scholarly journals A modeler's manifesto: Synthesizing modeling best practices with social science frameworks to support critical approaches to data science

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.V. Eitzel
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Qualitative Reasoning ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Scientific Modeling ◽  
The Face ◽  
Critical Approaches

In the face of the "crisis of reproducibility" and the rise of "big data" with its associated issues, modeling needs to be practiced more critically and less automatically. Many modelers are discussing better modeling practices, but to address questions about the transparency, equity, and relevance of modeling, we also need the theoretical grounding of social science and the tools of critical theory. I have therefore synthesized recent work by modelers on better practices for modeling with social science literature (especially feminist science and technology studies) to offer a "modeler’s manifesto": a set of applied practices and framings for critical modeling approaches. Broadly, these practices involve 1) giving greater context to scientific modeling through extended methods sections, appendices, and companion articles, clarifying quantitative and qualitative reasoning and process; 2) greater collaboration in scientific modeling via triangulation with different data sources, gaining feedback from interdisciplinary teams, and viewing uncertainty as openness and invitation for dialogue; and 3) directly engaging with justice and ethics by watching for and mitigating unequal power dynamics in projects, facing the impacts and implications of the work throughout the process rather than only afterwards, and seeking opportunities to collaborate directly with people impacted by the modeling.

scholarly journals “You Social Scientists Love Mind Games”: Experimenting in the “divide” between data science and critical algorithm studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395171983340 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Moats ◽  
Nick Seaver
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Topic Modelling ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Turn On ◽  
Social Science Literature ◽  
Critical Social Science ◽  
Automated Processes ◽  
The Relationship

In recent years, many qualitative sociologists, anthropologists, and social theorists have critiqued the use of algorithms and other automated processes involved in data science on both epistemological and political grounds. Yet, it has proven difficult to bring these important insights into the practice of data science itself. We suggest that part of this problem has to do with under-examined or unacknowledged assumptions about the relationship between the two fields—ideas about how data science and its critics can and should relate. Inspired by recent work in Science and Technology Studies on interventions, we attempted to stage an encounter in which practicing data scientists were asked to analyze a corpus of critical social science literature about their work, using tools of textual analysis such as co-word and topic modelling. The idea was to provoke discussion both about the content of these texts and the possible limits of such analyses. In this commentary, we reflect on the planning stages of the experiment and how responses to the exercise, from both data scientists and qualitative social scientists, revealed some of the tensions and interactions between the normative positions of the different fields. We argue for further studies which can help us understand what these interdisciplinary tensions turn on—which do not paper over them but also do not take them as given.

Who Banishes? City Power and Anti-homeless Policy in San Francisco

2020 ◽  
pp. 107808742092590
Author(s):  
David J. Amaral
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Public Records ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
The Face ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Business District

Despite cross-disciplinary attention to laws targeting homeless behavior in cities, systematic analysis of the power dynamics behind the adoption and implementation of such laws is surprisingly scarce. This article addresses that oversight by investigating the politics of anti-homeless policies in San Francisco, a critical and revealing case. Using a mixed-methods approach that joins qualitative analysis of public records with spatial and statistical analysis of precinct-level election results, census data, and geocoded police and 311 records, it evaluates previously unmeasured claims concerning the relative influence of social and economic forces in determining policy adoption and assesses whether enforcement patterns betray preferential treatment. Findings suggest that in the face of mobilized opposition, an anti-homeless regime composed of business and neighborhood merchants, elected officials, conservatives, and homeowners each contribute resources required to pass anti-homeless laws. Contrary to past claims, enforcement practices do not appear to privilege only the downtown business district.

When Triple Helix Unravels

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 333-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Gray ◽  
Eric Sundstrom ◽  
Louis G. Tornatzky ◽  
Lindsey McGowen
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Triple Helix ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cooperative Research Centres ◽  
Research Centres ◽  
Learning Points

Cooperative research centres (CRCs) increasingly foster Triple Helix (industry–university–government) collaboration and represent significant vehicles for cooperation across sectors, the promotion of knowledge and technology transfer and ultimately the acceleration of innovation. A growing social science literature on CRCs focuses on their management and best practices, mainly through success stories and rarely by describing and analysing CRC failures. The literature on CRCs can benefit by learning from failures, as has been seen in other areas of social science. Here the authors present four mini-cases of CRC failures – centres that were successfully launched but later declined and closed – and, in contrast, one mini-case of a success story. The analysis identifies: (a) likely contributing factors in the failures, mainly environmental influences and mismanagement of centre transitions; (b) themes in the failures, notably a tendency for problems in one area to magnify the impact of problems in other areas; and (c) learning points for CRCs concerning leadership and succession. The implications for Triple Helix organizations are discussed.

scholarly journals Teaching Computational Social Science Skills to Psychology Students: An Undergraduate Research Lab Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Brian A. Eiler ◽  
◽  
Patrick C. Doyle ◽  
Rosemary L. Al-Kire ◽  
Heidi A. Wayment ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Computational Social Science ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Science Practices

This article provides a case study of a student-focused research experience that introduced basic data science skills and their utility for psychological research, providing practical learning experiences for students interested in learning computational social science skills. Skills included programming; acquiring, visualizing, and managing data; performing specialized analyses; and building knowledge about open-science practices.

Organizational Social Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 76-126
Author(s):  
Albert J. Simard
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Tacit Knowledge ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Organizational Social Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Tacit Knowledge Management

Understanding the social context of an organization is a precursor to managing tacit knowledge. This chapter describes a three-dimensional social-context framework comprising factors, trust, and manageability. Factors are underlying characteristics - situation, interaction, and scale - that affect all aspects of the social structure. Trust classifies criteria that affect trust at individual, group, and organizational levels. Manageability lists methods of enhancing indicators for each social context criteria. The framework is based on patterns and clusters of 1200 terms found in a survey of the social-science literature related to social structures. The framework is presented in a format that facilitates prioritizing the most important criteria for an organization to focus on. Understanding how social context affects organizations will greatly facilitate tacit knowledge management.

Was Stalin’s Revolution from Above a Rational Strategy of Modernization?

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
George W. Breslauer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revolutionary Violence ◽  
Social Science Literature

Strategies of modernization are legion within the social science literature. Stalin’s Revolution from Above—but not the Great Terror—is set within this literature as a revolutionary, as opposed to a reformist, strategy. Features of the revolutionary strategy may have been considered necessary to urgently create the capacity to defend the country in a hostile world. But the extent of revolutionary violence against the peasantry cannot be justified in those terms.

Drunk Others

Drunk Japan ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 100-122
Author(s):  
Mark D. West
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Employment Law ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Alcohol Poisoning ◽  
Social Science Literature

This chapter explores the responsibilities of sober people for intoxicated people. It first explores general duties created by relationships and employment law. It then examines responsibilities in two specific contexts: university tragedies in which students, often because of peer pressure, die from alcohol poisoning, and insurance cases in which intoxicated people or their heirs sue their insurers for damages incurred while drunk. In general, absent extreme circumstances, courts place liability with the intoxicated and not people around them. Although some of these outcomes might be attributable to specific legal doctrines or facts, the cases nevertheless stand in contrast with social science literature that finds that people in Japan tend to place responsibility for behavior with groups and circumstances, not individuals.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document