A space to explore, share and shape the issues facing social scientists
How do firms transform big data and why do firms differ in their abilities to create value from big data? in a research article that tries to find answers to these questions. Jing Zeng and Keith Glaister find “it is not the data itself, or individual data scientists, that generate value creation opportunities. Rather, value creation occurs through the process of data management.”
College professors are always looking for ways to help their students feel more engaged and invested in course material. Storytelling gives context to facts and complex concepts that could otherwise be difficult to grasp. This in turn engages students in the curriculum and improves their retention of the material.
Kenneth Jost has been watching the U.S. Supreme Court for decades, and producing annual yearbook looking at the term just passed. We asked him to reflect on his career and his subject. In this interview, originally posted in February, he predicted that “the fight over any Trump nominee would be a no-holds-barred battle.”
The underlying conceit of economist and data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s work, whether in his new book, on the op-ed pages of the New York Times or in the classroom, or on campus, is that people’s search activity on a search engine reveals much more about them than do surveys, polls, or other social media
In ‘A Survival Kit for Doctoral Students and Their Supervisors: Traveling the Landscape of Research,’ Lene Tanggaard and Charlotte Wegener offer a hands-on guide for both students and supervisors that seeks to engage with the ‘actual and messy practices of doctoral training,’ says Sroyon Mukherjee.
‘By looking more closely at how fake news moves and mobilizes people, we can develop a richer picture of not only how much it circulates where, but also why it circulates and how it resonates amongst different publics.’
In Anthropologists in the Stock Exchange: A Financial History of Victorian Science, Marc Flandreau traces the interwoven development of anthropology, global finance and scientific study, placing all three at the heart of late-19th-century British imperialism.
In Metric Power, David Beer examines the intensifying role that metrics play in our everyday lives, from healthcare provision to our interactions with friends and family, within the context of the so-termed data revolution. This is a book that illustrates our growing implication in, and arguable acquiescence to, an increasingly quantified world, but, Thomas Christie Williams asks, where do we locate resistance?
Reviewer Sarah Lewthwaite finds that in ‘100 Activities for Teaching Research Methods,’ Catherine Dawson offers an important and welcome addition to the emerging literature on the practical aspects of teaching research methods.
Altmetrics: A Practical Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Academics, edited by Andy Tattersall, provides an overview of altmetrics and new methods of scholarly communication and how they can be applied successfully to provide evidence of scholarly contribution and improve how research is disseminated. The book, which draws on the expertise of leading figures in the field, strongly encourages library and information science (LIS) professionals to get involved with altmetrics to meet the evolving needs of the research community, finds Nathalie Cornée.
“Cold War Anthropology: The CIA, The Pentagon and the Growth of Dual Use Anthropology” offers a historical account of how the US military industrial complex has had a profound influence on the development of US anthropology during the Cold War and into the present day. Reviewer Joseph Anderson sees the book as a dense but readable outline that confronts how ethnographic research in the field has been shaped by wider political-economic force.
What are the new challenges facing political science research at the beginning of the 21st century? Political Science in Motion, edited by Ramona Coman and Jean-Frédéric Morin, explores this question through a collection of essays that traces the major trends in contemporary political science research since the end of the Cold War.
