The mission of the sociology masters program is to prepare students for advanced academic training, for university teaching careers, or for professional careers that allow them to apply their advanced sociological training. Using an applied learning format, the program will provide each cohort of students with advanced theoretical, methodological and analytical tools and skills with which to examine, explore, advance, and apply sociological knowledge to a common sociological question. Each course in the core curriculum will focus on different aspects of the common sociological question, and the output of that course will be exploration of the common sociological question from epistemological, theoretical, methodological, analytical, and ethical viewpoints.
Goals of the Graduate Program in Sociology
A student completing a Masters degree
in Sociology at the
1. Develop a professional identity
Outcomes:
1.1 Students will be encouraged to join one or more professional societies;
to attend the Great Plains Sociological Association meetings their first year, and to present a paper at the meetings their second year; and graduate students will be encouraged to attend meetings of other professional societies depending on their interests and funding.
Assessment Tools:
1.1 The
director of graduate studies with assistance of the graduate faculty will keep
a
database of the number of graduate students who become members of GPSA, the number of first year students who attend GPSA meetings, and the number of second year graduate students who present papers at the GPSA meetings. The database will include a weighted index of the number of students who become members, attend meetings, or present papers at other professional societies (membership = 1 attend meetings = 2 presenting papers = 3)
1.2 First year graduate students will be required to begin preparing their C.V.’s which
include
all of their academic achievements including B.S./B.A. degree, M.A. degree,
professional association affiliations, papers presented at professional
meetings, journal articles published, and academic honors and awards. Graduate students’ thesis advisors will
assist them in the preparation of their C.V.’s, and
upon a successful thesis defense, graduate students will deposit a copy of
their C.V. with the Director of Graduate Studies.
2. Adhere to a set of ethical standards in their professional endeavors.
Outcomes:
2.1 Students will complete the protection of human subjects online training
2.2 Students should be able to discuss ethical issues in sociological research and how these issues are resolved.
Assessment Tools:
2.1 Successful completion of human subjects online training,
2.3 The number of courses that include discussion of ethical issues
3. Demonstrate basic competence in
foundational areas as contained in the core courses of the graduate program.
Outcomes
3.1 Graduate students will be able to identify the following in an academic journal article: the sociological question, theoretical orientation, propositions, major concepts, research hypothesis, measurement of concepts, the dependent and independent variables, unit of analysis, data source, kinds of analysis used, statistical tests used and their purposes, the major results, whether the results support the proposition, and the sociological significance of the results.
Assessment
Tool:
3.1 During their first semester, graduate
students in Soc. 500 will read a journal article selected by the director of
graduate studies and be asked to identify the core components listed
above. He will maintain a cumulative
database of graduate students’ ability to accomplish these tasks.
3.3 After graduate students complete their core courses and before they submit a thesis proposal, students will be required to perform the same assessment a second time, this time reading a journal article selected by their thesis advisor. Thesis advisors will communicate the results to the director of graduate studies who will maintain a cumulative database of graduate students’ ability to accomplish these tasks.
3.5 Periodically, the graduate faculty will
examine these pre- and post-test results to determine whether students who have
completed their core courses are able to at least identify the basic tasks
associated with the graduate program.
4. Demonstrate ability to conduct sociological research, culminating in the successful completion of a Master’s thesis under the mentorship of program faculty.
Outcomes:
4.1 All students will successfully defend their thesis before their thesis advisory
committee.
Assessment Tool:
4.1 The graduate faculty will develop a standard format for a qualitative and quantitative theses which will be distributed to all first semester graduate students.
The thesis advisory committee will use the standard format to evaluate the extent to which graduate students’ have met the standards for a thesis. The standards will be: Does not meet expectations, Meets expectations, Exceeds expectations.
The thesis advisor will gather the evaluations and give them to the director of graduate studies who will maintain a cumulative data file. Periodically, the graduate faculty will meet to review the extent to which graduate students are meeting expectations for theses in sociology.
5. Explore career options and find employment in an appropriate setting.
Outcomes:
5.1 Students will explore career options available to them in academic settings, private business, and public agencies.
5.2 Over a period of five years, students will find subsequent opportunities relevant to their degree (approximately 20% each on teaching, government agencies, applied settings including private business or NGO’s, and Ph.D. programs.).
Assessment Tools:
5.1 Through readings students enrolled in Soc. 500 (Professional seminar) and visits from alumni and faculty will explore careers in a variety of settings. They will be required to investigate the opportunities in at least two career settings.
5.2 The director of graduate studies with
the assistance of thesis advisors will develop a database of graduates, their
current places of employment, or their enrollment in Ph.D. programs.