The Project Your chance to DO sociology

1. The Project Your chance to DO sociology

2. Some past titles include… • Beautifully Violent: an exploration of the gender dynamics of karate • Gentrification in Edinburgh • Fitting queer relationships to heterosexual standards? An exploration of attitudes towards same-sex marriage and relationships amongst young LGBTQ+ people in Scotland • To what extent was social media an important part of young people’s engagement with the 2014 Scottish independence referendum? • Moving Beyond the Veil towards Acceptance: challenges of wearing the hijab in Swiss Romandy

3. You devise your own project, do your own research and write it up. • Possibilities: • Collecting your own data (surveys, interviews, focus groups, participant observation, etc.) and analyzing it • Re-analysing data others have collected (especially large survey or administrative datasets) • 3) Investigations of work of theorists (using their own writings, not just secondary literature about them)

4. An Example of (1): Collecting And Analysing Data ‘Childhood Interrupted: An Ethnography Of The Experience Of Being A Homeless Child In New York City’

5. Example of (2): Reanalysing Data ‘Is There a Relationship Between Household Gender Equality and Fertility?’

6. Example of (3): A Theoretical Project ‘A Comparison of Symbolic Interactionism and Actor-Network Theory’

7. An Inspiring Example… • ‘Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community’, a dissertation by Michelle LaVaughn Robinson (Sociology major), 1985, at Princeton University …now known as Michelle Obama

8. ‘Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community’: Key Points • Investigated whether being educated at Princeton would affect the identification of ‘Blacks’ with the ‘Black Community’ after their studies • Did so by administering questionnaires to Black alumni • Findings: • There was often an increase in identification with the Black community during their time at Princeton… • …But then a decrease in identification with the Black community after their time at Princeton • Read the thesis on: https://obamaprincetonthesis.wordpress.com/

9. A goldmine of project information is… …The Project Handbook! • Circulated via email but also available on the Sociology Honours Webpage

10. Supervision • Your Supervisor: • Provides guidance on the project, including on feasibility • Helps you plan and timetable your work • Will advise on literature searching and may be able to advise on relevant literature • Helps you think about research design and data collection • Helps you to conduct an ethical audit • Will read and comment on a draft of your project report

11. Meeting your supervisor • It is your responsibility to arrange meetings with your supervisor, best done by email or at the end of each meeting • As a rough guideline you might expect… • To have a preliminary meeting with your supervisor this semester to help identify a topic and title • To meet with your supervisor once every 2-3 weeks during Semester 2 of junior hons and Semester 1 of senior honours • To discuss issues via email where appropriate

12. Project Timing The sociology project runs: December 2018 - December 2019 But it won’t appear on your EUCLID record until Sept 2018, at which point it is 40 credits

13. Project: Stage 1 • Between now and mid-December: • Identify and confirm a supervisor • Discuss possible topics with supervisor and formulate a provisional title Register provisional title and supervisor with: Siobhan.Carroll@ed.ac.uk • by Friday 14th December

14. If you’re doing a joint degree and decide to do your dissertation in your other subject: Tell Siobhan.Carroll@ed.ac.uk by Friday 14th December, so that we don’t chase you.

15. Remember: Supervisors take on a limited number of students and agree supervision on a first-come first-served basis. If you are struggling to find a supervisor who still has room to supervise your project… …or you are unsure who might be an appropriate supervisor… …drop the Undergraduate Programme Director a line: n.prior@ed.ac.uk

16. How to choose a topic: • • What aspects of sociology do you find most interesting? • • Where are there gaps in the literature? (discuss with supervisor or other staff) • What phenomena or issues in an area are new? • • Where do you have access advantages?

17. The Diary • Start writing it NOW: it’s a crucial part of the project and is assessed along with main report • It’s a log of your thoughts, decisions, reading, research activities, setbacks, successes • Write it electronically, as it will be electronically submitted with the final project report. • Don’t identify yourself or your respondents

18. Project: Stage 2 • Second Semester, Junior Honours • Keep writing your project diary • Start regular meetings with supervisor (perhaps in group) • Conduct literature searches, read, and take notes • Refine project idea, research design, data collection etc. • Conduct ethical audit with supervisor’s help • Start out sorting practicalities: e.g. access

19. Designing a Sociology Project When designing your project always try to think about its sociological significance, e.g. • Social divisions – gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality etc • Stigma • Deviance • Interaction • Inequality and stratification • Reflexivity • Social constructions • Social change • Power • Cultural and Social Capital • Normalization and surveillance • Embodiment • Identity • Culture and Ideology • Structure and agency • Emotions • Performance

20. During Second Semester Junior Honours • Submit…Research Proposal (1,500 words) to Your Supervisor • Complete…Ethical Audit online By Monday 25th March 2019

21. Project: Stage 3May (Junior Hons)to December (Senior Hons) • From May to start of Senior Honours: • Conduct primary research (e.g. data collection) • Semester one, Senior Honours: • Analyze data, write up & discuss drafts with supervisor • Mid-December, Semester 1 of Senior Honours: • Submit final report!

22. Further meetings (1) • • Project preparation Session 2: • Former students tell you what doing a project is REALLY like • Wednesday 23rd January 2019, 13.00-14.00, Room tbc • Project Preparation Session 3: • Exploring methods for the project • Wednesday 6th February 2019, 14.30-16.30: Adam House, Basement Theatre • Project Preparation Session 4: • Helping you with literature searching • Wednesday 13th February 2019, 13.00-14.00: Room tbc

23. Further meetings (2) • Project preparation Sessions 5-7: • Early in autumn 2019 (see project handbook for details)

24. Staff Supervising Projects • Angelica Thumala • Steve Kemp • Gezim Krasniqi • Liliana Riga • Kate Orton-Johnson • Tod Van Gunten • Mary Holmes • Liz Stanley • Sophia Woodman • Michael Rosie • Angus Bancroft • Ross Bond • Nathan Coombs • Nick Prior • Hugo Gorringe • RadhikaGovinda • Jonathan Hearn • Lynn Jamieson • James Kennedy • Gil Viry

25. Contact details • Staff contact details… …are available on the Staff pages of the sociology website: http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/people/staff