Author Archives: russellschutt
So much to do, So little time to do it
I often feel this way as I plan my research methods class and think about activities to assign. Of course, I’ve sort of created the problem in Investigating the Social World by including far more exercises and other activities for … Continue reading
Crossing the Political Line?
In the Big Data world, a small experiment can have a big impact. Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Jonathan Rodden, and Dartmouth’s Kyle Dropp designed a Big Data experiment to test whether information on the ideological preferences of … Continue reading
Race in Mexico
Slavery was abolished in Mexico in 1829, long before abolition in the United States during the Civil War. Since then, race has often been overlooked as a basis of social differentiation in Mexico and it has not been measured with … Continue reading
Political Polling by Microsoft?
When Microsoft talks, the market listens. But what about when Cortana calls you on your cellphone to ask you some questions in a survey? Will you listen? “Cortana” is the name Microsoft has given to a new digital assistant it … Continue reading
Still Lying With Statistics?
Sixty years after the publication of Darrell Huff’s 1954 classic, How to Lie With Statistics, it might seem that no one could imagine getting away with any such skullduggery any more. But wait…there must be something causing the dramatic recent … Continue reading
Privacy? Are We Losing It?
Privacy is precious for many reasons, but it is rapidly being lost in online interaction. Houston journalist Kate Murphy points out in a New York Times article that research shows that privacy is associated with higher self-esteem and creativity, as … Continue reading
A new social world in the 21st century?
A recent Boston Globe article on “online personas” was motivated by a tragic case of child neglect in Blackstone, Massachusetts. A woman who was ostensibly living with two school aged children and their father in a small home, while maintaining a cheery … Continue reading
Domestic Violence
It can be hard to grasp the extent of domestic violence. The latest Bureau of Justice Statistics report estimated that domestic violence accounted for 21% of all violent crime in the U.S. from 2003–12. You can read more about it … Continue reading
Big Data is Hard Work
Although a Google Ngram like that in Chapter 14 (Exhibit 14.11) provides a quick way to discover the potential for Big Data, getting all that data ready for analysis involves a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Research conducted … Continue reading
Internet and Society
Lee Rainie and the Pew Research Center Internet Project add regularly to our knowledge about the ways that the Internet is changing our social world. There are many examples in Chapter 1 of Investigating of their findings. Now, Rainie and … Continue reading
Researching in a Social World 