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Unorthodox Research Methods

SI 755 -- Fall 2020
Prof. Sandvig, University of Michigan
http://umich.edu/~csandvig/755F20
Class meets Thursdays, 1:00-3:50 p.m. (ET)
Meetings are online via Zoom due to COVID-19

 

Announcements

 

About the Class

Instructor

Prof. Christian Sandvig
csandvig@umich.edu
http://umich.edu/~csandvig/
Office Phone: 734/763-0861
Office: 5385 North Quad OR 4244 ISR Thompson
I am working from home due to COVID-19. The best way to reach me is via Slack #general.
 
Physical mail: My most frequently-checked physical mailbox is in the Communication Studies 5th floor mailbox room (5334 North Quad)
There is no office mail pickup due to COVID-19. The best way to reach me is via Slack #general.  

Office Hours: Drop-In (no appointment) from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Mondays and also by appointment;
Office hours are held online via Zoom due to COVID-19. Click that link to join -- note you must have a UM login with Zoom for this link to work.

Course Description

Any traditional research method was once unorthodox. While many are prone to think about methods as boring tools (or even as a necessary but unpleasant step on the road to results), every boring method was once daring and controversial. This seminar will cover challenging developments in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, art, design, and engineering. It will address the question of how new research methods are invented, applied, transferred between problems and disciplines, and formalized. The overall focus of the course will be research design, rather than learning the procedures of a single method. In addition, we will spend some time trying to think creatively about possible new methods and research designs. Readings are split between "classics" and recent innovations. In discussion of recent methodological trends, particular attention will be paid to Internet / digital / new media / VR / AR / MR research, algorithm studies, artificial intelligence in social research, new digital sources of data ("big data" or "computational social science"), visualization as a research method, activism in/as research methods, and unobtrusive methods. The primary goal of the seminar is to encourage people who want to find things out -- whether using new or old methods -- to see their research method as a creative act.

Learning Objectives

Course Credit

Class Requirements

Students will be responsible for a seminar paper proposal and a research paper of about 25 pages. In addition, there will be short weekly assignments or "weekly questions" due at the beginning of each class meeting when reading is assigned. These will be read and discussed in class but not graded. All assignments will be turned in electronically. No late work! No incompletes!

The weekly questions will probably follow this pattern:

4 short responses to questions about methods
4 research designs
1 proposal for a new measure or statistic
2 ideas for new visualizations
1 item of curricular material about methods

Required Books

There ARE required books. Other readings will be distributed electronically. You can buy the required books anywhere you'd like. For example, if you buy them new from amazon.com they can be returned for a full refund within 30 days if you are course shopping, and if you sign up for "Amazon Prime Student" two-day shipping is free. Most of these books are also widely available as discounted used books, as textbook rentals, and at the library.

A quick word about buying the books: As befits the topic of the class some of them are unorthodox. A librarian and fan of the Lesy book commented, "I can't believe this is an assigned reading for a course!" I know the Webb book is not cheap and the Lesy book is strange but I think you will find them worthwhile.

  1. Unobtrusive Measures
    by Eugene J. Webb, Donald T. Campbell, Richard D. Schwartz, Lee Sechrest
    Sage, 1999
    (revised edition)
    [read online for free via your UM library login] or [buy from amazon.com] [buy a used print copy from alibris]
  2. Wisconsin Death Trip
    by Michael Lesy
    University of New Mexico Press, 2000
    (new edition)
    [buy a print copy from amazon.com] [buy a used print copy from alibris] Note: This is a book of photographs. The arrangement of the photographs is important for the meaning of the book, but the e-book does not preserve the arrangements, and the scans are of inferior quality. Do not buy the e-book.
  3. Doing Digital Methods
    by Richard Rogers
    Sage, 2019
    [buy a print copy from Sage] [buy a print copy from amazon.com]
    Important Note: Unfortunately I do not recommend the electronic versions of this book. I've tested Kindle, mobi, VitalSource, and RedShelf -- it looks like the images were uploaded at too low a resolution and they are not legible. In the printed book the images are also sometimes not legible, but it is somewhat better.

Other Readings

The remaining readings are available online via Perusall.

Recommended Books

These books are recommended in the sense that every doctoral student working in a research tradition of the social sciences and humanities should own them already. If you don't own them, you should buy them! They are highly recommended.

