Ethical Data Mining and Social Science Data Exploration and Description

2013 ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
Arabi U.
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Teen Pregnancy ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Technology Innovations ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Impact

As data mining is the process of discovering significant, valuable, and interesting relationships in large and complex volumes of data (especially in data-enriched areas of socio-economic domains and in this socio-economic aspect of a society), data mining applications essentially act as effective instruments for providing support for measuring socio-economic pattern in a society. Although social and ethical matters are nowadays concerns to the society of which people are the only elements, in the days of technology innovations, computers are being manipulated with programs to act more like people, and eventually several social and ethical matters come into focus related to computer programming, or artificial intelligence. Researchers from nearly every social science discipline have found themselves in the position of simultaneously evaluating many questions, testing many hypotheses, or comparing many point estimates. In program evaluation, this arises, for instance, when comparing the impact of several different policy interventions; comparing the status of social indicators like test scores, poverty rates, teen pregnancy rates etc. across multiple schools, states, or countries; examining whether treatment effects vary meaningfully across different sub groups of the population; or examining the impact of a program on many different outcomes. Hence, the relevance of positioning of this chapter in a book of ethical data mining applications for socio-economic development of a community, society, or country fits well as the ethical data mining in social science research is crucial as such data information is highly useful in testing many of the hypotheses of economic or socio-economic in nature.

scholarly journals On the Discursive and Methodological Categorisation of Islam and Muslims in the West: Ontological and Epistemological Considerations

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Fethi Mansouri
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The West ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
Muslims In The West ◽  
The Impact

This article reflects on the ethical and epistemological challenges facing researchers engaged in contemporary studies of Islam and Muslims in the West. Particularly, it focuses on the impact of the constructions and categorisations of Muslims and Islam in research. To do this, it considers the entwinement of public discourses and the development of research agendas and projects. To examine this complex and enmeshed process, this article explores ideological, discursive and epistemological approaches that it argues researchers need to consider. In invoking these three approaches alongside an analysis of a collection of recent research, this article contends that questions of race, religion and politics have been deployed to reinforce, rather than challenge, certain essentialist/orientalist representations of Islam and Muslims in the West in research. As this article shows, this practice is increasingly threatening to compromise, in a Habermasian communicative sense (i.e., the opportunity to speak and be heard for all concerned), the ethical and epistemological underpinnings of social science research with its emphasis on inclusion and respect.

scholarly journals Uncomfortable Decisions

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Bloom ◽  
Laurie Paul
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Career Change ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Social Science Data ◽  
Personal Decision ◽  
Algorithmic Process

Some decision-making processes are uncomfortable. Many of us do not like to make significant decisions, such as whether to have a child, solely based on social science research. We do not like to choose randomly, even in cases where flipping a coin is plainly the wisest choice. We are often reluctant to defer to another person, even if we believe that the other person is wiser, and have similar reservations about appealing to powerful algorithms. And, while we are comfortable with considering and weighing different options, there is something strange about deciding solely on a purely algorithmic process, even one that takes place in our own heads.What is the source of our discomfort? We do not present a decisive theory here—and, indeed, the authors have clashing views over some of these issues—but we lay out the arguments for two (consistent) explanations. The first is that such impersonal decision-making processes are felt to be a threat to our autonomy. In all of the examples above, it is not you who is making the decision, it is someone or something else. This is to be contrasted with personal decision-making, where, to put it colloquially, you “own” your decision, though of course you may be informed by social science data, recommendations of others, and so on. A second possibility is that such impersonal decision-making processes are not seen as authentic, where authentic decision making is one in which you intentionally and knowledgably choose an option in a way that is “true to yourself.” Such decision making can be particularly important in contexts where one is making a life-changing decision of great import, such as the choice to emigrate, start a family, or embark on a major career change.

scholarly journals A New Model for Industry–Academic Partnerships

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary King ◽  
Nathaniel Persily
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Consumer Privacy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Charitable Foundations ◽  
Academic Partnerships ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe mission of the social sciences is to understand and ameliorate society’s greatest challenges. The data held by private companies, collected for different purposes, hold vast potential to further this mission. Yet, because of consumer privacy, trade secrets, proprietary content, and political sensitivities, these datasets are often inaccessible to scholars. We propose a novel organizational model to address these problems. We also report on the first partnership under this model, to study the incendiary issues surrounding the impact of social media on elections and democracy: Facebook provides (privacy-preserving) data access; eight ideologically and substantively diverse charitable foundations provide initial funding; an organization of academics we created, Social Science One, leads the project; and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard and the Social Science Research Council provide logistical help.

