Opinion Dynamics

2013 ◽  
pp. 311-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoxiang Xia ◽  
Huili Wang ◽  
Zhaoguo Xuan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
The Social

As a key sub-field of social dynamics and sociophysics, opinion dynamics utilizes mathematical and physical models and the agent-based computational modeling tools, to investigate the spreading of opinions in a collection of human beings. This research field stems from various disciplines in social sciences, especially the social influence models developed in social psychology and sociology. A multidisciplinary review is given in this paper, attempting to keep track of the historical development of the field and to shed light on its future directions. In the review, the authors discuss the disciplinary origins of opinion dynamics, showing that the combination of the social processes, which are conventionally studied in social sciences, and the analytical and computational tools, which are developed in mathematics, physics and complex system studies, gives birth to the interdisciplinary field of opinion dynamics. The current state of the art of opinion dynamics is then overviewed, with the research progresses on the typical models like the voter model, the Sznajd model, the culture dissemination model, and the bounded confidence model being highlighted. Correspondingly, the future directions of this academic field are envisioned, with an advocation for closer synthesis of the related disciplines.

Opinion Dynamics

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoxiang Xia ◽  
Huili Wang ◽  
Zhaoguo Xuan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
The Social

As a key sub-field of social dynamics and sociophysics, opinion dynamics utilizes mathematical and physical models and the agent-based computational modeling tools, to investigate the spreading of opinions in a collection of human beings. This research field stems from various disciplines in social sciences, especially the social influence models developed in social psychology and sociology. A multidisciplinary review is given in this paper, attempting to keep track of the historical development of the field and to shed light on its future directions. In the review, the authors discuss the disciplinary origins of opinion dynamics, showing that the combination of the social processes, which are conventionally studied in social sciences, and the analytical and computational tools, which are developed in mathematics, physics and complex system studies, gives birth to the interdisciplinary field of opinion dynamics. The current state of the art of opinion dynamics is then overviewed, with the research progresses on the typical models like the voter model, the Sznajd model, the culture dissemination model, and the bounded confidence model being highlighted. Correspondingly, the future directions of this academic field are envisioned, with an advocation for closer synthesis of the related disciplines.

scholarly journals Post-Islamism and Intellectual Production: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Evolution of Contemporary Islamic Thought

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Mohamed Amine Brahimi ◽  
Houssem Ben Lazreg
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Islamic Reform ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Thinking Differently ◽  
Intellectual Production ◽  
Representative Samples

The advent of the 1990s marked, among other things, the restructuring of the Muslim world in its relation to Islam. This new context has proved to be extremely favorable to the emergence of scholars who define themselves as reformists or modernists. They have dedicated themselves to reform in Islam based on the values of peace, human rights, and secular governance. One can find an example of this approach in the works of renowned intellectuals such as Farid Esack, Mohamed Talbi, or Mohamed Arkoun, to name a few. However, the question of Islamic reform has been debated during the 19th and 20th centuries. This article aims to comprehend the historical evolution of contemporary reformist thinkers in the scientific field. The literature surrounding these intellectuals is based primarily on content analysis. These approaches share a type of reading that focuses on the interaction and codetermination of religious interpretations rather than on the relationships and social dynamics that constitute them. Despite these contributions, it seems vital to question this contemporary thinking differently: what influence does the context of post-Islamism have on the emergence of this intellectual trend? What connections does it have with the social sciences and humanities? How did it evolve historically? In this context, the researchers will analyze co-citations in representative samples to illustrate the theoretical framework in which these intellectuals are located, and its evolution. Using selected cases, this process will help us to both underline the empowerment of contemporary Islamic thought and the formation of a real corpus of works seeking to reform Islam.

scholarly journals Bringing the doctoral thesis by published papers to the Social Sciences and the Humanities: a quantitative easing?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Rigby ◽  
Barbara Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

This paper reflects on alternatives to the traditional form of doctoral thesis which are emerging to reflect a new approach to the valuation and designation of scientific outputs. We examine the changes and consider some implications. We suggest that the adoption of co-citation as underpinning principle for the measurement of knowledge structures has led to re-designation of the value of knowledge and knowledge producers in increasingly quantitative terms. We use notions of ‘institution’ and ‘logic’ to better understand such a change and its implications. Under a new logic that is gradually embedding itself across the higher education sector, the ‘constitutive rules’ concerned with the value of research now prioritize quantification, and tangibility of output, and quality is increasingly equated with citation. Whilst the scientific disciplines have traditionally been closer to this model, albeit with significant national variations, subjects within the Social Sciences and Humanities are now being affected. We present evidence from a small study of the UK higher education sector of university regulation of doctoral degree submission format in two disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (History and Sociology). Our evidence shows the recent and gradual adoption of a practice, previously more common in scientific disciplines, that allows the doctoral thesis to be constituted by a series of publishable papers, known by a variety of names, the most common being ‘Thesis by Published Papers’, ‘Journal Format Thesis’, ‘Alternative Format Thesis’, and ‘Integrated Thesis’. As the thesis of the Social Sciences and Humanities – itself an important institution in the academic field - begins to reflect a greater emphasis upon quantity of knowledge outputs, a tension emerges with the most central of all scientific institutions, the peer-reviewed journal paper.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Michael Gaddis
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Social Desirability Bias ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Discriminatory Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