  1. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article
    by Howard S. Becker & Pamela Richards.
    University of Chicago Press, 2007. (any edition is fine.)
    (Note that although the phrase "social scientist" is in the title of the book, this book is equally relevant to any researcher from the social sciences or humanities even if they don't identify with the phrase "social scientist".)
    [Buy from amazon.com] [Buy from alibris]
  2. The Elements of Style
    by William Strunk, Jr. & E. B. White.
    New York: Longman, 2000.
    (I like the fourth edition, but any edition is fine except for the 1920 or 2011 "Original Edition" that does not include E. B. White. Be sure it has E. B. White. If it has Kalman as a co-author too, I think that is OK -- this just means it is the illustrated edition.)
    [Buy from amazon.com] [Buy from alibris]

Seminar Schedule

Important warnings about this schedule:

  1. The fact that something is assigned on the syllabus does not mean it is correct or endorsed by the instructor. Many readings implicitly or explicitly contradict each other, as these are areas of controversy.
  2. It's probably better to read these things in the order given on this page.
  3. These dates and readings will be adjusted to reflect student interest and our progress (or lack of it). This means that you should check this Web page for updates before each week.

 

Part I: An Overview of Orthodoxy and Research Methods

3 Sep (Thu): Introduction

  • TO DO: Please Read/view/complete these items before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom.
  • Please read all of the course policies on the syllabus carefully -- that means this Web page.
  • Be sure you have a umich.edu enabled Zoom account (see Zoom policies below).
  • Ensure you can access the class Canvas site.
  • Join the class Slack channel by clicking on the invitation link on the home page of the Class canvas site. You will need to make a Slack account -- sorry. (You only need to do this once. After that, you can use the "Slack" tab in Canvas.
  • Set the same profile picture and name for Canvas, Slack, and Zoom (Perusall uses Canvas's settings). The picture can be non-photographic, it just needs to be the same across platforms.
  • Optional / For Future Reference: (Each week the material below contains examples discussed in class that are NOT required readings. These are listed for future reference and may be updated after class.)

10 Sep (Thu): The Fundamentals: Methods, Instruments, and Orthodoxy

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • The syllabus is this Web page. Please carefully read the course policies and skim this schedule.
  • Popper, Karl. (1962) Conjectures and Refutations, London: Routledge and Keagan Paul. (read only pp. 33-39, Science as Falsification)
  • Forscher, Bernard K. (1963). Chaos in the Brickyard. Science 142(3590): 339. (Yes, just the one letter.)
  • Feyerabend, Paul. (1975). Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. Humanities Press.
  • Pajares, Frank. (n.d.) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn: A Synopsis. The Philosopher's Magazine.
  • Bird, Alexander. (2004). Thomas Kuhn. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California: Metaphysics Research Laboratory. (Just the section "Kuhn and Social Science")
  • de Solla Price, Derek J. (1986). Little Science, Big Science... and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press. (read the chapter: "Of Sealing Wax and String")
  • Harding, Sandra. (1992). Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What is "Strong Objectivity?" The Centennial Review 36(3): 437-470. (~10 pp. of excerpts as marked.)
  • a roundup of #overlyhonestmethods on Twitter (collected by the instructor).
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Sandvig, C. & Hargittai, E. (2015). How to Think about Digital Research. In: E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.) Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (read ch. 1). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Part II: Case Studies of Unorthodox Research Methods

17 Sep (Thu): Interestingness, Publication Bias, The Decline Effect, and the Crisis of Confidence in Significance Testing
(includes: The Bem E.S.P. Study)

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Davis, Murray S. (1971). That's Interesting! Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology. Philosophy of Social Science 1: 309-344.
  • Hacking, Ian. (1990). The Taming of Chance. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Read Ch. 1, The Argument [pp. 1-7]). (This PDF is intentionally truncated.)
  • Hacking, Ian. (1990). The Taming of Chance. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Read Outline of Other Chapters).
  • Sterne, Jonathan A. C. & Smith, George Davey. (2001). Sifting the Evidence: What's Wrong with Significance Tests? British Medical Journal 322: 226-231. (assumes some familiarity with statistical methods -- if you don't have that, just stick the to text and do the best you can.)
  • Ioannidis, John P. A. (2005). Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Medicine 2(8): 696-701. (assumes familiarity with statistical methods -- if you don't have that, just stick the to text and do the best you can.)
  • Open Science Collaboration, The. (2015). Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science. Science 349(6251): 943, aac4716-1 to aac4716-8.
  • Gonzales, J. E. & Cunningham C. A. (2015, August). The Promise of Pre-Registration in Psychological Research. Psychological Science Agenda.
  • Please browse / glance through https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • If you don't know what Bayesian means, and you would like to: Jackman, Simon. (2009). Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences. Wiley-Blackwell: New York. (Excerpts.)
    • Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100 (3): 407-425.
    • Wagenmakers, E.-J., Wetzels, R., Borsboom, D., and van der Maas, H. L. J. (2011). Why Psychologists Must Change the Way They Analyze Their Data: The Case of Psi: Comment on Bem (2011). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100 (3): 426–432.
    • McCloskey, Donald N. (1986). Why Economic Historians Should Stop Relying on Statistical Tests of Significance, and Lead Economists and Historians Into the Promised Land. Newsletter of the Cliometrics Society 2(2). http://www.deirdremccloskey.org/docs/pdf/Article_180.pdf (probably worth reading for attitude alone)