Quality of Publication in International Context

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Lalitha ◽  
Amrita Ghatak
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Comparative Performance ◽  
International Context ◽  
Global Context ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk

This chapter analyses the status of India’s social science research (SSR) publications in global context. The outputs chosen to assess India’s comparative performance is the articles written and published by Indians in the field of social sciences either individually or in collaboration with researchers outside India. The study analysed journal articles published during 2008–14 drawn from Scopus database to examine the publication status of India in social sciences in an international context. The study found that the six-year period, 2009–14, India consistently ranks among the top 15 countries in the world. Discipline-wise analysis shows that the share of pure social science articles was significant but is declining. Of the total 30938 articles, 28 per cent are published with international collaboration. The USA and the UK contribute 52 per cent of total international collaborations.

The Impact of Race on Environmental Quality: An Empirical and Theoretical Discussion

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Pinderhughes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Pollution Problem ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The toxic pollution problem is composed of several interrelated parts which are involved in the process of production, use, and disposal of chemicals and products considered necessary for society. Each day, millions of pounds of toxic chemicals are used, stored, disposed of, and transported in and out of communities throughout the United States. Most Americans assume that pollution and other environmental hazards are problems faced equally by everyone in our society. But a growing body of research shows that the most common victims of environmental hazards and pollution are minorities and the poor. Disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards is part of the complex cycle of discrimination and deprivation faced by minorities in the United States. This article examines social science empirical research on the relationship between race, class, and the distribution of environmental hazards and the theoretical perspectives which have emerged to explain environmental inequities. The article also discusses the link between the environmental justice movement, which seeks to confront the causes and consequences of environmental inequities, and social science research on environmental inequity.

COVID-19 and Social Science Research— Beyond Disruption and Digital Divide, a Digital Turn

Social Change ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-522
Author(s):  
Ghazala Jamil
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
The Impact

This comment takes a bird’s eye view of the problems and changes in social sciences caused, amplified or accelerated by the pandemic. It further problematises the formulation of the impact of COVID-19 beyond the disruption-and-digital-divide framing to argue that the nature of certain realities has been digitalising already for a considerable amount of time in more complicated and non-linear ways than the criticism of ‘online education’ has captured. The digital transformation of social realities calls for an acknowledgement of a comprehensive digital turn in social science research.

scholarly journals Research Impact Through Matchmaking (RITM): Why and How to Connect Researchers and Practitioners

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Seth Levine
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Impact ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Organizational Diversity ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Evidence

ABSTRACTResearchers and practitioners increasingly want to learn from one another and work together to solve problems. This article presents results from a new evidence-based approach for connecting them, called Research Impact Through Matchmaking (RITM). This method leverages research on organizational diversity to initiate new relationships between diverse people. The article describes the method and presents data from 37 new connections between practitioners working at nonprofits and social scientists. To my knowledge, this is the first dataset describing reasons why a large variety of nonprofit practitioners value social science research. I also document the impact of these matches. Overall, this article provides actionable guidance for those who want to initiate their own new connections (i.e., match themselves) and/or to broker new connections between others.

scholarly journals Review of social science research on the impact of countermeasures against influence operations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Courchesne ◽  
Julia Ilhardt ◽  
Jacob N. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
The Impact

Despite ongoing discussion of the need for increased regulation and oversight of social media, as well as debate over the extent to which the platforms themselves should be responsible for containing misinformation, there is little consensus on which interventions work to address the problem of influence operations and disinformation campaigns. To provide policymakers and scholars a baseline on academic evidence about the efficacy of countermeasures, the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project conducted a systematic review of research articles that aimed to estimate the impact of interventions that could reduce the impact of misinformation.

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