GSI: Sociological Research Methods

Dear Students, 

Due to the change in a workshop schedule, I am delaying my office hour slots this week for an hour and a half, to be from 2:30 to 4:30 on this Friday. You can use the same link to schedule a slot with me. Don't hesitate to visit my OH for conversations! 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

We did not have enough time to look at another survey question today in section 004 but I did for section 005, so I'd like to share that with you via this announcement. 

We can also look at income - in [GSS 2006](https://gss.norc.org/content/dam/gss/get-documentation/pdf/quex/2006%20GSS%20V1.pdf), there are at least two kinds of questions asked. 
One is Q52 (search FINRELA), "Compared with American families in general, would you say your family income is – far below average, below average, average, above average, or far above average?" This is on one of the subjective dimensions of income, which may provide you some more information. This is also a good example for probe in surveys, as it lists: "(PROBE: Just your best guess.)"
The other is Q108 (search INCOME06), "In which of these groups did your total family income, from all sources, fall last year – 2005 – before taxes, that is. Just tell me the letter." And the choices are a series of intervals. This is on the objective dimension of income, collecting information as a categorical variable. Some surveys also ask for specific numbers, such as in China's GSS (CGSS). 

In addition to serve as a sample to which you may refer for your own surveys, I think GSS 2026's questions on income also reflects that there can be multiple questions for one variable / dimension of a variable / factor of an index. Of course, this depends on your purpose and RQ. However, don't limit yourself to preparing just one question for one variable of yours. 

Hope this may be helpful. 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

Regarding iClicker attendance, I suppose that you'd need to "join in" the class when Prof. Boutyline start it to have your attendance recorded properly. If you forgot to do so on Tuesday, please email me regardless of whether you've told me this orally, so that I can keep a track of that and adjust it in the system. If you've already emailed me, it should have been adjusted already. 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

This is Haorui, GSI-ing the Friday sections (004 & 005). Taylor, our Undergraduate Program Coordinator and Major/Minor Advisor, just invited us to share two things with you - 

One is the [Senior Thesis + Honors Program in Sociology](https://lsa.umich.edu/soc/undergraduates/honors-program.html), the application to which is now open and is **due on Nov. 1, 2026**. There will be an *info session* next Monday, *Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. in LSA 4154*, and Zoom options are available. Per the website's intro, Dr. Elizabeth Armstrong will be the program coordinator and leading seminars for this cohort's three semesters, which I believe will bring you fantastic opportunities and experiences. I was once in this program from WN 24 to WN 25, and it was great to work deeply on my own project under the instructions of our faculty member(s). So, if you'd like to know more about my thoughts and experiences, I'm more than willing to have some conversations. My regular OH is Fridays, 1-3 p.m., with [this scheduling link](https://calendar.app.google/c7e57xYUbHvzZ8Av9). You can also email me (haoruiii@umich.edu) if that time doesn't work for you. 

The other is the [Wednesdays with Sociology](https://lsa.umich.edu/soc/undergraduates/Events.html) events, held each Wednesday for food, community building, and different weekly themes. They're at 4 p.m. in the 4th Floor Lobby. Visit if you're interested! 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

As I'm grading your Assignment #2a, a major issue for many of you is the formatting - your main body texts, headings, and/or the bibliography page. These problems are quite obvious, as formatting errors usually stand out first when I open a document, especially when I only need to skim through your submissions rather than look into details. I have to emphasize again that proper formats are very important, not only for this class but also, in fact, all your future writing and professional developments. If your documents look beautiful, you will leave your readers a good first impression; on the other hand, your audiences will be annoyed if there are formatting errors.

Although I did not take points off this time for a complete/incomplete assignment, to highly encourage you double check the formats before each submission, there will be point deduction for future assignments, and I'll be strict on this. We are a ULWR class, so writing quality does matter. As stated in our Final Paper rubric (p. 4), you need to have your bibliography present and "following a correct format" to be in the exceptional category, which is full mark for overall quality (~15% of total grade); if there are formatting errors, you'll drop to the satisfactory category, which is associated with some points off. I believe that, compared to other things on which you'll be graded, it's relatively the easiest to get full mark on formatting - so please check it and keep all of the points. 

I noticed that many of you are directly copying and pasting texts from prior assignments, which is totally fine and is what you need do as long as you revise based on our comments and feedback. If you keep the same formatting mistakes, then you're not revising them. In addition, on one hand, note that the copying and pasting may sometimes change your texts to the original, plain format, such that you need to bold and/or italicize them again; on the other hand, if you make them all correct this time, it saves your time next time, doesn't it?