24 Sep (Thu): Unusual Archives, Database Subtraction, Visual Argument
(includes: the case of Michael Lesy's dissertation)

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Read Wisconsin Death Trip. (all of it).
  • Paglen, Trevor. (2007). Unmarked Planes and Hidden Geographies. Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular 2(2). Read: Editor's Introduction, browse the interactive project itself (including planes, bases, movements, flight procedures), Author's Statement, Designer's Statement, Peer Response.
  • Ankerson, Megan S. (forthcoming). Read/Write the Digital Archive: Strategies for Historical Web Research. In: E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.) Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (ch. 2, pp. TBD). Cambridge: MIT Press.
  • Zongker, Doug. (2006). Chicken Chicken Chicken: Chicken Chicken. Annals of Improbable Research 12(5): 16-21. (Yes, it's a joke.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

1 Oct (Thu): Social Justice, Activism, and Method
(includes: the case of Eric Michaels)

8 Oct (Thu): Auditing, Reverse Engineering, and Correspondence Studies

15 Oct (Thu): Visualization as Method

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Read at least five unfamiliar entries and click "Search by Function" in the "The Data Visualization Catalogue" at https://datavizcatalogue.com.
  • Kosara, Robert. (2008). Visualization Criticism - The Missing Link Between Information Visualization and Art. IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications (CG&A), Visualization Viewpoints, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 13-15. (on Perusall)
  • Drucker, Johanna. (2014). Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Read selected portion of Preface and Ch. 1, "Image, Interpretation, and Interface," pp. 7-64). (Pn Perusall -- start reading at "a brief gloss on some terms crucial to our discussion...". See notes in Perusall about sections where skimming is encouraged).
  • Please view and interact with these ten examples of visualization. Please spend about the same amount of time as you would for the normal reading load in this class in total. It is OK to skim. You can investigate the examples you enjoy more deeply, but please be sure to at least briefly examine each of the following:
     
    1. Jamaican Slave Revolt: http://revolt.axismaps.com/map/ (be sure to press play). Part of the Project: "Slavery’s History in the Age of the Database" by Vincent Brown
    2. The Maumee River Index (video, 15 min.): A 4-D Visualization and Sonification of Maumee River Pollution.
    3. Their Names by Kim Albrecht and Matthew Battles
    4. Emoji Tracker by Matthew Rothenberg http://emojitracker.com/ (look at / click)
    5. Forensic Architecture (view any of the projects that interest you)
    6. A Memorial to the Lingering Horror of Lynching (consider the 800 steel pillars as a form of visualization)
    7. PhotoTrails (browse a visualization; e.g., click on Instagram Cities then one of the visualizations)
    8. U.S. Gun Killings (browse)
    9. Web Seer (try it)
    10. Attacking Discrimination With Smarter Machine Learning (interactive visualization -- click the buttons, drag the thresholds, etc.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

22 Oct (Thu): Unobtrusive Methods, Crowdsourcing
(includes: the Humphreys Tearoom Trade controversy. a.k.a. "public bathroom week")

