Reddit mentions: The best social sciences research books

A good resource for you might be Pollock's Companion to Political Analysis. It's political science examples, but it goes through basic analysis (describing data, regression, t-tests, etc) and is very easy and clear to understand. I already knew stata before being introduced to the workbook but (nerd alert) I found it fun to work through the workbook. Yes, I did the workbook for fun (and because it is used in a class I am TA'ing and I did not want to be unprepared). The workbook is available on Amazon

In reading your original post, it seems that you may also be looking for original empirical research articles where the code is presented in the methods and the data is available so that you can run the same code and view the same results. That may be harder to find, because usually the process is described without the code (e.g., "The regression model was estimated using Stata 11.0 SE..."). For articles that use publicly available data sets, I'm sure you could read those articles, download the data they used, and replicate the results by looking up the code.

There are some articles that do provide the code that are intended to be instructive in nature. For example, there is a great article by Singer (1998) which presents how to use SAS to generate multilevel models. Those might be more helpful as you find particular methodologies you are interested in, but as far as learning the basics (how to use stata) the UCLA website/workbooks like Pollock might be more helpful for now.

>You introduced me to the concept of presentational versus participatory art, and I've since shared this idea with others! THanks!

I'm really glad. It's such a simple idea, yet it reveals so much.

>What is it about modern capitalism that shuts so many of us down?

It's difficult for me to give a short answer on this one.

In a nutshell, austerity. People don't have the resources to maintain themselves because of economic policies and business practices that disenfranchise the working class. As /u/HadMatter217 and /u/chunter16 pointed out, work and careerism now permeates our private and social lives. There's this notion that every hour of our day and every thing we do should be geared toward making money, or at least some abstract notion of entrepreneurialism. Hobbies can wait until after you have that CS career.

But I want to dig a little deeper. It's easy to gripe and not be substantial, but the problems we're dealing with are deeply rooted. Read the Wikipedia entry on post-Fordism for a summary of the current model of production, particularly the part about the change from Fordism to post-Fordism. Basically, Fordism was the old style of organizing labor into specialized, standardized (Taylorist) routines, as in factory jobs from the first half of the 20th century. The idea here is economy of scale: churning out a lot of the same product. Meanwhile, due to a strong labor union presence (a large, homogenized work force is easily unionized) to balance wages and profits and the Keynesian policies prevalent in the US, Canada, the UK and so forth, workers were generally taken care of. It was certainly easier to leave your work at work back in the 1950s, especially compared to now.

I'm not saying Fordism was perfect or anything. To the contrary: it fell out of favor because it's unsustainable (and because of financial crises brought on by the US Federal Reserve's move toward fiat currency in 1971 and the 1973 OPEC oil embargo). Mind you, the system that has come to replace it is also unsustainable. Remember that the post-war period was one of US expansionism, and that tendency has only increased in the era of neoliberalism. Those factory jobs have been moved to countries where capitalists can exploit labor without dealing with those pesky regulations and paying fractions of what Western workers demand. (See "global labor arbitrage".)

Post-Fordism places emphasis on flexibility and economies of scope. Thing is, it doesn't do away with any of the problems that create economic inequalities and market crashes in the first place. Furthermore, these newly ineffective ways of dealing with catastrophic problems are deeply politicized. As Mike Featherstone says in the preface to the second edition of Consumer Culture and Postmodernism:

>The promise of consumer culture is central to the expansion of the new Asian economies, in particular China and India, which have staved off the possibility of a severe global recession over the last decade. Yet, this expansion of consumer culture means more goods, more air travel, more waste, pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. This dimension of the politics of consumption pushes consumer culture onto the international political agenda, with various national politicians seeking to engage in a tit-for-tat blame-game, or to deny the problem exists. Consumer culture, then is difficult to relinquish or scale down as it has becomes both a major source of industrial production and employment. In addition it is a key mode of legitimation, a visible sign of the economic success and standing of a nation-state. Curbing consumption is not a popular option which means politicians, seek out ‘technological fix’ solutions which will allow the economy to proceed at full speed, but somehow clean up or recycle pollution and waste. Hence, the interest in the development of nanotechnology and other new technologies which will allegedly produce waste-eating organisms, along with the interest in more efficient forms of power such as the hydrogen engine, or nuclear fusion energy. If consumer culture is central to the contemporary neo-liberal increasingly globally integrated economies of nation-states, and politicians’ electoral success depends upon economic growth, to seek to constrain consumption becomes the unpopular and potentially unelectable option. (xvi-xvii)

---

And then this question...

>And what light might be at the end of the tunnel? (What is the way out, if you can think of any?)

If nothing else, we can raise our consciousness. Be aware of the patterns so that when the opportunity presents itself we can recognize and change them. Be proactive on a social and political level. I'll have to add to this later, or we can PM or something, otherwise I'll never finish this comment.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto

The opening essay of this short read is a condemnation of traditional schooling techniques---and it's also the speech he delivered when he (again) won the NY Teacher of the Year award. Gatto gets at the heart of why public schools consistently produce pencil pushers, not leaders. Every teacher should read this book.