An audit study is a specific type of field experiment primarily used to test for discriminatory behavior when survey and interview questions induce social desirability bias. In this chapter, I first review the language and definitions related to audit studies and encourage adoption of a common language. I then discuss why researchers use the audit method as well as when researchers can and should use this method. Next, I give an overview of the history of audit studies, focusing on major developments and changes in the overall body of work. Finally, I discuss the limitations of correspondence audits and provide some thoughts on future directions.

: Nations and Nationalism in British Political Studies

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles King
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Historical Phenomenon ◽  
Methodological Eclecticism ◽  
British Study

This chapter attempts to provide a ‘reader’s guide’ to nationalism in British politics. It explores some of the major trends in the British study of nationalism and relates these to broader substantive and methodological concerns within the social sciences. The chapter focuses on most important comparative and conceptual studies of nationalism as a general political and historical phenomenon, rather than research limited to particular countries or periods. The defining features of British political studies, including a respect for methodological eclecticism and historically grounded research, have made British writers uniquely attuned to the importance of nationalism at times when many of their American colleagues dismissed it as the residuum of retarded modernization. The chapter concludes with some reflections on possible future directions for research and modest proposals for thinking about the study of nationalism and its relationship to broader debates within political science.

scholarly journals The Uses and Disuses of Doctoral Degrees in the Social Sciences and the Humanities: The Case of Hungary

Triple Helix ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Annamária Inzelt ◽  
László Csonka
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Doctoral Degrees ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Phd Education ◽  
Education Process

This study offers a contribution to our existing knowledge of the impacts of Hungarian social science and humanities PhDs on the graduates themselves and on their own personal and social environments. We employ new empirical findings—gained from an e-survey and from structured interviews—in an attempt to understand and explain impacts and lacks. Empirical analysis allowed us to identify certain differences in terms of usefulness in several respects, such as the specific sector of employment, mobility or the actual level of impact. The PhD education process and the degree itself have a more positive impact on personal satisfaction and on an individual’s career than on the employing organisation. A PhD degree in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) fields seems to generate more in the way of benefit and impact in the academic field than in non-academic jobs—a difference which reflects on the academic orientation of Hungarian PhD education. All stakeholders need to devote further major efforts into developing the “dual” form of PhD education, so clearly benefitting the whole of the Hungarian economy and society.

scholarly journals Methods for Classification of Text Data: Can the Potential of Quantitative Analysis Be Applied to Qualitative Research?

Inter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-96
Author(s):  
Marina Aleksandrova
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Item Nonresponse ◽  
Text Data ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
Textual Data ◽  
Analysis Of Results

Text mining has developed rapidly in recent years. In this article we compare classification methods that are suitable for solving problems of predicting item nonresponse. The author builds reasoning about how the analysis of textual data can be implemented in a wider research field based on this material. The author considers a number of metrics adapted for textual analysis in the social sciences: accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and gives examples that can help a sociologist figure out which of them is worth paying attention depending on the task at hand (classify text data with equal accuracy, or more fully describe one of the classes of interest). The article proposes an analysis of results obtained by analyzing texts based on the materials of the European Social Survey (ESS).

scholarly journals Happiness Studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margareta Hallberg ◽  
Christopher Kullenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

This article is about the growth and establishment of the interdisciplinary research field ”Happiness Studies”. This article focuses on how research on happiness has become a quickly growing and successful field within western societies and what it says about both the social sciences and contemporary social order. The concept of co-production, as defined by Sheila Jasanoff, is used to show how science and society interact and influence each other. Hence, we show how happiness has become a significant topic for empirical studies and the way interdisciplinary research is intertwined with what is perceived as both challenging and worth striving for in society and culture.

scholarly journals Decision from Experience Behavior Modeling (DEBM): an open-source Python package for developing, evaluating, and visualizing behavioral models.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ofir Yakobi ◽  
Yefim Roth
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Parameter Estimation ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Behavior Modeling ◽  
Grid Search ◽  
Behavioral Models ◽  
The Social ◽  
Python Package

The last decade was characterized by an emphasis on enhancing reproducibility and replicability in the social sciences. To contribute to these efforts within the decision-making research field, we introduce DEBM (Decision from Experience Behavior Modeling) – an open-source Python package. The main goal of DEBM is to serve as a central colloberative pool of models and methods in the decision from experience domain. Specifically, it provides a convenient “playground” for developing models or experimenting with existing ones. DEBM includes many features such as multiprocessing, parameter estimation, visualization, and more. In this paper we cover the basic functionality of DEBM by simulating behavior using an existing model and given parameters, and recovering these parameters using grid search.

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