Prof. G. David Garson
NCSU Box 8102
Raleigh, NC 27695-8102


Tel. 919-515-3067
Fax: 919-515-7333 E-mail: David_Garson@ncsu.edu
Office location: Winston 022
Mailbox location: 212 Caldwell

PA 765 is offered in spring semesters for three graduate credits. PA 765 is an intermediate course in research methodology, with a focus on consolidation of understanding of the assumptions of basic social science research methodology, including data screening and reliability analysis, data reduction and scaling, general and generalized linear models, event history analysis, and structural equation modeling.

Note: The weekly reading, homework, and test assignments are found by clicking on "Weekly Assignments" at the class website. Note that in addition to the print readings listed on this page, you may click on links to online readings and to instructions related to textbook assignments.

Other courses by the instructor include PA 541 (Geographic Information Systems), PA 542 (Public Information Technology), and PA 803 (Advanced Research Methods).

Prerequisites:

PA 765 requires having taken ST 507 (formerly ST 500) or equivalent and PA 515 or equivalent. Equivalent for ST 507 may include ST 508, ST 513, or ST 514. Additional relevant courses include ST 708 (Applied Least Squares), ST 730 (Applied Time Series), and ST 731 (Applied Multivariate Analysis). Sociology 707 (Quantitative Sociological Analysis) is suitable as a prerequisite or corequisite. Sociology 708 (Advanced Sociological Analysis) is suitable as a corequisite.

Keeping Current. While the instructor has tried to be helpful by placing as much as possible online at the class website, http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/, the instructor will be updating these materials as the course progresses, particularly StatNotes. Likewise, if you printed this syllabus prior to the first day of the course, it is not official: go back and reprint the syllabus, which might also have updates.

Textbooks

The course textbooks are:

• SPSS 15.0 Statistical Procedures Companion (2006), by Marija J. Norušis. ISBN-13: 978-0131594173 (paper). Prentice Hall. We will be covering most chapters in this book, which is not available on reserve. You will need the CD-ROM data disk which comes with this book, so be careful if you buy a used copy!

• SPSS 15.0 Advanced Statistical Procedures Companion (2007) by Marija J. Norušis. ISBN-13: 978-0132447126 (paper). Prentice-Hall. We will be covering chs. 1-3 in this textbook, which will also be available on reserve. The instructor recommends purchase as it is a valuable reference.

• Randall E. Schumacker and Richard G. Lomax (2004). A Beginner's Guide to Structural Equation Modeling Second Edition.. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. ISBN 0-8058-4018-4.

• It is also assumed that you have retained the statistics and methods textbooks from prerequisite courses and that they are available for reference purposes. If you do not have such a book, you may want to own previous years' textbooks from this course (no longer assigned):
  • Barbara Byrne, Structural Equation Modeling with AMOS. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. ISBN 0-8058-4104-0. Datasets downloadable from http://www.erlbaum.com/Books/Download/download.htm..
  • Barbara G. Tabachnick and Linda S. Fidell (2001). Using Multivariate Statistics, Fourth Edition. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-321-05677-9. Hardcover. Datasets accompanying this textbook are free at http://www.abacon.com/tabachnick .
  • Graeme Hutcheson and Nick Sofroniou, The Multivariate Social Scientist: Introductory Statistics Using Generalized Linear Models. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996. ISBN 0 7619 5201 2 (pbk.).
  • Jacques Tacq, Multivariate Analysis Techniques in Social Science Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1996. ISBN 076195273X (pbk.)
  • Rex B. Kline, Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. NY: Guilford Press, 1998. ISBN 1-57230-337-9 (pbk.).

Warning! Check the class website regularly. The website is being continually updated. You may wish to reprint "StatNotes" sections on the day of the class to assure the latest version. Major updates are announced on the course listserv.

Software

All software is in the Social Science Lab. Unlike past years, the license does not cover installation on your home machine unless you are receiving paychecks from NCSU, such as for being a TA. If you are a part- or full-time NCSU employee, contact Justin_Daves@ncsu.edu about getting SPSS installed. Otherwise, SPSS and AMOS will be available in all CHASS computer labs (Laundry, Tompkins, Winston, and Withers), as well as on the Remote Computer Network (RCN, at rcn.chass.ncsu.edu) and on VCL (at vcl.ncsu.edu) for remote access. The walk-in labs are typically open until 9pm or 10pm Monday-Thursday, 5pm on Fridays. The Laundry lab is open on weekends as well. Note that to use RCN or VCL you must enter your NCSU id and password.

If you wish to purchase your own copy of the software, there are several student versions available: SPSS Graduate Pack $200 for 4 years; SPSS Graduate Pack $140 for 12 months; or SPSS Graduate Pack $80 for 6 months; (As of late 2007; check for actual pricing). There is also Student version and a Career Starter version that are both geared more towards undergraduates and will not do all that is required in this course, but are cheaper, For a breakdown of the different student versions see http://www.spss.com/vertical_markets/education/SPSS_student_versions.htm.

