Citing data sources in the social sciences: do authors do it?

Many commonly used data sources in the social sciences suffer from non-random measurement error, understood as mis-measurement of a variable that is systematically related to another variable. We argue that studies relying on potentially suspect data should take the threat this poses to inference seriously and address it routinely in a principled manner. In this article, we aid researchers in this task by introducing a sensitivity analysis approach to non-random measurement error. The method can be used for any type of data or statistical model, is simple to execute, and straightforward to communicate. This makes it possible for researchers to routinely report the robustness of their inference to the presence of non-random measurement error. We demonstrate the sensitivity analysis approach by applying it to two recent studies.

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Personal Documents as Data Sources for Social Sciences. A Review of History of Uses, Ethical, Methodological and Epistemological Considerations

Social Change Review ◽

10.2478/scr-2013-0009 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 3-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ozana Cucu-Oancea

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Historical Perspective ◽

Data Sources ◽

Sociological Research ◽

Social Scientists ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

The Social ◽

Wide Range ◽

History Of ◽

Ultimate Purpose

Abstract This article envisages critically present the use of the personal documents, looking from a historical perspective at how it was practiced in different paradigms in the humanistic-social sciences. The exposé also considers the methodological and the ethical implications of using the method, underlining, in this respect, the aspects related to the preservation and reuse of the materials of this kind. By putting into balance the trumps and downsides of the personal documents method, the article highlights, in fact, the importance of using the personal documents method in studying a wide range of specific problems of the humanistic-social sciences. The ultimate purpose of the article is, therefore, that of prompting the social scientists to look more carefully and more trustingly at the alternative of choosing the personal documents method, as a potential powerful tool for sociological research, providing them, at the same time, with possible directions in discerning between the favourable and unfavourable situations for using it.

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The Continued Relevance of Ego Network Data

The Oxford Handbook of Social Networks ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190251765.013.15 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 169-187

Author(s):

Jeffrey A. Smith

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Data Sources ◽

Statistical Techniques ◽

Network Data ◽

Personal Network ◽

Network Information ◽

The Social ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Basic Features ◽

Full Network

Ego network data have a long history in the social sciences, acting as a bridge between traditional statistical techniques and network analysis. Ego network data provide personal network information, as the data are based on a sample of individuals. This chapter details the basic features of such data, describing the advantages, disadvantages, and potential applications of using ego network data. Ego network data remain a popular choice, despite the growing availability of full network data sources. This is in large part because ego network data are easy to collect but still provide a surprisingly large amount of network information. Ego network data are also quite flexible, with past work using the same basic data structure for widely different purposes. Given the ease of collection and the flexibility of use, there is every reason to believe that ego network data will continue to be a useful option for network scholars.

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Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences

10.1017/cbo9780511801938 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 88

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

The Social

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What Can We Learn From Factorial Surveys About Human Behavior?

Methodology ◽

10.1027/1614-2241/a000161 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 19-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Knut Petzold ◽

Tobias Wolbring

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Behavioral Intentions ◽

Actual Behavior ◽

Full Time ◽

Factorial Survey ◽

Survey Experiment ◽

Intended Behavior ◽

The Social ◽

Survey Experiments ◽

High Level

Abstract. Factorial survey experiments are increasingly used in the social sciences to investigate behavioral intentions. The measurement of self-reported behavioral intentions with factorial survey experiments frequently assumes that the determinants of intended behavior affect actual behavior in a similar way. We critically investigate this fundamental assumption using the misdirected email technique. Student participants of a survey were randomly assigned to a field experiment or a survey experiment. The email informs the recipient about the reception of a scholarship with varying stakes (full-time vs. book) and recipient’s names (German vs. Arabic). In the survey experiment, respondents saw an image of the same email. This validation design ensured a high level of correspondence between units, settings, and treatments across both studies. Results reveal that while the frequencies of self-reported intentions and actual behavior deviate, treatments show similar relative effects. Hence, although further research on this topic is needed, this study suggests that determinants of behavior might be inferred from behavioral intentions measured with survey experiments.

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