A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Sociology - WJH Home Page ...

If you are conducting survey research (whether original data collection or not)...
Keep an original data file once you’ve entered the data as “read-only.” Use the log
feature in SPSS and the .do file in Stata to keep track of every way you manipulate the
data, and save separate copies of the dataset as you make key changes—i.e., a “cleaned”
version, a version with newly constructed variables, a subset of some set of subjects, etc.
Back up your data using an external hard drive or online backup service.
If you are undertaking textual analysis or archival work...
Keep a log of every source you access, when and how you accessed it, and keep systematic
notes about what you found.
Keeping Your Data Collection Grounded
While collecting data, don’t forget about your research question and about the lit-
erature review you should be continuing to craft. You should think about how the
theories or empirical evidence you are reading about relate to what you’re hearing,
seeing, or reading about. Are there new questions you’d like to start asking? Are there
new theories or empirical studies you need to look for?
Data collection is not an atheoretical enterprise; it is conducted to answer a specific
question. Review your research question often—are you really collecting the data
you need? Is your research question morphing slightly as you learn more from your
subjects? Both data collection efforts and your theoretical framework will shift as you
work on the project. It is important to constantly ensure that the data collection is not
divorced from the literature review you are conducting. Think of the literature review
as laying out the roadmap or framework for your data collection, and move back and
forth between these two pieces of the project.
DEADLINE: Thesis Progress Report
Last Friday of Fall Term Reading Period by 4:30 PM, Senior Year
The Progress Report, due in the Undergraduate Office at the end of Reading Period
(Fall Term), is your statement of what has been done to date and what remains to be
done in order to complete the thesis. A copy of the report should also be presented to
your adviser. In December, an Approval Form will be sent directly from the Under-
graduate Office to your adviser. The Approval Form asks the adviser to indicate, on
the basis of your report, whether or not you should be allowed to continue the thesis
project to completion. There is no required format for the Report itself; a page or
two should be sufficient. Describe the work you have done so far on the thesis and
your plans for completing the remaining research (if any) and writing.
A Guide to Writing a Senior Thesis in Sociology | page 35