tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post4786633604117707386..comments2023-12-28T18:17:11.191-05:00Comments on Gruntled Center: A Consumer-Oriented Research Methods Class?Gruntledhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14377809238377382438noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-32280431353216130512012-05-18T00:33:59.883-04:002012-05-18T00:33:59.883-04:00I think that would be great! I think the number cr...I think that would be great! I think the number crunching is important, but it's also important to be able to process and analyze other sorts of info.Kerrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04829995518940049474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-25913576339054816342012-05-16T03:17:58.112-04:002012-05-16T03:17:58.112-04:00I've been teaching RMethods for a few years, b...I've been teaching RMethods for a few years, but for the PSY Dept (ignominy: a sociologist teaching experimental designs!) there are so many concepts that social scientists take for granted but which my students have a hard time even grasping. I do teach using a number of actual studies, especially when I can get video or audio to bring them to life. Andrew Harrell's studies about parents' care for attractive vs less attractive children is just great for many of the concepts of measurement, and NPR has the clip of an interview with him. <br /><br />I do spend quite a bit of time on survey methods. Just about every educated person will eventually want to do some small informal survey - community needs, school issues, job settings. Most of them are terribly done - no decision should be made on the basis of the data. I try to innoculate against it by snagging whatever dreadfult survey has most recently gone by at our College and working with the class to improve it.<br /> <br />I do like the idea of a free standing RM course just because there are so many related concepts. But without using a lot of actual studies, the textbooks are like studying anatomy but only having the bones.<br /> <br />May it go well for you!Sister Edithhttp://edithosb.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16201378.post-11973842388949297212012-05-15T13:27:01.487-04:002012-05-15T13:27:01.487-04:00I think this is a great idea, especially as a low-...I think this is a great idea, especially as a low-level requirement (if it is one). The use case of a research-consumer class seems to me to be about teaching skepticism. That in turn would require a reasonable level of statistics--standard deviations, expected values, what a margin of error actually is, etcetera. I'm sure you already cover the problematic nature of primary sources in other classes, but this year in particular, a week on cases like Mike Daisey and David Foster Wallace would be appropriate too.Brendanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08675330988765544946noreply@blogger.com