Welcome!

SSCI-E 100a
Lecture 1
 Today’s agenda
• Introduce myself
• Introduce the course
• Introduce some of the key terms
 Who am I?
Evan Kleiman, Ph.D.
ekleiman@fas.harvard.edu
Office hours: By appointment
 Goals of the course
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of
how research is conducted in social science.
 What types of things will I learn?
• All parts of the research process from
development of a research question to
execution of a research project to
dissemination of scientific findings.
• In addition:
– controversies and debates
– becoming an exceptional presenter
– how to effectively present their findings in both
spoken and written media.
 Structure of the course
• Primarily a seminar course
– This will mirror graduate school
• First part will involve instruction, second part
discussion
 Structure of the course
Part I: Basics of research methods, philosophy and ethics. This part will
cover the introductory material that is needed to understand the basic
concepts of research in social science.

Part II: The nuts and bolts of research design, statistics, and writing. The
finer mechanics that are needed to understand how studies are designed
and manuscripts are written. We will begin to explore the philosophy of
social science here.

Part III: Beyond nuts and bolts. This part will cover the other skills
that are necessary for success as a beginning social scientist. We
will continue to explore the philosophy of social science here.

Part IV: Presentations, exams, and wrapping up. This will be the
conclusion of the course.
Important parts of the course
Participation
5%
Reaction papers
15%
Final exam
20%

Quizzes
10%

Research proposal
50%
 Reaction papers
• Five total, 3% each
• Due the day before class
– i.e., before 12:01am Tuesday or Wednesday
• Can be on course readings or any other topic
– Except when otherwise noted
• Between 1 and 2 pages double spaced
 Quizzes/final
• Quizzes
– Five total
– Multiple choice
– Given near beginning of class
• Final exam
– Similar content and format to quizzes
– More items
 Research proposal
• Will be a research proposal for a study
– You won’t actually do the study (but could for a
thesis)
• Will have several components
– Outline
– Draft
– Presentation
– Final paper
 Why study research methods at all?
• Very important first step in conducting your
own research
• Will help with theses, graduate school, and in
the future.
• To become skilled producers of research.
Even if you don’t become a researcher,
Even if you don’t ever read a journal,
You are still a consumer of research.

Main goal as a consumer = distinguish

science from pseudoscience
 Science and Pseudoscience
• Scientific research is our most trustworthy
source of knowledge.
– But people sometimes have trouble distinguishing
science from pseudoscience.

Pseudoscience – claims of evidence that masquerade as

science but violate the basic criteria of scientific
investigation
 Science is all around you!
Going on Tinder leads to an “average jump in
romantic optimism of 12-percent, with an
increase as high as 20-percent”

“Those who ate spicy food 3-7 days a week

were at 14% reduced risk of death
compared to the most spice-averse group.”

“Participants experienced a significant

boost in self-esteem even after looking at
their own Facebook profile for just five
minutes.”
Science affects you even if you don’t want
it!

Before 1964

Before 1974
 Characteristics of science
Systematic Empiricism -- rely on systematically-
obtained observations to draw conclusions
about the world

Public Verification -- findings must be observed,

replicated, and verified by other researchers

Solvable Problems -- must study questions

that are potentially answerable through
systematic empiricism
 Characteristics of pseudoscience
Nonsystematic and Nonempirical Evidence
Evidence based on myths, untested beliefs, anecdotes, opinions, or
poorly designed studies that do not measure up to scientific
standards

No Public Verification

Unsolvable Questions and Irrefutable

Hypotheses
 How do we do this science stuff?
Formulating hypotheses

• Hypotheses
– specific predictions generated by theories
– are testable (i.e., falsifiable)
– are directional
– cannot be proven; only supported
– posit an association between 2 or more variables
• Can be causal or correlational
 Where does this stuff all go?
• Empirical Research Reports
– “Journal Articles”
– Empirical = scientific
 Journal Articles
• Introduction
• Method
• Results
• Discussion
 Introduction
• Serves as the body of the paper
• Introduces the problem
• Frames past research
– How does it fit into the big picture?
– Research all fits together and builds upon itself
• State the hypothesis
– Prediction, testable, and directional.
 Method
• How was the study ran?
– Participants
– Measures
– Treatments
– Procedures
• Goals of the method section
– Inform understanding of the study
– Replication
 Results
• What did the study find?
• Summary and statistical interpretation of the
data
• Tell how the data were interpreted
• Statistics tell a story
 Discussion
• What do the results of the study mean?
• How does this fit into the big picture?
• Limitations
• Future directions
What do printed articles look like?
 See you next class!
• What to do now?
– Think about some broad topic areas for your final
paper.