Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:52:23.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

28 - Undergraduate Research in Sociology

Cultivating the Sociological Imagination

from Part III.3 - Social Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2022

By
Jeanne Mekolichick
Edited by
Harald A. Mieg ,
Elizabeth Ambos ,
Angela Brew ,
Dominique Galli  and
Judith Lehmann
Harald A. Mieg
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Elizabeth Ambos
Affiliation:
Council on Undergraduate Research, Washington DC
Angela Brew
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
Dominique Galli
Affiliation:
Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
Judith Lehmann
Affiliation:
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Get access

Summary

The development of the sociological imagination is central to undergraduate training in sociology. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) are one powerful pedagogical approach to helping students critically observe and analyze the complexity of social life. This chapter (1) explores the roots of UREs insociology; (2) examines the literature on infusing and scaffolding course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), attending to successful models implementing CUREs in several types of sociology courses, across the curriculum, and as an integrated departmental approach; (3) details benefits and challenges of implementing CUREs from various stakeholder perspectives, and (4) shares thoughts on the path forward to further infuse undergraduate research in the sociology curriculum.

Keywords

course-based undergraduate researchsociological imaginationcommunity-based researchresearch methodsproject-based learningcareer-readinesspublic sociologyapplied sociologyparticipatory researchaction research
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Undergraduate Research , pp. 277 - 284
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, N. J. (2017). Think globally, interviewing locally: Using an intensive interview project to teach globalization and social change. Teaching Sociology, 45(4), 388–398.Google Scholar
Bartholomay, D. J. (2018). Making room for methods: Incorporating full-scale research projects in non-methods courses. Teaching Sociology, 46(3), 247–261.Google Scholar
Carpenter, S. (2009). Content analysis project for research novices. Teaching of Psychology, 25(1), 42–44.Google Scholar
Ciabattari, T., Lowney, K. S., Monson, R. A., Senter, M. S., & Chin, J. (2018). Linking sociology majors to labor market success. Teaching Sociology, 46(3), 191–207.Google Scholar
Charmaz, K. (1991). Translating graduate qualitative methods into undergraduate teaching: Intensive interviewing as a case example. Teaching Sociology, 19(3), 384–395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuthbert, D., Arunachalam, D., & Licina, D. (2012). “It feels more important than other classes I have done”: An “authentic” undergraduate research experience in sociology. Studies in Higher Education, 37(2), 129–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, J., & Graham, L. (2018). A kitchen table pedagogy for interrogating whiteness through a research experience course. Teaching Sociology, 41(1), 142–153.Google Scholar
Fulcomer, D. M. (1947). Some newer methods of teaching sociology. The Journal of Educational Sociology, 21(3), 154–162.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M., London, R. A., & McKay, S. C. (2020). Community-initiated student-engaged research: Expanding undergraduate teaching and learning through public sociology. Teaching Sociology, 48(1), 13–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaiswal, N. (2019). Practice of sociology: Comparative study of public and private universities in India. Contemporary Education Dialogue, 16(2), 229–249.Google Scholar
Kain, E. L. (1999). Building the sociological imagination through a cumulative curriculum: Professional socialization in sociology. Teaching Sociology, 27(1), 1–16.Google Scholar
Kain, E. L., Buchanan, E., & Mack, R. (2001). Institutional research as a context for teaching methodological skills. Teaching Sociology, 29(1), 9–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovekamp, W. E., Soboroff, S. D., & Gillespie, M. D. (2017). Engaging students in survey research projects across research methods and statistics courses. Teaching Sociology, 45(1), 65–72.Google Scholar
Mayer, B., Blume, A., Black, C., & Stevens, S. (2019). Improving student learning outcomes through community-based research: The poverty workshop. Teaching Sociology, 47(2), 135–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinney, K., & Day, M. D. (2012). A multi-institutional study of students’ perceptions and experiences in the research-based capstone course in sociology. Teaching Sociology, 40(2), 142–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Monson, R. (2017). Groups that work: Student achievement in group research projects and effects on individual learning. Teaching Sociology, 45(3), 240–251.Google Scholar
Orr, A. J. (2014). Undergraduate research in sociology–anthropology capstone courses at Linfield College. CUR Quarterly, 34(4), 33–34.Google Scholar
Parker, J. (2012). International comparisons of the integration of research into undergraduate degrees in the social sciences. CUR Quarterly, 32(3), 28–33.Google Scholar
Pike, D. L., Ciabattari, T., Messineo, M., Monson, R. A., Salam, R. A., Wagenaar, T. C., Chin, J., Ferguson, S. J., et al. (2017). The sociology major in the changing landscape of higher education: Curriculum, careers, and online learning. American Sociological Association.Google Scholar
Raddon, M., Nault, C., & Scott, A. (2008). Integrating the complete research project into a large qualitative methods course. Teaching Sociology, 35, 141–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, R. (2016). #BlackLivesMatter at UMD: Community-based participatory research to create a more equitable America. Footnotes, 44(6), 12–15.Google Scholar
Rippetoe, J. K. (1977). The undergraduate education in sociology: A case for experiential learning. Teaching Sociology, 4(3), 239–250.Google Scholar
Scheel, E. D. (2002). Using active learning projects to teach research skills throughout the sociology curriculum. Sociological Practice, 4(2), 145–170.Google Scholar
Senter, M. S., Spalter-Roth, R., & Van Vooren, N. (2015). Careers & sociological skills: The early employment experiences of 2012 sociology majors. American Sociological Association.Google Scholar
Shostak, J. G., Cunningham, D., & Cadge, W. (2010). Teaching graduate and undergraduate research methods: A multipronged departmental initiative. Teaching Sociology, 38(2), 93–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smedley-Lopez, A. C., Johnson, H. R., & Amarante, A. (2017). SLICES: Critical theory as praxis and research-based service learning. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 39(39), 176–191.Google Scholar
Strangfeld, J. A. (2013). Promoting active learning: Student-led data gathering in undergraduate statistics, Teaching Sociology, 41(2), 199–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweet, S., McElrath, K., & Kain, E. L. (2014). The coordinated curriculum: How institutional theory can be used to catalyze revision of the sociology major. Teaching Sociology, 42(4), 287–297.Google Scholar
Swigert, V., Singleton, R., & Ainlay, S. (1993). The social science research center at an undergraduate college: Lessons from the Worcester Area Project on Aging. Teaching Sociology, 21(3), 298–305.Google Scholar
Takata, S. R., & Leiting, W. (1987). Learning by doing: The teaching of sociological research methods. Teaching Sociology, 15(2), 144–150.Google Scholar
Wickersham, C., Westerberg, C., Jones, K., & Cress, M. (2016). Pivot points: Direct measures of the content and process of community-based learning. Teaching Sociology, 44(1), 17–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wollschleger, J. (2019). Making it count: Using real-world projects for course assignments. Teaching Sociology, 47(4), 314–324.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×