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Read Webb et al. Unobtrusive Measures book Ch. 2-5 and Ch. 8-9 (Physical Traces: Erosion and Accretion, Archives I: The Running Record, Archives II: The Episodic and Private Record, and Simple Observation, A Statistician on Method, and Cardinal Newman's Epitaph.).
  • Roth, Julius A. (1966). Hired Hand Research. American Sociologist 1(4): 190-196. Read only only the preface.
  • Confessions of a mental health research interviewer: This American Life #37: The Job That Takes Over Your Life: Act One, The Test -- listen only from 02:41-09:16 (the timecodes are in the upper-right corner.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Shaw, A. (2015). Hired Hands and Dubious Guesses: Adventures in Crowdsourced Data Collection. In: E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.) Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (ch. 7). Cambridge: MIT Press.
    • The complete Roth article from this week may be interesting.
    • Ch. 6 ("Contrived Observation") in Webb et al. may also be interesting.
    • Humphreys, Laud. (1970). Tearoom trade: a study of homosexual encounters in public places. New York: Duckworth. (see: Humphreys Ch. 2, Hoffman, Glazer, and Humphreys -- Retrospect.)
    • von Hoffman, Nicholas; Horowitz, Irving Louis & Rainwater, Lee. (1970). Sociological Snoopers (reprints from The Washington Post and Trans-Action.
    • Middlemist, R. D., Knowles, E. S. & Matter, C.F. (1976). Personal Space Invasions in the Lavatory: Suggestive Evidence for Arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33 (5), 541-546.

29 Oct (Thu): Unobtrusive, Digital Methods

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • read Rogers book, Doing Digital Methods.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

1 Nov (Thu): Methodology and the Nonhuman Turn
(includes: performative experiments, multispecies ethnography, algorithmic ethnomethods. a.k.a. "the weirdest week")

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Please read everyone else's proposed statistics from the Canvas discussion board (from last week).
  • Vertesi, J. (2015). Seeing like a Rover. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Ch. 6: Visualization, Embodiment, and Social Order).
  • Latour, B. (1996) Aramis, Or: The Love of Technology. (C. Porter, trans.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Excerpts. (Excerpts -- OK to skim this!)
  • Kirksey, S. E. (2010). The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography. Cultural Anthropology 25(4): 545-576.
  • Kirksey, S. E., Hannah, D., Lotterman, C., Moore, L. G. (2016). The Xenopus Pregnancy Test: A Performative Experiment. Environmental Humanities 8(1): 37-56. https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/8/1/37/61689/The-Xenopus-Pregnancy-TestA-Performative
  • Leahu, L. & Sengers, P. (2015). Freaky: Collaborative Enactments of Emotion. CSCW'15 Companion https://feministcscw2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/csde104-leahu.pdf
  • Pencil, Murdock. (1976). Salt Passage Research: The State of the Art. Journal of Communication 26 (4): 31-36.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Bogost, I. (2012). Alien Phenomenology: or, What It's Like to Be a Thing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Ch. 3: Metaphorism, and Ch. 4: Carpentry -- N.B.: "OOO" stands for Object-Oriented Ontology.)
    • Dobson, K. (2004). Blendie. Proceedings of the 5th ACM conference on Designing interactive systems (DIS'04) Exhibits: 309.
    • Dobson, K. (2005). Wearable body organs: critical cognition becomes (again) somatic. Proceedings of the 5th ACM conference on Creativity & cognition (C&C'05): 259-262.
    • Ziewitz, M. (2017). A not quite random walk: Experimenting with the ethnomethods of the algorithm. Big Data & Society 4(2): 1-13.
    • Data Walking (Website). http://www.datawalking.com/ (Read: Home page, Roles, Case Studies [all 3]).

12 Nov (Thu): Emerging Controversies in Big Data and Computational Social Science
(includes: The Google Flu Trends controversy, "Culturnomics")

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Anderson, C. (2008, June 23). The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete. Wired.
  • Michel, J.-B., Shen, Y. K., Aiden, A. P., Veres, A., Gray, M. K., The Google Books Team, Pickett, J. P., Hoiberg, D., Clancy, D., Norvig, P., Orwant, J., Pinker, S., Nowak, M. K., & Aiden, E. L. (2010). Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books. Science.
  • Mercator Institute for China Studies, The. (2017, September 15). Shazeda Ahmed on China’s Social Credit System. MERICS Experts Series Podcast #41.(https://www.merics.org/en/podcast/shazeda-ahmed-chinas-social-credit-system (~16 min.)
  • Ginsberg, J., Mohebbi, M. H., Patel, R. S., Brammer, L., Smolinski, M. S., & Brilliant, L. (2009). Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data. Nature 457(7232): 1012–1014.
  • Lazer, D., Kennedy, R., King, G., & Vespignani, A. (2014). The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis. Science 343: 1203-1205. https://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/0314policyforumff.pdf
  • van Nostrand, M., Riemenschneider, J. & Nicodemo, L. (2017). Uromycitisis Poisoning Results in Lower Urinary Tract Infection and Acute Renal Failure: Case Report. Urology & Nephrology Open Access. (Skim / glance at only. Note: This article is a joke. It is not true. It was published by a predatory journal in a sting operation.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