Again, please do check your formatting each time before you submit your essays. It includes but is not limited to
1. consistent font, font size, and space between paragraphs throughout the essay
2. the words "Works Cited" or "References" present at the beginning, bolded, and center-aligned for your bibliography page
3. each citation using hanging indent
4. journal titles italicized and not abbreviated 

For APA format, you may also refer to [Purdue OWL](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html), whose link is also updated in section wk #2 slides, in addition to our library guide. For ASA format, I've already shared with you [the quick tip](https://www.asanet.org/wp-content/uploads/savvy/documents/teaching/pdfs/Quick_Tips_for_ASA_Style.pdf). To ensure that all of you know the relevant techniques, I'll go over the steps in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs tomorrow. 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

I may have not made it 100% clear, so I'd like to clarify / add something for our conversations on confounders in today's sections.
1. If my graphs/examples confused you, ignore them and rely on those Prof. Boutyline offered in lectures.
2. If this is helpful, my co-GSI Alvaro offered a definition on confounders as "variables that create a back-door path between the independent variable and the dependent variable, giving rise to alternative explanations or spurious correlations between variables" (Huntington-Klein 2022). This aligns with the idea of asking "what else?" when looking for potential confounders. 
3. In your Assignment #2a (and #2b, of course), confounders are the main characters of your counterarguments, and counterarguments can be something like, "Well, there can be another way in which it happens." For my origin (IV) -> destination (DV) example in class, if my thesis / main argument is "origin -> education -> destination" (i.e., education as mediator), my counterargument could question this by saying, "Is there another path? Perhaps! Maybe origin -> first job -> destination?" or something like that. In this case, "first job" is my confounder. 
4. Put all these together, I think the key is to find alternative mechanism(s) behind your causal claim, other than your main hypothesis. 

We can come back to confounders and spend some more time next week when you work on Assignment #2b. 

Also, regarding citations - while I continue to encourage you cite whenever prior studies help you and/or your arguments can be more convincing via citing, I don't think you have to cite everything this time. If some variables (and the rationales / logics behind) are very straightforward, it's ok to just go ahead and use them. 

Good luck and see you next week! 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

This is a reminder that we will have our first discussion sections tomorrow. Section 004 (11-12) will be in USB 1160 and Section 005 (12-1) in MH 2462. I will also hold my office hours tomorrow from 1 to 3 pm in LSA 4253, and I'd suggest that you reserve a slot in advance if you plan to visit via [this link](https://calendar.app.google/c7e57xYUbHvzZ8Av9). 

I have also uploaded my section syllabus and tomorrow's slides to our Canvas page. You can find them under Files -> Sections -> Sections 004 & 005, Fridays. An alternative place is on my personal website, under the "Schedule" part. 

Please be prepared for group work time tomorrow! You should have written your summary in your planning log upon arrival, and you'll then read each other's summaries, discuss how you'd want to reserve your RQ, and work on your Assignment #1 in groups. 

See you tomorrow! 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

I hope you had a nice Labor Day weekend. As you may have noticed, I have created your final project groups. All members of your group are in the same section, and you will be working in groups of four or five. 

When making up the groups, my top priority is your topic interests; I managed to ensure that, for each member in the groups, the topic assigned is at least a 4 (with 1 as the best). I also take into account your preferences on generative AI and work time. Students with the same generative AI preferences are grouped together. When it comes to work time, I tried my best so that most groups will have at least one option (weekday days, weekday nights, and weekends) working for you. If you cannot find some time at which all of you are available, maybe it's a good idea to use group work time in lecture and discussion to meet and talk about your jobs. 

For the group number, that on the tens digit represents that which section you are in, and that on the unit digit is arbitrary. 

(I was manually typing all your names; sorry in advance if I had typos.)
See you in class! 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students, 

This is a reminder that the Group Formation Survey is due today. Please fill in the form on time so that we can find you the best group mates. 

Best, 
Haorui

Dear Students,

If you faced some technical issues and didn't manage to answer the iClicker question in lecture today, please send me an email (haoruiii@umich.edu) so that I can keep a track of that. Please begin your email subject with "SOC 310" so that I know it's for our class.

Best,
Haorui

Dear Students, 

I hope all is going well in these first days of the new academic year! This is Haorui, and I'll be your GSI this semester for the discussion sections held on Fridays. If you're interested in knowing a bit more about me, you're welcomed to visit [my personal webpage](https://haoruiii.github.io). Two things to announce: 

Please note that we will not have discussion sections this week; we will start on next Friday, September 11. 

I will hold my office hours on Fridays from 1-3 p.m., which is after our sections, in Room 4253 of the LSA building. If possible, please schedule an appointment via [this link](https://calendar.app.google/c7e57xYUbHvzZ8Av9). If the time doesn't work for you, email me (haoruiii@umich.edu) so that we can figure something out. 

I look forward to seeing you again in class tomorrow and starting our discussions next week! 

Best, 
Haorui