SOCY 493
PRACTICUM IN SOCIOLOGY
Catalog Entry
SOCY 493. Practicum in Sociology.
Field or laboratory course: variable hours per week (3).
Prerequisites: SOCY 110, or SOCY 121, or permission of instructor.
Students participate in a semester-long team-based practice experience led by a faculty
member.
Note(s): Applied Learning designated course. Can be used to fulfill the Sociology major practice
experience requirement. May be repeated when topics vary for a maximum of 12 hours
credit.
Detailed Description of Content of the Course
This course will allow students to work collaboratively on particular research projects
supervised by the sociology faculty. The maximum number of credit hours will require
a commitment to a project, and will include students in the process of developing
a research design, fieldwork, analysis, and writing of a particular project. Fewer
hours of credit will be allotted for more focused work on a subset of these stages
of a particular project. The course will be taught when field sites or laboratory
work are available and appropriate for sociological research.
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Faculty and students will work as colleagues in developing the parameters of the research
project, and their roles as researchers in it. For example, in a community-based research
project, students might participate in literature review, sampling, developing questions
for the field experience, role-playing interviewing techniques, debriefing field experiences,
computer-based (and non computer-based) pattern-seeking analysis techniques, drafting
writing, and final product writing. (For fewer credits, a subset of these activities
might be assigned to students.)
Goals and Objectives of Course
The course provides experience in all aspects of a field or laboratory research project
in sociology. Students participate in research design, fieldwork or laboratory work,
analysis, and writing, or a subset of these stages, for a particular project. Students
will learn to carry out the field/laboratory techniques integral to their particular
research project. For all projects, students will learn how to read sophisticated
literature as background for primary data collection research. They will learn the
practical, as well as the theoretical aspects of sampling. They will learn analysis
techniques that aid in discovering patterns and themes. When writing drafts and final
products, students will learn how to state themes and marshal evidence to support
those themes. They will have a good deal of practice with use of the computer, both
as a word-processing and as an analysis tool.
Assessment Measures
Student work will be evaluated on its quantity, quality, and timeliness with regard to how well it serves to meet the project goals. Students will be informed when they have strayed from basic principles of good sociological practice by the directing faculty member. Final assessment will judge whether these lessons have culminated in changes that produce a better final product. It is anticipated that final products will be of grant report or professional paper quality, and will be graded with this outcome as the goal.
Other Course Information
The examples given above are derived from student-faculty collaborative projects in
ethnographic research. When other types of sociological projects are undertaken, the
skills learned will be somewhat different and appropriate to the specific type of
research. The overall principle of collaborative research with student involvement
in as many phases as possible will be the same in all projects, however.
Review and Approval
DATE ACTION REVIEWED
February 2009, Dr. Paula Brush, Chair, Department of Sociology
April 23, 2014
March 01, 2021