Week 1
An Introduction to
Social Research

Soci—316

Sakeef M. Karim
Amherst College

SOCIAL RESEARCH

Let’s Get Started–
September 1st

First Order of Business

Welcome to Soci—316.

Let’s begin with some introductions.

I’ll start.

My Journey

The Broad View

My Journey

Places Defined By International Migration

Click an image to launch the gallery

My Research

Personal Culture of Immigrant-Origin People

Figure 8 from Karim (2024a)

My Research

Personal Culture of Immigrant-Origin People

Adaptation of results from Karim (2024b)

My Research

Exclusionary Politics

Figure 1 from Soehl and Karim (2021)

My Research

Exclusionary Politics

Karim and Lukk’s The Radicalization of Mainstream Parties in the 21st Century

Karim and Lukk’s The Radicalization of Mainstream Parties in the 21st Century

My Research

Political Conflict

Figure 4  from Broćić and Karim (2026)

My Research

Political Conflict

Preliminary results from Karim, Broćić and Lukk (2026)

Now, It’s Your Turn

Student Introductions

The First Group Exercise

Think about the following questions:

Four Simple Questions

  1. What’s your name?

  2. What are your majors? If you’re undecided, which major(s) are you leaning towards?

  3. Why did you sign up for this class?

  4. What does sociology mean to you?

After you’ve come up with some answers, discuss them with a colleague seated near you.

Our Class

The Syllabus

Full Page

The Syllabus

Office Hours

Fridays, 12:30 to 2:30 PM in Morgan Hall, Room 306

Office Hours

Appointment Policy

All meetings, even during office hours, must be scheduled in
advance via Google Calendar.

Readings

Reading Citation
01 The Art and Science of Social Research Carr et al. 2020
02 Causal Inference: The Remix Cunningham 2026
03 Text as Data Grimmer, Roberts and Stewart 2022
04 Data Analysis for Social Science Llaudet and Imai 2023
05 Qualitative Literacy Small and Calarco 2022
06 Data Analysis in Qualitative Research Timmermans and Tavory 2022
Select a Row to See When a Text Is Assigned

Course Structure

The course consists of
four distinct units.

Course Structure

Unit I will provide a high-level overview of quantitative approaches to sociological inquiry and briefly address their epistemological foundations.

Course Structure

Unit II shifts focus to qualitative methods in sociology and adjacent fields.

Course Structure

Unit III spans two weeks and will provide an opportunity for students to refine their research proposals.

Course Structure

Unit IV will feature a series of in-class presentations related to your final proposals.

Evaluations

Task Weight Due
Participation 20% Throughout
the Term
This is a small research seminar. Ergo, class participation is vital. Students must actively engage in class discussions—sharing their thoughts, providing feedback to peers, asking clarifying questions, and keeping me (i.e., the course instructor) abreast of any developments vis-à-vis their research proposal.
Memo on Research Interests 5% Fri 18 Sep8:00 PM
Students are required to submit a concise, 500-word reflection detailing their research interests. In this reflection, students should specify the kinds of social phenomena they would like to scrutinize in their final proposal—fertility behaviour, sexuality, affective polarization, artificial intelligence, cultural consumption, international migration, economic inequality, carceral policy, inter alia.
Qualtrics Survey 15% Fri 9 Oct8:00 PM
In pairs, students will design a 5 to 10-minute Qualtrics survey on a topic that meaningfully blends or integrates their research interests. The survey will be evaluated on both substance (e.g., how well survey items capture the latent constructs of interest) and design (e.g., clarity, avoidance of clutter, and appropriate use of forking sequences). Additional guidelines will be uploaded later in the term.
Annotated Bibliography 10% Fri 23 Oct8:00 PM
Students must submit an annotated bibliography towards the end of October. This annotated bibliography will, in principle, directly inform—or serve as the foundation for—the literature review they include in their final research proposal. In the bibliography, students must identify at least 10 sources germane to their topic of interest. For each source, students must provide a 100–150-word summary of the key argument(s) proffered by the author(s). Detailed guidelines will be posted later in the term.
Conversation About Proposed Methodology 10% Week of
16 Nov
Students must engage in a brief, 20-minute conversation (with yours truly) where they will outline how the theoretical propositions motivating their proposed study—that is, their main arguments or claims—will be subjected to empirical scrutiny.
Final Presentation 10% During Unit IV
In Unit IV of the class, students will deliver a 10–15-minute presentation on the research project they have developed over the term. Detailed guidelines will be uploaded later in the semester.
Final Research Proposal 30% Mon 14 Dec · commentsFri 18 Dec · hard
Students are required to submit a detailed, 15–25 page research proposal (double spaced) on a topic of their choice, subject to the approval of the course instructor. The chosen topic must be related to the study of human societies and fall within sociology’s broad intellectual mandate. Both deadlines are at 8:00 PM. Detailed guidelines will be added online in the coming months.
Total 100%
Click Rows to Expand

Evaluations

Guidelines for Major Assignments

Guidelines for key deliverables will be gradually rolled out (or uploaded online) as deadlines come into focus.

