Organization
The class is organized very simply. There are six assignments that require you to go out and compare data that you collect around your city and one from a neighboring city. This sounds pretty fancy, but really you are just going to a random school that your friend works at or a factory (they are everywhere). There are two kinds of assignments: empirical and ethnographic. They are divided up evenly with one assignment that the end of the course that will challenge all aspects of both. You will need to know how to use statistics like ANOVA, linear regression, and cross tabulation. I'm sure that sounds like non-sense now, but I promise you can learn it along the way. They will teach you what they can during the summer semester, but basically you will relearn everything during this semester.
Ethnographic
These assignments are quite simple. An example of one is....
Please read Chapter Three of Ikels’ text by the beginning of this week.
You should also have
prepared for this week’s assignment beforehand so that you are not
rushing to find your host
family at the last minute. Before going to the host family, create
your survey or interview questions. This family may belong to one of your
students or to a fellow teacher at the school. You are expected to sleep a
minimum of one night with a host family of your choice. The family must be
composed of a conjugal or blood relationship between at least two individuals –
mother/son, husband/wife, grandfather/grandson, etc. (girlfriend-boyfriend does
not qualify). You will make observations regarding their interactions with one
another and interview them to confirm/disconfirm a minimum of 10 Ikels’
observations (please cite each one with a page number from the text) about
Chinese families and households. Please also provide a
background of the family and each of its members and a
reflection of your experience living with your host family.
Basically you spend the night with a family and write a paper about your observations. Not hard and good experience.
Empirical
These assignment are more challenging. You can get ahead of the game by looking how to do the different form of analysis by looking online and Youtube was pretty helpful at times. Here's an example of one of the assignments.....
a) Introduction (Primary research question, background or history
of the family, family structure, roles
and responsibilities at home, conflicts or dynamics. 1 point)
b) Methodology [sampling, context and approach to data collection.
2 points]
c) New Data [including presentation of data in charts, graphs,
etc. 2 points]
d) Comparison with Ikels’ findings [include specific references
using full APA citation. 2 points]
e) Conclusion (major similarity and differences between your
research and Ikels’. 1 point)
1.
Conduct Statistical Analysis:
-
Descriptive analysis:
o
Mean of students age
o
Percentage of males and females
o
Hours of study each week of males and
females.
-
Correlation (interval variables) ( one
dependent variable vs one independent variable)
o
Math or English scores and age
o
Math or English scores and years of education
(PEDU2)
o
Math or English scores and gender
(recoded GENDER2)
o
Math or English scores and hours of
study each day
-
Linear regression (one dependent vs a
group of variables)
Thesis Adviser
The final grade is securing an adviser. This person is a faculty member of Concordia or anyone on their list that is qualified to help you. My advice to you is to find one EARLY and find one that is worth a damn. A good friend of mine had one that was a total flake and she had to secure another one inside of a week. If you do this too late, the good ones will be taken. If possible talk to some of them during the summer semester to build a relationship with them. These people are your saving grace for the thesis writing process. I'm really happy with mine and I couldn't imagine having anyone else. I won't tell you who I have out of respect from her being bombarded. Each one has their area of expertise. Look them up here: Thesis Advisers
Review
Like I said, these assignments look very difficult at first glance, but they will teach you or in most cases you and your friends will all work together to figure things out. Get ahead of the game and learn how to do these things early. If you don't know how to use Excel, LEARN!
The instructor is a bit scatter-brained but she means well. I didn't really benefit from her. It was my relationship with cohort members and my own hard work that saved me.
This is a disclaimer for this blog. Today I asked several of my classmates whom I trust for their opinions of the program for the purposes of putting them in a collective post. One of my classmates, a dear friend and my roommate at the dorms, was strongly against the idea of me putting a blog online about Concordia's MAIS program.