Elizabeth Aura McClintock

PhD Candidate
Department of Sociology
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

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Research

Dissertation

Curriculum Vitae

My teaching experience has been primarily in teaching quantitative research methods. I have served as a teaching assistant and also designed and taught courses on research methods at both the graduate and undergraduate level. This fall I am teaching an introductory class on the process of social research. I enjoy teaching research methods because it provides an opportunity to work individually with students and guide them through their own research projects. But I would also love to teach courses that relate to my research. For example, I would enjoy teaching a class about romantic and sexual relationships, and I would also be excited to teach more traditional core classes such as sociology of the family or an introductory course on gender. My teaching experience and teaching philosophy are described below.

Teaching Experience

Classes I Teach

Sociology 180A/280A: Foundations of Social Research (graduate/undergraduate)

The course provides an introduction to the practice of social research. The goal is to help you develop an understanding of how social research is done and an ability to evaluate the quality of empirical research. The course will focus on the process of designing a research project, including formulating research questions, developing hypotheses, developing valid and reliable measures, deciding on the types of data needed, making decisions on sampling, choosing research design and data collection methods, the challenges of making causal inference, and criteria for evaluating the quality of social research.

Sociology 184: Data Management and Analysis for Social Science (undergraduate)

Description: Quantitative research methods and statistical analysis. Introduction to statistical programming using primarily Stata. How to manage data; how to choose appropriate statistical procedures for hypothesis and data; how to interpret results. I designed the curriculum and taught the course. Autumn 2007.

Sociology 381: Data Management and Analysis for Social Science (graduate)

Description: This course provides an overview to skills and topics necessary for quantitative analysis preparing students for advance courses in sociological methods. The course will be comprised of lectures, handouts, and take-home exercises to help familiarize students with statistical software packages and computer applications in research. In addition, students will develop a project of their own design to hone their skills in computer-assisted data analysis. I co-designed the curriculum and co-taught this class with Brandy Aven autumn 2006 and autumn 2007.

Teaching Assistantships (TAs)

Sociology 382: Sociological Methodology II: The General Linear Model (graduate)

Description: Soc382covers (1) basic concepts of statistical analysis, (2)a foundational model (linear regression), and (3)analysis of dichotomous discrete variables. The class is taught by Nancy Tuma (I taught a weekly TA section, met students for office hours, and helped grade and design papers and exams). I was a TA for this class winter quarter of 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Sociology 149/249: The Urban Underclass (undergraduate/graduate)

Description: My primary role was to lead and facilitate discussion sessions (spring 2006). The class is taught by Michael Rosenfeld.

Teaching Philosophy

Regardless of the course topic, I believe that every sociology course should empower students to become critical observers of their own social reality. The ability to take the role of a detached observer enables students to comprehend and question the social structure that shapes their own beliefs and behaviors and those of the people with whom they interact. In turn, recognizing and evaluating this social structure allows for personal growth (as students gain self-awareness by recognizing the social forces that influence them) and potentially for deliberate participation in social change (as students challenge existing social institutions). One of the things I enjoy about studying sociology is its accessibility and relevance: I find that the topics I study interest sociologists and non-sociologists alike and are easily applicable to individuals’ own life experiences.

Because I value the ability to think critically about one’s immediate social situation, my teaching encourages students to question their assumptions and the course material. For example, in leading discussions on class readings, I ask students to consider the authors’ unstated agendas and possible biases rather than to accept the readings as unerring doctrine. I find that students often gain new perspective on the readings when they cease to view the authors as infallible and unquestionable, and I hope that this ability to challenge authoritative canons carries over into their daily lives.

One of my main concerns as a teacher has been to ensure that each student is given the opportunity to fully understand the course material. This is of particular relevance in teaching methods as students often have very different backgrounds and aptitudes. In my experience teaching quantitative research methods I have found that it is valuable to explain a new concept in multiple ways. For example, I find it useful to combine a verbal explanation with a visual image, and to explain a statistical concept from a mathematical perspective, then by illustrating with a tangible example, and finally by providing students with a problem of their own to solve.

Because I believe that many students gain a deeper understanding of a given topic when they are asked to apply their knowledge, I feel that assignments – such as problem sets and papers – should contribute to the learning process. When crafting problem sets, I often design each question to build on the knowledge required to complete the preceding question. I include examples and discussions that review the material and direct students through the problems. At the same time, questions are designed to encourage students to think independently and to ensure that they understand the concept rather than to test whether they can plug numbers into a formula.

My teaching experience has been primarily in teaching quantitative research methods, and I enjoy teaching research methods because it provides an opportunity to work individually with students and guide them through their own research projects. But I am also hoping to diversify my teaching experience. I believe that teachers’ excitement and love of the topic is contagious, and I would love to teach courses that relate to my research. For example, I would enjoy teaching a class about romantic and sexual relationships, including partner selection and the contribution of partnering choices to class and racial stratification, choice of relationship type (hookups vs. dates, cohabitation vs. marriage), and the processes of increasing commitment (dating to cohabitation/marriage, cohabitation to marriage) and relationship dissolution. I would also be excited to teach more traditional core classes such as sociology of the family or an introductory course on gender.

Here are links to my dissertation summary, paper abstracts, my CV, and my research page.