Chapter 2. Paradigms, Theory, and Research
(4) Babbie, Earl. 2005. Chapter 3. The Ethics and Politics of Social
Research
(5) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapter 15. Ethical Dilemmas: Balancing Distance with Involvement
Week of 2/13 Topic selection; observations; sources and resources; hypotheses; causality; research approaches; research design
(session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors) Group Session Topic: Students discuss the resources and the
expected outcomes of the research projects; practice participatory and non-participatory observation (Brian Eyler)
Readings:
(1) Harvey Russell Bernard. 2000. Chapter 9. Participant Observation (2) Harvey Russell Bernard. 2000. Chapter 10. Direct and Indirect Observation
(3) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 4. Research Design (4) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 5. Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement
(5) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapter 2. Discovery, Research
(Re)design, and Theory Building
Group Homework: Checking on the background information on the research topic
Part II: Fieldwork and Writing
2/20 Preliminary Research
Week of 2/27 Literature Review (session I: group session; session II: meet with individual advisors)
Group Session Topic: Qualitative Field Research (Shawn Shieh)
Readings:
(1) Babbie. Earl. 2005, Chapter 9. Survey Research
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 10. Qualitative Field Research
(3) Geertz, Clifford. 1973. "Thick Description: Toward an
Interpretative Theory of Culture"
(4) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 11. Unobtrusive Research
Assignment Due: Literature reviews due to individual advisors
Week of 3/5 Research Design
Data collection and analysis (cont.)
Conducting research in China
Group discussion on research progress and problems (Jeremiah Jenne)
Readings:
(1) Heimer and Thogersen. 2006, Chapters 8 – 11
Assignment: research designs due
Week of 3/12 Field Research
Sessions: Discuss research designs (group); Meet with individual advisors
Week of 3/19 Field research
Meet with individual advisors
Group Session Topic: Quantitative Data Analysis (Brian Eyler) Readings:
(1) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 13. Qualitative Data Analysis
(2) Babbie, Earl. 2005, Chapter 14. Quantitative Data Analysis
Week of 3/26 Field research
Meet with individual advisors
(1) Babbie. Earl. 2005, Chapter 15. Reading and Writing Social Research
Week of 4/2 Field research
Meeting with individual advisors
Week of 4/9 Field Research
Meeting with individual advisors
Week of 4/16 Writing; Rough Draft Due
Week of 4/23 Re-writes; follow-ups;
Week of 4/30 Final Presentations/Projects Due
Babbie, Earl. 2005. The Basics of Social Research. Third edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Bernard, Harvey Russell. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage Publications Inc.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture." In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Heimer, Maria and Stig Thogersen, eds. 2006. Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
Mills, C. Wright. 1957. The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University.
Brian Eyler holds a Master of Pacific International Affairs (MPIA) from UC San Diego specializing in China’s economic development and received his undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. He has studied and worked in China for nearly 10 years, joining IES Abroad in 2005 and now serves as the IES Abroad Beijing Center Director. His current academic research focuses on the international downstream effects of China’s economic development projects in the Mekong River basin in China’s Yunnan province.
Jeremiah Jenne is a Ph.D. Candidate in History at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in 19th-century Qing history and is currently researching anti-foreignism and colonialism in the coastal ('treaty port') cities of the Qing Empire. Other research interests include the Qing as an imperial(ist) power, the construction of identity during the Qing Dynasty, nationalism in modern China, and gender and the family in Late Imperial China. His essays have appeared in China in 2008: A Year of Great Significance and The Insiders Guide to Beijing, 2009
Edition.
Shawn (Shih-hung) Shieh was previously an Associate Professor of Political Science at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He has been teaching, traveling, working, and doing research in China since 1984. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Columbia University where he specialized in Chinese politics. He has taught a wide range of courses on political thought, international politics, Chinese/Asian politics, and U.S.-China Relations, and has led two student groups to China. He has written and published a number of articles and book chapters on central- provincial relations, government-business relations, corruption and civil society in China in leading journals like The China Journal and Journal of Contemporary China. He is the coeditor of State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People (Routledge, 2009). This book examines the role of government and NGOs in responding to environmental, migrant labor, child welfare, and public health issues in contemporary China. He is currently working on a book on social activism and civil society in China.