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Social Research Methods Free Activities
Try these free Social Research Methods activities in your class
Social Research Methods: Sociology in Action, edited by: Kristin Kenneavy, Catherine E. Harnois, Maxine P. Atkinson, and Kathleen Odell Korgen, includes everything you need to get students doing sociological research through real-world activities designed to increase learning, retention, and engagement. Each chapter is contributed by an expert and experienced teacher in that area who uses active learning in their courses.
Below, we have selected a few exercises for you to try with your students. We hope you enjoy teaching with these!
Activity 1: Making the Case for Sociological Knowledge
Doing Sociology 1.3 Questioning News Sources
In this activity, you will critique the way in which social science research is described in a news media article. In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC.com published an article titled “Science says pets can buffer stress, boost productivity and help keep you healthy while you WFH [work from home]” (Stieg, 2020). The article contends that pets help to reduce stress and bolster happiness and work productivity, stating...
Activity 2: Posing Questions, Crafting Explanations, and Communicating Results
Doing Sociology 2.3 Creating a Hypothesis
In this exercise, you will formulate a sociological research question. Once we have posed a research question, we want to try to answer it. The process of crafting explanations starts by reviewing what other researchers have written on the topic. This is called a literature review...
Activity 3: Surveying the Social Landscape
Doing Sociology 8.1 Writing a Survey Research Question and Clarifying Constructs
In this activity, you will develop a measure of a social construct. Below are a number of example research questions that are well-suited for survey research: What is the unemployment rate of the U.S. population? How do Chicago residents feel about racial equity in their city...
Activity 4: Collecting What’s Already There: Content Analysis and Some Related Methods
Doing Sociology 10.2 Analyzing an Academic Article That Uses Content Analysis
In this exercise, you will read and analyze an academic abstract in which the researcher uses content analysis. Content analysis is particularly appropriate/useful for exploratory research in areas where very little previous research has been done. It is also particularly appropriate/useful for descriptive research, where the research question seeks careful descriptions of some social phenomenon...
