We really need to educate people on statistical reasoning and mixed methods research...A RANT THREAD (1/?)
Okay, so, cards on the table, I am published as a mixed methods, social science researcher and have helped co-author multiple reports on LGBTQIA+ public mental health and community experiences. Let's just say, I ain't no amateur on this topic.
So, something that drives me nuts in conversations about trans healthcare and especially trans youth gender-affirming care is that people don't understand basic statistical reasoning.
One of the parts of this that clicked for me today on why so many arguments frustrate me is that people don't actually understand how sampling works and how we reason from a specific sample in a study....
New publication: "Climate of a cave laboratory representative for rock art caves in the Vézère area (south-west France)"
Leye Cave (Dordogne, France) is a laboratory cave in the Vézère area, a region that contains some of the most famous rock art caves in the world such as Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume and Combarelles, and is listed as Human World Heritage by UNESCO. Leye Cave was selected because it is representative of paint... #Physics#SocialSciencehttps://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.52.2.2442
Researchers analyzed thousands of English-language songs released between 1970 and 2020. After examining a data set of 353,320 songs, they concluded that lyrics have become more personal, straightforward, and charged with negative emotions. One cultural psychologist posits that the simplification of lyrics may be down to the excess of choice provided by apps and streaming platforms. “When people are faced with lots and lots of choices, they tend to prefer things that are easier to process and more straightforward,” Michael Varnum told Scientific American. Here's more, from Smithsonian Magazine.
#Trans identities are missing from our #datasets, meaning that their experiences in a number of domains cannot be studied quantitatively. The way in which many of our datasets are constructed reinforces a cis-normative understanding of the world, where people are pushed into the false #binary of describing themselves as either male or female. #SocialScience#LGBTQ#sflorg https://www.sflorg.com/2024/03/ss03292401.html
Positionality statements should not force us to ‘out’ ourselves | Nature Human Behaviour https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01812-5 ($) #SocialScience It is a dilemma: For the sake of contextualizing the analysis, one would need to read a positionality statement. For the sake of protecting vulnerable authors, a positionality statement should not be written. 1/ @academicchatter
"This policy statement affirms APA’s support for unobstructed access to healthcare and evidence-based clinical care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults.
Furthermore, this policy statement addresses the spread of misleading and unfounded narratives that mischaracterize gender dysphoria and affirming care, likely resulting in further stigmatization, marginalization, and lack of access to psychological and medical supports for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals."
Our paper just won "Best Paper Engaged in Quantitative Description on an Under-studied Phenomenon" from JQDM for 2023! 🏆 I'm no longer in #ComputationalSocialScience work, but it's still dear to my heart, and this paper was a blast :) Spoiler: We learned a whole lot about #kpop
"Fame and Ultrafame: Measuring and comparing daily levels of ‘being talked about’ for United States’ presidents, their rivals, God, countries, and K-pop." https://doi.org/10.51685/jqd.2022.004
We need to spend more time socializing because screens & social media have left us lonely & selfish. Volunteering, attending classes & events, & hobby, social, belief... groups will foster new relationships & maybe some newfound "fun".
"Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out. Too much aloneness is creating a crisis of social fitness."
Folks, an open call: I am #hiring TWO Principal Research #Scientists to join the Developer Success Lab!
One is a scientist with statistics/psychometrics focus (R is our ecosystem here), and one is an intervention science focus; both are fully remote roles working directly with me, our current Principal Scientist, and our brand-new Principal Dev Experience Engineer on our public-facing empirical research mission 🙌
My social #class is a bit difficult to pin down. I don't have enough money or an impressive enough CV to count as middle class, but I probably talk too much like a middle class person and generally come across as too much of a middle class person to count as working class or underclass. #musings#sociology#SocialScience
I'm thinking about how to experimentally test potential effects of social media on populations. Has anybody ever made a non-federating mastodon server, invited some volunteers as users and then experimentally tested if their opinions on topics change if you push or suppress corresponding hastags? With control groups and everything. I couldn't find any papers on that so far.
And then the next question would be the ethics of the whole thing lol
Is it valid to say 40% of American police officers perpetrate domestic violence?
After half an hour digging through empirical #research I think I can confidently say "no." Why? Because we have no real idea how much DV is perpetrated by cops. Because nobody can really study it with solid methods. Because (IMO, anyway) a lot of scholars are kind of scared of #cops .
One guy testified for Congress in 1991, and he gets cited a lot, but his #ResearchMethods were not perfect. Then the rate of good research on this went down for the next 30 years.
Lots of opinions, "perceptions of...", etc., but `` numbers? I'm currently not finding any I trust a whole lot. One lit review (2016) found estimates of #DomesticViolence rates from 5% to 40%. Another article just said "Probably about the same as the general public," after clearly misreading a couple of previous estimates.
Anyway, nobody knows how much domestic violence police commit, and it sort of feels like the police want it to stay that way.
The Diversity Institute at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is seeking applications for postdocs and junior faculty working on #race and ethnicity for an interdisciplinary summer program. The fellowship covers tuition, lodging, travel, and food. Deadline January 8. Pass it along!
We are hiring!
Assistant Professor – Science and Technology Studies (71102)
Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies
Pratt Institute: School of Liberal Arts and Sciences https://apply.interfolio.com/130757
The Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies seeks applicants for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor. @Sociology#CulturalStudies#SocialScience#STS
And FT & PT faculty at Pratt are Unionized (UFCT Local 1460)!