ESP 178 Applied Research
Methods
Winter 2008
|
Lectures
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TTh
10:30 – 11:50
PhyGeo Building 130
|
|
Sections
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Th
1:10 – 2:00 in Wickson 2120J
Th
2:10 – 3:00 in Olson 244
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Instructor
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Susan Handy
Office: 2142 Wickson Hall
Office
hours: TTh 3:00 – 4:30
e-mail: slhandy@ucdavis.edu
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Teaching Assistant
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Tuyeni
Mwampamba
Office:
2101C Wickson Hall
Office
hours: Th 9:00 – 10:00 am
e-mail: thmwampamba@ucdavis.edu
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Important! See revisions
to schedule, below.
Final will
be given in class on 3/13.
Final
Proposal is due in 2132 Wickson on 3/19 at noon.
Important! Read these articles
for the final on 3/13. Bring copies of
articles with you to the final.
Dill
article
Olli article
Study Sheet for Final
Course Objectives
Of
the millions who watch sports events, a vanishingly small percentage can play
any of the games they watch with anything approaching professional skill, yet
virtually all understand the rules well enough to appreciate what they see. The public must then, in the same way,
understand science if it is to react intelligently. They must at least be capable of following
the game, even if they can’t play it.
- Isaac Asimov, 1980.
The purpose of this course is to
train students in the fundamentals of research design in the social
sciences. Many students will take jobs
after graduation where they will, occasionally or frequently, oversee the
research process – developing problem statements, issuing calls for proposals,
evaluating proposals, choosing a research team, monitoring the research
process, using research results in the policy process. Some students will return to graduate school,
where they will receive further training in the scientific research process,
and may choose a career in research in one field or another. Whatever job students take, they are likely
to make use of research produced by others to understand problems and evaluate
potential solutions. In fact, all students are consumers of research, whether
they realize it or not, throughout their daily lives. With the understanding of research design
that students gain through this course, they can be more critical and more
effective as both consumers and producers of social science research. By the end of the course, students will be
conversant in the language of social science research and know what questions
to ask of themselves and others in the design of research projects and the use
of research results.
Syllabus
Reading List for course reader
Proposal Assignment
Stage
1: Question and background
Stage
2: Literature review
Stage
3: Conceptualization and Research Design
Clarifications on concepts in
Stage 3
Stage 4:
Data Collection Instrument and Budget
Budget Template - excel file
Final Proposal
Template for final proposal
An "A"
proposal from 2007
Rules and Roles for In-Class Exercises
Interesting websites on science and policy
National Public Radio report on Science and the Bush
Administration, 2/06
The
Union of Concerned Scientists on "Restoring Scientific Integrity"
National Council for
Science and the Environment
Recommendations
for Improving the Scientific Basis for Environmental Decision making
"Forestry Commission
Issues Report on Fire, Forest Health, and Biodiversity"
"White House Requires
Peer-Review for Regulatory Science"
Issues in Science and
Technology
Daniel
Yankelvich on "Winning Greater Influence for Science"
D.
Allan Bromley and Michael S. Lubell on "Science's Growing Political
Strength"
Robert M. White on "Whither the U.S. Climate Program?"
The Ecology Society of American - Public
Affairs Office
Aldo Leopold Leadership Program
Examples of the politics involved in linking science to policy...
Bush
Administration letter to World Health Organization on their report on the fight
against obesity and diabetes
Examples of the biases that come into research…
National Public Radio story on bias in nutrition studies funded
by the food industry
And the article itself on Relationship Between Funding Source and Conclusion Among
Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles
Helpful websites for
finding research topics
Environmental
issues from the Almanac of Policy Issues
Resources on all kinds of
environmental issues, from Envirolink.org
Environmental
hot topics for business, from GreenBiz.com
Local Government
Environmental Assistance Network Hot Topics
Public Policy Institute of California, Research Briefs
Public
Policy Institute of California, California Counts
Class exercises and additional resources related to class discussions
Return to Department of Environmental Science and
Policy
Return to Susan Handy's
home page
Last updated 3/10/08