19 Nov (Thu): New Methods, New Ethics
(includes: the Common Rule, the Facebook Emotional Contagion Study)

26 Nov (Thu): NO CLASS

  • Thanksgiving Break

3 Dec (Thu): Pandemic / Online / Virtual / VR / Cyber / Internet Ethnography

  • TO DO: Read these items. For those on Perusall, note questions and make comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum at least two hours before class begins. Finally, at the course meeting time join the Zoom and have Slack #general open.
  • Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C., Taylor, T. L., & Marcus, G. E. (2012). Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (read ONLY Section 2.1 "A Brief History of Ethnographic Methods" PDF pp. 13-22. and Section 3.0 ["Ten Myths About Ethnography"] through the end of Section 3.6 "Ethnography is Writing About Your Personal Experience" pp. 29-45 -- .)
  • Hine, C. (2017). "Ethnographies of Online Communities and Social Media: Modes, Varieties, Affordances." In: N. G. Fielding, R. M. Lee, & G. Blank (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, (pp. 401-415) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton University Press. (Read ONLY Ch. 1: "The Subject and Scope of this Inquiry" and Ch. 9: "The Virtual".
  • Law, T. & Mott, J. (n.d.). VR for Greater Ethnographic Immersion. (Blog post.)
  • Backe, E. L. (2016). "A Review of Virtual Reality Ethnographic Film, or: How We've Always been Creating Virtual Reality." The Geek Anthropologist. (Blog post.) https://thegeekanthropologist.com/2016/11/17/a-review-of-virtual-reality-ethnographic-film-or-how-weve-always-been-creating-virtual-reality/
  • Journal: The California Review of Images and Mark Zuckerberg volume 1, volume 2 (Browse/skim only.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Suchman, L. A. (2006). Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions. (2nd. ed.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    • Horst, H. A., & Miller, D. (eds.) (2018). Digital Anthropology, 0th Edition. London: Bloomsbury. (See esp. Ch. 1.)
    • Huhtamo, E., & Parikka, J. (eds.) (2012). Media Archaeology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (read ONLY ch. 1: "An Archaeology of Media Archaeology").
  • "Ethnographic" 360 VR examples discussed: (YouTube 360 or 360+3D unless noted.)

11 Dec (Fri): Final paper due

Final paper due at 4:00 p.m.
This is the scheduled final exam period for this course according to the registrar's office. Submitting the paper will count as the final examination for this seminar; there is no other final examination. Submit your paper via e-mail to the instructor.

Class Policies

Our Discussions

This seminar practices the "Guidelines for Dialogue" developed by students and faculty from the University of Michigan Program on Intergroup Relations. That means that we will do our best to:

  1. Maintain confidentiality. We want to create an atmosphere for open, honest exchange.
  2. Commit to learning from each other. We will listen to other and not talk at each other. We acknowledge differences among us in backgrounds, skills, interests, identities and values. We realize that it is these very differences that will increase our awareness and understanding through this process.
  3. Not demean, devalue, or "put down" people for their experiences, lack of experiences, or difference in interpretation of those experiences.
  4. Trust that people are always doing the best they can. We will give each other the benefit of the doubt. We will assume we are all trying our hardest and that our intentions are good even when the impact is not.
  5. Challenge the idea and not the person. If we wish to challenge something that has been said, we will challenge the idea or the practice referred to, not the individual sharing this idea or practice.
  6. Speak our discomfort. If something is bothering us, we will share this with the group. Often our emotional reactions to this process offer the most valuable learning opportunities.
  7. Step Up, Step Back. We will be mindful of taking up much more space than others. On the same note, empower ourselves to speak up when others are dominating the conversation.
  8. Not to freeze people in time. We are all works in progress. We will be willing to change and make space for others to do so. Therefore we will not assume that one comment or one opinion made at one time captures the whole of a person's character.

