Structural Topic Modeling For Social Scientists: A Brief Case Study with Social Movement Studies Literature, 2005–2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan C. Lindstedt
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Structural Topic Modeling

Sociologists frequently make use of language as data in their research using methodologies including open-ended surveys, in-depth interviews, and content analyses. Unfortunately, the ability of researchers to analyze the growing amount of these data declines as the costs and time associated with the research process increases. Topic modeling is a computer-assisted technique that can help social scientists to address these data challenges. Despite the central role of language in sociological research, to date, the field has largely overlooked the promise of automated text analysis in favor of more familiar and more traditional methods. This article provides an overview of a topic modeling framework especially suited for social scientific research. By way of a case study using abstracts from social movement studies literature, a short tutorial from data preparation through data analysis is given for the method of structural topic modeling. This example demonstrates how text analytics can be applied to research in sociology and encourages academics to consider such methods not merely as novel tools, but as useful supplements that can work beside and enhance existing methodologies.

scholarly journals My adventures with nick and hannah: Anthropological explorations into sexdolls and the potential implications for human intimacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Roanne van Voorst
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
First Case ◽  
Female Author ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Societal Dynamics

This paper introduces two anthropological case-studies; one in which the (female) author personally rented a male sexdoll to experience, and one in which an owner of a sexdoll was observed in her house, interacting with her doll. Through the first case, in which the anthropological methodology of participation and reflection is used, it is explored what sexdoll-intimacy could look like for a heterosexual female. The second case study uses observation and in-depth interviewing to explore what sexdolls may mean for an atypical group of users: asexuals. Both case-studies serve to reflect on the potential positive impacts for human intimacy, as well as on potential challenges or concerns. It discusses the wider theme of intimacy and human relationships, using sociological literature on former important technological innovations and their societal impact. One of the major conclusions of the paper is that instead of focusing on the ‘humanification’ of robots and sexdolls, as is currently happening in this field of innovation, it is useful for social scientists to turn the topic up side down: focusing on the potential of robotification of humans. This also means a shift from focusing on the (possible) future, to current societal dynamics. Another conclusion is that, while social-scientific scholars have been largely critical on sexdoll innovations; it is equally useful to take a more descriptive approach and experience, rather than moralize, what sexdolls may bring individuals and the larger society.

scholarly journals Surveillance, Radicalization, and Prison Change Self-Analysis of an Ethnographic Survey Under Tension

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124162110194
Author(s):  
Gilles Chantraine ◽  
David Scheer
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Contextual Element ◽  
The Way

This article is based on a sociological research, combining qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations, undertaken in “radicalization assessment units” in French prisons. We will first summarize the context of negotiating the research agreement, amidst a climate of panic on the part of political authorities who feared terrorist attacks. Then we will describe empirically the way the researchers were particular objects of surveillance on the prison grounds, in a way that was different, in its nature and unusual intensity, than the usual surveillance of other people who come into the prison. Lastly, we will show that this surveillance spreads beyond the prison walls, for example, the researchers were tailed when they left the prison. A reflexive work would explore all the ambiguities of this surveillance—from protection to control—and at the same time consider this surveillance of the researchers not as a contextual element of the study, but an object of the analysis in its own right. In doing so, this case study more broadly examines the methodological challenges of ethnography undertaken in difficult fieldwork together with a grounded theory capable of integrating into the analysis the vicissitudes and uncertainties of the research process itself.

scholarly journals Text-mining open-ended survey responses using structural topic modeling: A practical demonstration to understand parents’ coping methods during COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Chung ◽  
Maria Rodriguez ◽  
Paul Lanier ◽  
Daniel Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Coping Methods ◽  
Model Interpretation ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Structural Topic Modeling

Objective: Open-ended survey questions crucially contribute to researchers’ understandings of respondents’ experiences. However, analyzing open-ended responses using human coders is labor-intensive and prone to inconsistencies. Structural topic modeling (STM) is a text mining method that discover topics from textual data. We demonstrate the use of STM to analyze open- ended survey responses to understand how parents cope during COVID-19 lock-down in Singapore. Method: We administered online surveys to 199 parents in Singapore during the COVID-19 lock-down. To show a STM analysis, we demonstrated a workflow that includes steps in data preprocessing, model estimation, model selection, and model interpretation. Results: An 18-topic model best fitted the data based on model diagnostics and researchers’ expertise. Prevalent coping methods described by respondents include “Spousal Support”, “Routines/Schedules” and “Managing Expectations”. Topic prevalence for some topics varies with respondents’ levels of parenting stress and whether parents were fathers or mothers. Conclusion: STM offers an efficient, valid, and replicable way to analyze textual data such as open-ended survey responses and case notes that can complement researchers’ knowledge and skills. STM can be used as part of a multistage research process or to support other analyses such as clarifying quantitative findings and identifying preliminary themes from qualitative data.

