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Exercise 2-2A: Methodological Approaches

In your groups discuss the following:
  1. Imagine that you are a social scientist who is interested in understanding why and how college students choose their majors. What do you think would be the best way to study the factors that impact a student’s choice in major? What kinds of data would you collect? What type of methodological approach would this be?
  2. Imagine that you are a social scientist who is interested in understanding why and how some UNC students become diehard fans of the men’s basketball team, and others do not. What do you think would be the best way to study this process of either becoming or not becoming a fan? What specific actions would you take to study this process? What kinds of data would you collect? What type of methodological approach would this be?

For a Google doc version of this exercise adapted for remote learning, click here.