--The Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan, 2012

Academic Integrity

Unless otherwise specified in an assignment all submitted work must be your own, original work. Any excerpts, statements, or phrases from the work of others must be clearly identified as a quotation, and a proper citation provided. Any violation of the School’s policy on Academic and Professional Integrity (stated in the Master’s and Doctoral Student Handbooks) will result in serious penalties, which might range from failing an assignment, to failing a course, to being expelled from the program. Violations of academic and professional integrity will be reported to UMSI Student Affairs. Consequences impacting assignment or course grades are determined by the faculty instructor; additional sanctions may be imposed by the assistant dean for academic and student affairs.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

If you think you need an accommodation for a disability, please let me know at your earliest convenience. Some aspects of this course, the assignments, the in-class activities, and the way we teach may be modified to facilitate your participation and progress. As soon as you make me aware of your needs, we can work with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to help us determine appropriate accommodations. SSD (734-763-3000; http://ssd.umich.edu/) typically recommends accommodations through a Verified Individualized Services and Accommodations (VISA) form. I will treat any information that you provide in as confidential a manner as possible.

Student Mental Health and Wellbeing

The University of Michigan is committed to advancing the mental health and wellbeing of its students, while acknowledging that a variety of issues, such as strained relationships, increased anxiety, alcohol/drug problems, and depression, directly impacts students’ academic performance.

If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and/or in need of support, services are available. For help, contact Counseling and Psychological S ervices (CAPS) at (734) 764-8312 and https://caps.umich.edu/ during and after hours, on weekends and holidays. You may also consult University Health Service (UHS) at (732) 764-8320 and https://www.uhs.umich.edu/mentalhealthsvcs, or for alcohol or drug concerns, see http://www.uhs.umich.edu/aodresources.

Since many students are remote during fall 2020, CAPS COVID-19 Support features SilverCloud, an online, self-guided, interactive mental health resource that provides cognitive behavioral interventions.

For a more comprehensive listing of the broad range of mental health services available on campus, please visit: http://umich.edu/~mhealth/

(Note: This statement about mental health was originally proposed by the UM Student Government. Thank you for doing that.)

Pandemic Policies

Pandemic Zoom Participation Policy

I am joining the live sessions from home (just like you, most likely!) If my network connection drops or my video freezes, please don't give up on the meeting! Hang out for at least 5 minutes while the instructor reboots or switches to his cell phone for Internet connectivity. Thanks!

General rules for Zoom use in this class:

  • You must always use your UMich credentials/account to access this course. If you have another Zoom account, it will not work!
  • Here is information on how to log into your U-M Zoom account (Links to an external site.)
  • If you have already used your UM email to create a non-UM Zoom account, please see this page for information on how to migrate your account. (Links to an external site.) (Note that this can take several hours, so please do it well before the first class meeting.)
  • Please only connect using a Zoom client, preferably on your laptop/desktop (better than phone or tablet). NEVER on a web browser. It does not work as well.
  • Please keep your Zoom client updated to get the newest features.
  • Be sure your display name in Wolverine Access actually represents your preferred display name (see "Preferred" name in "Campus Personal Information").
  • Have your camera on as much as possible during class meetings (but mute your microphone as much as possible, too) I strongly encourage you to keep your camera on for community-building purposes (but will not require it). Check out your background when you are on camera. Remove or cover items you don't want others to see
  • Please set up a profile photo for your account (for when your camera is off)
  • Pets are welcomed!
  • Test your audio and video -- use headphones and a microphone are probably the best thing.
  • Please mute when not talking. However, it is OK to make mistakes! We will forgive each other for barking dogs, crying children, sudden doorbells, etc.

What to do if you are on a low-bandwidth connection?

  • Leave video off when you don't need it
  • Turn off HD video (in the Zoom app video settings)
  • When you screen share, only do so for as long as necessary
  • If possible, use collaborative (e.g., Google) documents rather than screen sharing
  • Mute your audio when not speaking (do this anyway!)
  • To improve your overall Zoom performance, consider asking others at your location to limit their high-bandwidth activities while you need to be online for a course or required meeting.
  • Avoid running other data-intensive programs during Zoom meetings, such as streaming video or music or other web sites with dynamic content. (Why are you watching streaming video during class?)
(These tips come from Cornell.)

Pandemic Data Retention Policy

In case of a personal emergency or a network disruption, we will be recording our online seminar meetings via Zoom. These recordings are made available automatically shortly after the course meeting concludes and they remain available for 180 days. They are then automatically deleted. Please keep in mind that we adhere to the UM "Guidelines for Dialogue" (listed above). This states that it is our course policy to maintain confidentiality within the class. These recordings are for personal review only.

 

(tl;dr)