Teaching Computer Based Historical Data Analysis

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Anderson ◽  
Robert J. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social History ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Historical Data Analysis ◽  
University Of Edinburgh ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
The University

A case study ofa third year course in the Department of Economic and Social History in the University of Edinburgh isusedto considerandhighlightaspects of good practice in the teaching of computer-assisted historical data analysis.

Public space of the trustworthiness of sociological knowledge: The case of electoral research

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
OLEKSANDR STEGNII
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Sociological Knowledge ◽  
The Public ◽  
Approval Ratings ◽  
The Impact

The paper analyses specific features of sociological data circulation in a public space during an election campaign. The basic components of this kind of space with regard to sociological research are political actors (who put themselves up for the election), voters and agents. The latter refer to professional groups whose corporate interests are directly related to the impact on the election process. Sociologists can also be seen as agents of the electoral process when experts in the field of electoral sociology are becoming intermingled with manipulators without a proper professional background and publications in this field. In a public space where an electoral race is unfolding, empirical sociological research becomes the main form of obtaining sociological knowledge, and it is primarily conducted to measure approval ratings. Electoral research serves as an example of combining the theoretical and empirical components of sociological knowledge, as well as its professional and public dimensions. Provided that sociologists meet all the professional requirements, electoral research can be used as a good tool for evaluating the trustworthiness of results reflecting the people’s expression of will. Being producers of sociological knowledge, sociologists act in two different capacities during an election campaign: as analysts and as pollsters. Therefore, it is essential that the duties and areas of responsibility for professional sociologists should be separated from those of pollsters. Another thing that needs to be noted is the negative influence that political strategists exert on the trustworthiness of survey findings which are going to be released to the public. Using the case of approval ratings as an illustration, the author analyses the most common techniques aimed at misrepresenting and distorting sociological data in the public space. Particular attention is given to the markers that can detect bogus polling companies, systemic violations during the research process and data falsification.

Wissensasymmetrien, Interaktionsrollen und die Frage der „gemeinsamen“ Sprache in der interdisziplinären Projektkommunikation

Fachsprache ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Nina Janich ◽  
Ekaterina Zakharova
Keyword(s):  
Process Models ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Communication Problems ◽  
Project Participants ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Initial Results

goal of the present discourse analysis is to report on the initial results of a DFG project on communication in interdisciplinary projects. Based on a case study, the following questions were investigated: 1) at what times or phases of a project communication problems occur, 2) what kinds of problems occur as a result of knowledge asymmetries, and 3) which interactive and discourse roles do participants take on when facing such problems? Three main conclusions can be drawn from the findings; first, that linguistic-communicative problems occurring in interdisciplinary projects are not simply a result of attempts to find a “common language”, but are grounded in issues of contextual, methodological, organisitory, and socio-pragmatic agreements. Second, these communication problems arise during the initial, preparatory phases of a project, earlier than social scientific process models suggest, i. e. as early as the writing and submission of the project proposal, as opposed to when the project work actually begins. Third, that these problems, induced by the inevitable presence of knowledge asymmetries among participants, must be resolved not only through active and consistent meta-communication, but also through meta-meta-communication. Evidence for these findings was gathered by means of interviews with project participants in which they reflected on the phase of jointly writing their project proposal from the perspective of their respective disciplines.

scholarly journals Methodology for Determining the Location of River Ports on a Modernized Waterway Based on Non-Cost Criteria: A Case Study of the Odra River Waterway

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3571
Author(s):  
Bogusz Wiśnicki ◽  
Dorota Dybkowska-Stefek ◽  
Justyna Relisko-Rybak ◽  
Łukasz Kolanda
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Multicriteria Decision Making ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Optimal Selection ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
Odra River ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Construction Works

The paper responds to research problems related to the implementation of large-scale investment projects in waterways in Europe. As part of design and construction works, it is necessary to indicate river ports that play a major role within the European transport network as intermodal nodes. This entails a number of challenges, the cardinal one being the optimal selection of port locations, taking into account the new transport, economic, and geopolitical situation that will be brought about by modernized waterways. The aim of the paper was to present an original methodology for determining port locations for modernized waterways based on non-cost criteria, as an extended multicriteria decision-making method (MCDM) and employing GIS (Geographic Information System)-based tools for spatial analysis. The methodology was designed to be applicable to the varying conditions of a river’s hydroengineering structures (free-flowing river, canalized river, and canals) and adjustable to the requirements posed by intermodal supply chains. The method was applied to study the Odra River Waterway, which allowed the formulation of recommendations regarding the application of the method in the case of different river sections at every stage of the research process.

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