Norms, Rules, Regulations & More

Accessibility and Accommodations

If you require accommodations, please contact Student Accessibility Services as soon as possible and submit an application via the AIM portal. More generally, if you have any suggestions about how this class can be more accessible and inclusive, please let me know via e-mail or during office hours.

Norms, Rules, Regulations & More

Class Policies

Please review the Amherst College Honor Code, which can be accessed here.

Violations of the Honor Code will be promptly reported to the Dean of Students. As Section 1.1 of the Honor Code indicates, plagiarism is a serious offense. In most cases, students who plagiarize the work of others will fail this class and may face additional disciplinary penalties. Moreover, as detailed in Sections 1.2 to 1.4 of the Honor Code, students must respect others in the classroom, including those whose views deviate from their own. Failure to do so will prompt disciplinary action.

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools are proliferating. At colleges and universities, chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are increasingly used by students and researchers alike. This represents a profound ethical quandary, with some speculating that our reliance on AI will produce an epistemic crisis that deepens sectarian conflict, impoverishes democratic institutions, and accelerates environmental degradation. Others believe this view is naively alarmist—a kind of reactionary aversion to change that inevitably emerges in the fog of technological revolutions that destabilize our taken-for-granted assumptions about how the world works. I have my own opinions,1 and you are free to have yours.

Whatever your orientation towards AI, we must acknowledge that the floodgates have opened. GAI tools are everywhere and thus difficult to avoid. The College has even provided access to Gemini and Notebook LM to all students, faculty, and staff. Consequently, you are free to use ChatGPT and its analogues for class assignments, but you must cite the GAI you are using. Failure to do so is plagiarism.

To reiterate:

Generative AI Policy

If you use a GAI tool (like ChatGPT or Claude) and do not cite it, it is a form of plagiarism.

You are expected to attend each and every class. If you do not, you will lose points for participation. That said, I am aware that you are all human beings whose lives are often fraught with uncertainty. If something comes up, please let me know and I will do my best to be as accommodating as possible. Extended absences may, however, require additional documentation (e.g., note from a physician).

Provisionally, I have decided to allow students to use laptops and tablets in class. This is, however, highly conditional. If I observe students using their electronic devices for non-academic pursuits (e.g., shopping, consuming social media and so on), I will institute a sweeping ban on electronics.

Do not be the one to contravene our social contract.

On weekdays, I will respond to emails within two days. If I fail to meet this standard, please send me a follow-up message with a gentle reminder. On weekends2 and breaks, I will not respond to emails unless you have an emergency. If you do, please remember to include EMERGENCY in the subject line.

Assignments must be submitted on time. A late submission will result in a penalty of 5% for each day beyond the deadline.3 However, as noted, I am well aware that life can present unexpected challenges. If you anticipate missing a deadline or have an emergency, please let me know soon as you can. Extensions may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Three Basic Expectations

  1. Read carefully but efficiently.

  2. Contribute to class conversations.

  3. Consistently work on and update your research proposal.

A Brainstorming Session

Let’s Talk Shop

In the next 10 minutes, jot down your preliminary research ideas and interests. How can you assess your guiding assumptions using qualitative and/or quantitative methods?

Preliminary Research Ideas
10:00
0 words

SMK on the Hot Seat–
September 3rd

Some Reminders

The Class Syllabus

Full Page

Some Reminders

Office Hours

Some Reminders

Add/Drop

The “shopping period” will end on
Thursday, September 10th.

What is Americanness?
(Okura and Karim 2026)

Polarization and Consensus

Okura and Karim (2026)

The paper can be accessed below.

Pre-Print

Polarization and Consensus

A High-Level Overview

What were our key analytic goals?

More generally, what were the research questions
guiding our analyses?

Polarization and Consensus

Estimation Strategy

Our analyses relied on the integration of two popular approaches to survey research. What are these Latent Class Regressions applied to Conjoint Experimental Data ?

Polarization and Consensus

Conjoint Experiments

Gabriel is applying for admission to the United States. He is a teacher from France. During his admission interview, he spoke fluent English.

Counterfactual—Not the Vignette You Were Shown

Should the United States admit Gabriel?

Please read the descriptions of the potential immigrants carefully. Then indicate which of the two immigrants you would personally prefer to see admitted to the United States.

Task 01

Design from Hainmueller and Hopkins (2015)

Polarization and Consensus

Conjoint Experiments

Rate this person’s Americanness
Not at all American
Very American
Complete

Polarization and Consensus

Conjoint Experiments

With traditional conjoint analysis, we would see results—in the form of tables, visualizations etc.—that look something like this:

This image comes from Andrew Heiss’ excellent overview of conjoint analysis in . It is a truncated adaptation of Figure 1 in Leeper, Hobolt and Tilley (2020).

