Learning Goals and Objectives

Sociology majors graduating from Lehman College should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the following five learning goals and the related objectives:

compare and contrast a sociological perspective with other scientific perspectives
identify the contributions of key figures and events to the historical development of sociology as a scientific discipline
identify, define, distinguish and illustrate core sociological concepts (society; social structure; culture; religion; social institutions, e.g., family, economy; social change; social class; status; race; ethnicity; gender; social conflict; deviance; etc.)

define theory and describe its role in building sociological knowledge
identify, describe and compare the major theoretical paradigms (functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactionism, positivisim, feminism etc.)
distinguish middle-range theory from theoretical paradigm and describe applications of middle-range theories in the study of specific social institutions and processes

propose a research design to answer sociological questions or test hypotheses
describe, compare and contrast some of the basic quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches employed to gather social science data e.g., sampling, survey, observation, experiments, interview, secondary data analysis, etc.
implement methods of social data collection
calculate and interpret descriptive and inferential statistics
summarize the content of qualitative data
describe and apply the principles of ethical practice required in social research

access original and peer-reviewed published sociological research and data
distinguish credible peer-reviewed published sociological research and knowledge from other information
use standard computer software for basic data analyses
use word-processing and other software to produce sociological reports

document writing with ASA style citations and bibliographies
write a complete account of a social event, topic, issue or problem using sociological concepts, arguments or theories
review and critically assess published research papers
write annotated bibliographies
write a sociological literature review
write up a complete research proposal designed to answer sociological questions or test hypotheses