Web-Based Data Analysis: Creating a Sociological Laboratory

Instructors of sociology courses strive to teach their students how to "think sociologically" or how to apply a "sociological perspective" to the world. Many creative methods, often framed as "applied" or "active learning," have been created to pursue this goal, but these active learning projects are not perfect solutions. The natural sciences have an advantage over their social science counterparts because their courses are often accompanied by a laboratory course that gives students "hands-on" experience in the subject's research methods. Sociology courses typically do not have a similar lab environment to accomplish these goals. This article offers tips on how to create such a "sociological laboratory" in which data analysis is incorporated into the classroom. The remainder of this paper presents some of the advantages of incorporating these websites into the classroom and discusses some pedagogical goals as well as some possible assignments using the sites. (Contains 1 table.)