Polarization and Consensus

Conjoint Experiments

Our results look like this—why?

Click to Expand Image

Figure 2 in Okura and Karim (2026)

Polarization and Consensus

Latent Class Regressions

Click to Expand Image

Figure 1  in Okura and Karim (2026)

Click to Expand Image

Polarization and Consensus

Latent Class Regressions

Click to Expand Table

Table 1  in Okura and Karim (2026)

Polarization and Consensus

Key Finding

Click to Expand Table

Table 2  in Okura and Karim (2026)

Polarization and Consensus

Key Finding

Click to Expand Image

Figure 4  in Okura and Karim (2026)

Transmitting Social Ties?
(Karim 2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

Karim (2026)

The paper can be accessed below.

Pre-Print

Majority Ties and Politics

A High-Level Overview

What were my key analytic goals?

More generally, what were the research questions
guiding my analyses?

Majority Ties and Politics

The Theoretical Framework

Click to Expand Image

Figure 1  in Karim (2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

The Theoretical Framework

Click to Expand Image

Figure 2  in Karim (2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

The Panel Data Structure

Click to Expand Image

Majority Ties and Politics

Four Key Results

Click to Expand Image

Figure 3  in Karim (2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

Four Key Results

Click to Expand Image

Figure 4  in Karim (2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

Four Key Results

Click to Expand Image

Figure 5  in Karim (2026)

Majority Ties and Politics

Four Key Results

Click to Expand Image

Figure 8  in Karim (2026)

More Brainstorming

Let’s Talk Shop (Pt II)

Think about your own research interests again. Take what you “pitched” on Tuesday and push it forward–i.e., get more concrete. After 10 minutes, present your ideas to a classmate you haven’t gotten to know yet.

Updating Preliminary Research Ideas
10:00
0 words

Enjoy the Weekend

References

Note: Scroll to access the entire bibliography

Broćić, Miloš, and Sakeef M. Karim. 2026. “Culture War and Interpretive Contestation: Documenting Lay Theories of the ‘Woke’ Phenomenon.” Working Paper.
Carr, Deborah S., Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Benjamin Cornwell, Shelley J. Correll, Robert Crosnoe, et al. 2020. The Art and Science of Social Research. Second Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Cunningham, Scott. 2026. Causal Inference: The Remix. 2nd ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Grimmer, Justin, Margaret E. Roberts, and Brandon M. Stewart. 2022. Text as Data: A New Framework for Machine Learning and the Social Sciences. Princeton University Press.
Hainmueller, Jens, and Daniel J. Hopkins. 2015. “The Hidden American Immigration Consensus: A Conjoint Analysis of Attitudes Toward Immigrants.” American Journal of Political Science 59(3):529–48. doi: 10.1111/ajps.12138.
Karim, Sakeef M. 2024a. “Islam and the Transmission of Cultural Identity in Four European Countries.” Social Forces 103(2):756–79. doi: 10.1093/sf/soae076.
Karim, Sakeef M. 2024b. “The Organization of Ethnocultural Attachments Among Second- Generation Germans.” Social Science Research 118:102959. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102959.
Karim, Sakeef M. 2026. “The Intergenerational Transmission of Majority-Group Ties and Their Political Consequences.”
Karim, Sakeef M., Miloš Broćić, and Martin Lukk. 2026. “Brahmin Left vs Laic Right? College and Affective Polarization in America.” Working Paper.
Leeper, Thomas J., Sara B. Hobolt, and James Tilley. 2020. “Measuring Subgroup Preferences in Conjoint Experiments.” Political Analysis 28(2):207–21. doi: 10.1017/pan.2019.30.
Llaudet, Elena, and Kōsuke Imai. 2023. Data Analysis for Social Science: A Friendly and Practical Introduction. Princeton (N.J.) Oxford: Princeton University press.
Okura, Keitaro, and Sakeef M. Karim. 2026. “‘What Is Americanness? Polarization and Consensus in Cultural Logics of the American Creed’.” Working Paper.
Small, Mario Luis, and Jessica McCrory Calarco. 2022. Qualitative Literacy: A Guide to Evaluating Ethnographic and Interview Research. University of California Press.
Soehl, Thomas, and Sakeef M. Karim. 2021. “How Legacies of Geopolitical Trauma Shape Popular Nationalism Today.” American Sociological Review 86(3):406–29. doi: 10.1177/00031224211011981.
Timmermans, Stefan, and Iddo Tavory. 2022. Data Analysis in Qualitative Research: Theorizing with Abductive Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Footnotes

  1. I happen to generally agree with what Andrew Heiss writes here, but lean more agnostic. As I will discuss in class, large language models have been deployed in some of my ongoing research projects.

  2. Concretely, Friday at 5:00 PM to Monday at 8:00 AM.

  3. If an assignment is due at 8:00 PM and you submit it at 8:01 PM, you will be considered a day late and lose 5%.