Research Methods on Youtube!

Students:
As an alternative to reading your ever-so-exciting Singleton & Straits course textbook, or listening to me blather on in class, you might try searching around on Youtube for some interesting finds. I typed in "research methods" and came upon the following:


(1) Summary of empirical research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W43Di90uYCU

(2) Theories and hypotheses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf6X3tauhQc&NR=1&feature=fvwp.

(3) Intro to quantitative research methods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoQ9Zg8Fvf0&feature=related. This guy is a little dry, but solid. See how what he tells you compares with what I've taught you.

(4) Get a research method (quantitative vs. qualitative): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDo7jwikqqI&feature=related. You'll recognize what this is a spoof of.

Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk

I talk with research methods students about my own research in the hopes that it will illustrate key points from the readings, make research seem like something real and practical that can both answer interesting questions as well as potentially lead to gainful employment.

Current research projects in development include a study with public health researcher colleagues about the impact of arrest (e.g., single, multiple) on future health outcomes such as depression, smoking and other substance use. This involves the use of existing, longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). Other studies involve original data collected via surveys and focus groups (for instance). I've also begun to explore possibilities for administering surveys online using a randomly selected sample available from the Study Response Project (http://studyresponse.syr.edu/studyresponse/).