- UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
- DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
-
- APPLIED DEMOGRAPHY IN THE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
- A small experimental service learning course
-
-
- Sociology 397H- 4 credit hours
-
- Course Organizer: Dr. Gordon F. Sutton, Professor of
Sociology
- Room 616, Thompson Hall, phone 545-4071
- Office Hours: (January) Tuesday 10:15 -12
- Wednesday 1--4
- and by appointment.
-
- STUDENTS!
- IF YOU ARE NOT PUT OFF BY NUMBERS!
-
- Some students read sociology.
- BUT, SOME STUDENTS DO SOCIOLOGY!
-
- > What the course is about:
- > 1. This is a new experimental course is built around
hands-on
- > helping local agencies, from hospitals, to local
departments of
- > education, to federal and state courts, and to other
community
- > entities who need help in applying demographic data. Some
current
- > possibilities for Spring, 1997
- >
- > Examining lists of persons serving on juries for some
areas in
- > Massachusetts to check out the fair representation
of Hispanic
- > minorities, particularly when the defendant in a
criminal
- > case is Hispanic.
- >
- > Helping the Superintendent of Schools in a local area
- > accurately determine the number of school children
who may be
- > expected in classrooms in the fall of 1997.
- >
- > Discovering the numbers and kinds of welfare
recipients who
- > are expected to give up welfare and get a job under
the new
- > national and state programs for the poor of
Massachusetts.
- >
- > Course requirements: Preparation of a coursework journal
to be
- > updated weekly and completed for the project work to
which the
- > student has been assigned. A final essay is to be
prepared based
- > upon the project experiences, using both case book
materials (See
- > Texts, below) and the journal as a resources,
incorporating reports
- > or statements of advice and guidance provided to the
community
- > "client."
- > The purposes of this course make regular attendance
and active
- > participation in this enterprise essential, specifically
requiring
- > that the student join with other members of the workshop
in both
- > assigned project activity and in discussion. Regular
attendance
- > and active participation , then, are neccsary to receive
a passing
- > grade, as is noted below.
- >
- > Textbooks:
- >
- > Required readings:
- > 1. Hallie J. Kintner, Thomas W. Merrick, Peter A.
Morrison and Paul R. Voss.
- > 1994. Demographics: A Casebook for Business and
Government. Westview Press,
- > Boulder CO.
- > 2. Photocopy text available at the textbook annex
(selections to be announced)
- >
- > Supplemental readings: Copies of the following are
available in the W. E. B. DuBois
- > Library.
- >
- > Henry S. Shryock and Jacob S. Siegel. 1976. The
Methods and Materials of
- > Demography. edited by Edward G. Stockwell, Academic
Press, New York.
- > (This condensed version has a counterpart in the complete
classic in two volumes in
- > paper as a government publication, probably out of print.
)
- >
- > . Vivian Z. Klaff. 1992. DEM-LAB: Teaching Demography
Through Computers.
- > Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ.
- >
- > Colin Newell. 1988. Methods and Models in
Demography. Guilford, New York.
- > A Basic text with some advanced work.
- >
- > Richard T. Gill, Nathan Glazer and Stephan A.
Thernstrom. 1992. Our Changing
- > Population. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ. ISBN
0-13-642661-1. An introductory
- > text.
- >
- > Shiva S. Halli and K. Vaninadha Rao. 1992. Advanced
Techniques of
- > Population Analysis Plenum Press, New York. Regression,
survival, and hazard
- > models are presented and illustrated.
- >
- > P. M. Hauser. 1975. Social Statistics in Use.
- >
- > Krishnan Namboodiri. 1991. Demographic Analysis: A
Stochastic Approach.
- > Academic Press, New York. An advanced text in methods
and theory.
- > ISBN 0-12-513830-X
- >
- > Gary L. Peters and Robert P. Larkin. 1993.
Population Geography: Problems,
- > Concepts and Prospects. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company,
Dubuque Iowa. For
- > geographers, an introductory text.
- >
- > A. H. Pollard, F.Yusuf and G.N. Pollard. 1990.
Demographic Techniques (Third
- > Edition) Pergamon, New York. Basic methods text
- >
- > Louis G. Pol. 1988. Business Demography: A Guide and
Reference for Business
- > Planners and Marketers. Quorum, Westport CT ISBN
0-89930-218-1 For persons
- > interested in marketing.
- >
- > Tanur, Mosteller, et. al. 1972. Statistics: A Guide
to the Unknown.
- >
- > David Yaukey. 1985. Demography: The Study of Human
Population. St.
- > Martin's Press, New York. (Call # HB871 .Y38) A good
introduction to social
- > demography.
- >
- > Staging the Workshop and the Role of the Student:
- >
- > Apart from the lecture/discussion scheduled for this
course, a workshop is to
- > be arranged based upon the schedules of the enrolled
students as well as faculty and
- > staff participants. Whereas the workshop may not be
scheduled in some weeks in
- > the semester, in others, the time requirements may be
relatively heavy. On average,
- > the student may expect to spend up to 4 hours per week
over the semester in the
- > workshop. Workshop refers to the time and place in which
project assignments are
- > developed and carried out. Students are expected to
participate in joint efforts with
- > other students and, at time, with members of client
organizations in formulating
- > questions, preparing materials to be used in data
collection, collecting data,
- > assembling reports, and carrying out other tasks central
to the application of
- > demographic materials to problems identified in the
workshop. In some instances,
- > problems under study will be drawn from casebook, whereas
live agency experience
- > may be the larger part of workshop endeavor.
