Teach-Soc'ers:
In my Intro class next semester I am assigning a paper
that requires students to "dissect" an academic
journal article. One of the goals is to help students
understand how to read journal articles, and also to
identify hypotheses, independent variables, dependent
variables, etc. I will use it early in the semester
when we discuss research methods. I used this
asignment last semester with much success, however, I
want to change the article I require them to dissect.
Last semester I used the following:
Flynn, Clifton P. 1999. Exploring the Link between
Corporal Punishment and Childrens Cruelty to
Animals, Journal of Marriage & Family 61:971-981.
While this article worked very well, I want to use
something different this semester so that students
aren't able to "recycle" assignments from former
students. The catch is that the article:
1) needs to be accessible to undergrads (especially
first year students)
2) based on quantitative research
3) should avoid using overly sophisticated statistics
4) should be fairly easy to discern the main
independent and dependent variables, and
5) should spell out the limitations of the study.
Given our tendency to produce highly sophisticated
statistical analyses, I am having a hard time coming
up with a suitable article. I was hoping folks on this
list might be able to offer some helpful suggestions.
Thanks in advance.
-Denise Copelton
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Denise A. Copelton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
SUNY Brockport
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420
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