Computer Applications for The Social Sciences

The beginning of the 21st Century is a period characterized by the rapid expansion and integration of what are called Sociotechnical Systems of Use. These combine three components, technology, information, and people, to carry out functions and tasks that would be impossible for humans to perform unaided. The Social Science perspective of this course defines those three components according to the following.

• Technology: This course emphasizes computer technology, various computer programs (applications), and computer networks. It should be understood that the Internet is in reality a network of networks. Tuskegee University operates a Wide Area Network (WAN) in which all of the hundreds of computers on Campus are interconnected to each other and to larger networks which comprise the Internet.. Within the Campus Network, the Department of Social Work operates a Local Area Network (LAN) which consists of about 30 computer workstations (clients), network printers, and several network servers. Students will utilize this client/server
technology for various course functions.

• Information. This course emphasizes empirical information about social problems in a way that can lead to concrete interventions to change social policies and programs that might alleviate social problems. Students are expected to focus on problems and issues that they believe have an impact on the survival and propagation of African Americans. Students are expected to become familiar with some basic concepts of Social Science research and data analysis so that they themselves can generate knowledge about social problems and solutions.

• Human Users. This course seeks to develop in students a set of cognitive abilities that are common across Social Science based disciplines and professions. These have been referred to as critical thinking skills, as problem-solving skills, and as quantitative reasoning skills. For the purposes of this course, those notions were combined to form what we call the Quantitative Problem-Solving Model, which consists of four steps:

1. Problem Definition
2. Data Collection
3. Data Analysis
4. Communicating Findings

In this light, the purpose of this course is to provide students with opportunities to apply Sociotechnical Systems of Use to solve real-life problems. Toward this end, the content of this course is (artificially) separated into two parts: Social Science concepts and Computer concepts. This course is designed to precede and provide a foundation for the formal research methods course in each respective Social Science discipline.