- >
- > COURSE PREREQUISITES :
- >
- > Major subject or strong interest in the
application of social science
- > methods to the solution of practical problems in the
society.
- > A course in statistics, or some other evidence
of quantitative strengths,
- > drawing from among the following:
- > Sociology 363/663 - Techniques in Demographic
Analysis
- > Sociology 212 - Social Statistics
- > Economics 190M - Introduction to Mathematical
Methods in Economics
- > Public Health 540 - Introduction to Biostatistics
- > Resource Economics 211 - Introductory Statistics for
the Life Sciences
- > Statistics 111,140 or 141- Elementary/introductory
statistics
- >
- > Whereas you have the choice of undertaking work
in the course using either
- > a pocket calculator or a personal computer, your are
strongly urged to develop a
- > working relationship with a personal computer during the
semester. Software choices
- > include Quattro Pro, LOTUS 1-2-3, or Excel, although
homework assignments could
- > be carried out on Stata, SYSTAT, S+ or other packages
available in the Sociology
- > Undergraduate Computer Lab on the 7th floor in Thompson
Hall or on PC's in
- > Crampton House, the DuBois Library, and the Lederle
Graduate Research Center.
- > Should you choose to do some of your work with a pocket
calculator, the Hewlett-
- > Packard 21S or other programmable machine would be a
useful choice..
- >
- > Grading:
- >
- > Successful and on-time completion of specific
project assignments account for
- > 65 percent of your semester grade; 25 percent of your
grade is based on an
- > evaluation of your course journal; whereas the remaining
10 percent of your grade
- > is based on classroom participation (including
attendance) and contribution, a passing
- > grade in the course depends upon a satisfactory score on
this point. CALENDAR
- >
- > WEEK TOPIC AND READING ASSIGNMENT
- >
- > 1 Introduction to applied demography; readings from
Kintner et al and from Pol.
- >
- > 2 Project initiatives - Presentation of cases drawn
from MISER's State Data Center and other
- > sources, developed during the January term
prior to the opening of the spring
- > semester course offering.
- >
- > 3-5 Project work as central concern: Project
assignments to class members. Organization of
- > project work to be undertaken developed in
orderly steps.
- >
- > 6-8 Illustrations of the use of techniques in specific
cases
- > Selected case presentations from the Kintner
et al. volume.
- > Peter A. Morrison. "Empowered or disadvantaged?
Applications of Demographic Analysis
- > to Political Redistricting." pp. 17-32
- > Kenneth M. Johnson. " Selecting Markets for
Corporate Expansion: A Case Study in Applied
- > Demography." pp. 129-143.
- > Jeff Tayman, Bob Parrott and Sue Carnevale. "
Locating Fire Station Sites: The Response
- > Time Component." pp. 203-217
- > Gordon F. DeJong. "Documenting State Underemployment
Patterns." pp. 343-356.
- >
- > 9-10 Blending projects with case inquiries:
Methodological essays by guest speakers on
- > topics related to project work.
- >
- > Prospective invitees:
- > Professor Michael Lewis, Department
of Sociology
- > Mr. William Thompson, DuBois Library
- > Mr. Roy Williams, State Data Center,
MISER
- > Professor Peter Brandon, Associate
Director, MISER
- > Dr. Alice Rarig, Population Analyst,
MISER
- > Professor Stephan P. Coelen,
Director, MISER
- > Dr. Tim Black, Director, Center for
Social Research,
- > University of Hartford
- > Dr. J. Lynn Griesemer, Associate
Director, Morris Donahue Institute,
- > and University Vice-President,
University of Massachusetts
- >
- > 11-12 Writing up results
- >
- > 13-14 Presentations of findings to sponsors and
interested parties.
- >
- >
- > Additional Bibliography:
- >
- > Batutis, Michael J. Jr. 1993. "Estimates Preparation:
Methods and Procedures." in
- > Readings in Population Research Methodology, D. J. Bogue,
E.E. Arriaga and D. L.
- > Anderton, editors. Social Development Center, Chicago
IL. Chapter 20, pp. 14-19.
- >
- > Levine, Arthur. 1994. "Service on Campus." Change 26:4
(July-August) p. 4(2)
- >
- > Morrison, Peter A. 1971 Demographic Information for
Cities: a Manual for Estimating
- > and Projecting Local Population Characteristics. Rand
Corporation, Santa Monica,
- > CA.
- >
- > Morrison, Peter A. 1973. Small-area Population Estimates
for the City of St. Louis,
- > 1960- 1972, with a model for updating them Rand
Corporation, Santa Monica, CA.
- >
- > Smith, Stanley K. and Christopher McCarty. 1996.
"Demographic Effects of Natural
- > Disasters: A Case Study of Hurricane Andrew." Demogrpahy
33:2 (May) pp. 265-
- > 275.
- >
- > Weissert, William G.. 1994. "Estimating Activity
Limitation in the Noninstitutitonalized
- > Population: A Method for Small Areas." The American
Journal of Public Health. 84:11
- > (Nov) p. 1813(5)
- >
- > Zerwekh, Joyce V. 1993. "Commentary: Going to the People
- Public Health Nursing
- > Today and Tomorrow." The American Journal of Public
Health 83:12 (Dec) p.
- > 1676(3).
- >
- > Keyfitz, Nathan. 1993. "The Social and Political Context
of Population Forecasting."
- > in Readings in Population Research Methodology, D. J.
Bogue, E.E. Arriaga and D.
- > L. Anderton, editors. Social Development Center, Chicago
IL. Chapter 17, pp. 1-3.
-