• Tips on using RCN. To run SPSS and multitask at the same time, the usual Alt-Tab key does not work. Instead, turn the RCN screen from being full screen to being a window by clicking on the window icon in the RCN control bar at the top. Once out of full screen mode, your other programs will be available to you. To load from or save to your own computer (important!), in the open or save filelist, look for a drive that starts "C on ...." and refers to your location. You own printer should appear on the printer list: be careful not to print to a remote printer, as these will show also. Warning: there are only so many slots on RCN and they are not limited to this class or even to SPSS use. Do not count on RCN availability for homework or papers. SPSS modules needed. In this course, in addition to SPSS Base, you will need SPSS Advanced Models (for GLM, as well as survival analysis and GENLIN), SPSS Regression Models (for binary and multinomial logistic, as well as probit), Missing Values, and AMOS (for SEM). In addition, depending on your dissertation methodology, you may need SPSS Trends (for ARIMA and time series), SPSS Categories (for additional forms of scaling, nonlinear canonical correlation, correspondence analysis, or perceptual mapping), SPSS Text Analysis (for open-ended survey items), and Neural Networks (for neural network analysis).

Homework Assignments

Textbook problems. For most weeks, textbook-related homework items are assigned. These can be reached by clicking on their pointers on the "Weekly Assignments" page. Students should do the readings and attempt the textbook assignments before the scheduled class. SPSS assignments are due at the class after the one in which they are discussed. Note that this means that in the first week students should do the readings and attempt the assignments for Weeks 1 and 2. Keeping "ahead" in this manner will pay off at the end of the course, leaving adequate time for finals. Note: it is not intended that you turn in answers to the questions posed in weekly assignments; rather you may be called upon to answer these in class, so it is up to you whether to write out answers. If you are going to be absent on a particular day, then do turn in written answers to show you have done the work.

Printing output: To export to Word and print, highlight Output at the top of the outline pane on the left, then right-click and select Export. Export as type HTML file (the instructor found on his setup that this worked better than using type Word/RTF). After saving, load the file into Word, select View, Print Layout; then Insert, Page Numbers, add your name, and print to bring to class.

Midterm and final project assignments: The project is described on the "Weekly Assignments" page for tthe week it is due. Include SPSS output as an appendix. There is no class meeting on this date. Your paper should be turned in to the instructor mailbox in 212 Caldwell Hall in hard copy. (In emergencies, a file attachment in electronic format such as a Word .doc file, WordPerfect .wpd file, or generic .rtf Rich Text File is permitted, sent to david_garson@ncsu.edu; if you use this method, look for a confirmation of receipt email). There is a final exam as well.

You should use SPSS and its SEM package, AMOS, for these assignments. A free student version of AMOS may still be available for download at http://amosdevelopment.com/download/.

Data may be found from links on the "Websites" page of the class site, or from ICPSR data. Also, General Social Survey and some other datasets are available directly on the CHASS network at y:\pc\datasets. You may also use datasets from your agency or other sources. Also you may try the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), administered from the NCSU library at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/icpsr/.

Grading The grading components are 10% text homework and participation, 30% midterm, 30% project, and 30% Final Exam. No incompletes are accepted for this course without verifiable, written doctor's note indicating more than one week's incapacitation.

Incompletes are not accepted except for medical reasons. Attendance is not graded. Makeup work, if any, must be arranged within two weeks of due date at the option of the instructor, prior to two weeks before the end of classes.

Course Evaluations Course evaluations are now done online at https://classeval.ncsu.edu/. Help on course evaluations is by email at classeval@ncsu.edu..

Academic Integrity Statement

Please note the existence of the University policy on academic integrity found in the Code of Student Conduct (found in Appendix L of the Handbook for Advising and Teaching). Academic misconduct will not be tolerated in this class. Academic misconduct may be defined as "any activity which tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution, or subvert the educational process". I expect complete honesty in the completion of tests and assignments. It is my understanding that the student's signature on any test or assignment means that the student neither gave nor received unauthorized aid. Beyond cheating on quizzes or exams, academic misconduct also includes the submission of plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is "the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas". Thus each argument made in the research papers which is not completely the student's own, must be footnoted or otherwise referenced to indicate its source.

"Plagiarism, or presenting another's works or ideas as one's own, is a form of stealing. The instructor reserves the right to examine any source used by the student before giving a grade on a paper, and to give and "incomplete" in the course if necessary, to allow time to obtain sources. Students should be prepared to show source material to the instructor for the purpose of verifying information. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

Academic dishonesty includes the following offenses:

1. Claiming as your own work a paper written by another student.
2. Turning in a paper that contains paraphrases of someone else's ideas but does not give proper credit to that person for those ideas.
3. Turning in a paper that is largely a restatement in your own words of a paper written by someone else, even if you give credit to that person for those ideas. The thesis and organizing principles of a paper must be your own.
4. Turning in a paper that uses the exact words of another author without using quotation marks, even if proper credit is given in a citation, or that changes the words only slightly and claims them to be paraphrases.
5. Turning in the same paper, even in a different version, for two different courses without the permission of both professors involved.
6. Using any external source (notes, books, other students, etc.) for assistance during an in-class exam, unless given permission to do so by the professor." ---- Source: Kendra Stewart et al., Columbia College

Further details on academic integrity are in NC State University's Code of Student Conduct (http://www.ncsu.edu/student_conduct).

The public administration faculty has agreed that violations of academic integrity must have consequences. Consequently, students who cheat (behaviors cited in point 1 and 6 or similar behavior) may receive at least an F in the course; other forms of dishonesty, similar to those covered in points 2 through 5 may result in at least a 0 for the assignment.

Statement Regarding Students with Disabilities

Every attempt is made in this course to conform to university policy on disabilities, as described at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/provost/info/hat/current/appendix/appen_k.html. If you have disability-related needs, please inform the instructor of them immediately.