How to Survive in Your Native Land by James Herndon

If Dumbing Us Down is the manifesto in favor of a more liberal pedagogy, Herdon's book is a memoir of someone trying to put that pedagogy in action. It's also a simple, beautiful easy to read book, the kind that is so good it reminds us just how good a book can be. I've read the teaching memoir that made Jonahton Kozol famous, this one is better.

The Montessori Method by Maria Montessori

In the early 1900s, Maria Montessori taught literacy to children that society had otherwise assumed were unreachable. She did this by using the scientific method to study each child's learning style. Some of what she introduced has been widely incorporated (like child-sized furniture) and some of it seems great but unworkable in overcrowded schools. The bottom line is that the Montessori method was one of the first pedagogical techniques that was backed by real results: both in test scores and in growing kids that thrive on learning and participation.

"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum

While not precisely a book on how to teach, this book is incredibly helpful to any teacher working with a diverse student population, or one where the race they are teaching differs from their own. It explains the process that white, black, and children of other races go through in identifying themselves as part of a particular race. In the US, race is possibly the most taboo subject, so it is rare to find a book this honest and straightforward on a subject most educators try not to talk about at all. I highly recommend this book.

If there is any chance you will be teaching history, definitely read:

Lies My Teacher Told Me and A People's History of the United States (the latter book is a classic and, personally, changed my life).

Also recommend: The Multi-player Classroom by Lee Sheldon and Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Finally, anyone who plans to teach math should read this essay, "Lockhart's Lament" [PDF at the bottom of the page].

PS, I was tempted to use Amazon affiliate links, but my conscious wouldn't let me.

Hi there,

Glad to hear you are interested! There are many places to start, but based on your interests I would highly recommend investigating Agent Based Social Simulation, and more generally Agent Based Modelling (ABM).

There are plenty of other areas in the broad field of computational sociology, but ABM is quite an exciting paradigm.

Joshua Epstein has been working in this field for decades, and has published widely cited work in ABM for social science. See for example:
http://www.amazon.com/Generative-Social-Science-Agent-Based-Computational/dp/0691125473

This text by Gilbert and Troitzsch is also used quite a lot in undergrad and postgrad studies: http://www.amazon.com/Simulation-Social-Scientist-Nigel-Gilbert/dp/0335216005/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425271219&sr=1-2

I have posted this in the thread so others might have a chance to investigate this literature, but please also feel free to PM if you have any specific ideas or questions.

Hey there! I know you asked for online but the lists below are everything you probably need, in terms of policy 101:

Books
Thomas Birkland - "An Introduction to the Policy Process"
Dipak Gupta - "Analyzing Public Policy"
Thomas Dye - "Understanding Public Policy"

Blogs/Podcasts
Council on Foreign Relations - "The World Next Week"
NPR- "Planet Money"
Economistsview

Research Institutions
Brookings
Pew
RAND Corp

Those books are solid. The blogs are great at making succinct points and summarize current events well. The research places offer great objective research, and they produce research summaries that help provide key takeaways.

1 book by far is Andy Kirk’s. Data Visualisation: A Handbook for Data Driven Design https://www.amazon.com/dp/1526468921/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rjx3DbDVRPFDN

It’s very broad and accessible yet substantial. That’s the book I recommend to anyone who need to read just one book.

2 is RJ Andrews book Info We Trust: How to Inspire the World with Data https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119483891/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gmx3Db0FDG9DC.

This is a wonderful book that I read as an ode to visualization as a medium. It’s more artistic than Andy’s book both in its topic and its execution.

3 book depends on your specific interest. Dashboards/tableau? https://www.amazon.com/big-book-dashboard/s?k=big+book+of+dashboard.

Data art? https://www.amazon.com/dear-data-book/s?k=dear+data+book

Data journalism/ storytelling? Data-Driven Storytelling (AK Peters Visualization Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CCZPKV3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Msx3DbF1GZMG8

Science of visualization? https://www.amazon.com/Information-Visualization-Perception-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0123814642

Visualization from an academic point of view? https://www.amazon.com/Visualization-Analysis-Design-AK-Peters/dp/1466508914

D3js? https://www.amazon.com/Interactive-Data-Visualization-Web-Introduction/dp/1449339735

I have read a LOT of methods texts. I think that if you need a simple intro then you can't go wrong with Alan Bryman's Social Science Research: http://www.amazon.com/Social-Research-Methods-Alan-Bryman/dp/0199588058/ref=lp_B001ITTVK2_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335069341&sr=1-1

It really covers all of the basics in a clear and concise way that is accessible but detailed enough to be of use to researchers and postgrads as well.

I would recommend that you all read a set chapter each week/meeting and then discuss it when you meet. That makes you more of a facilitator and takes some of the pressure off as well as getting people to engage with the material more.

I really enjoyed "Teaching College"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCXF8JC

​

Also "What the best college teachers do" (which was mentioned)

What many don't realize about surveys is there is a ton of research that has gone into finding out how to get the best data. This research spans incentives, wording, timing, visual design, etc. Here are some resources that are must reads for anyone trying to legitimately gather survey data: Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys, Survey Methodology, & Survey Research Methods.

There isn't really any solution you can do for this problem.

If you don't trust what the media tells you, that's a good start. It would be easier to just let the scientists do their thing and sort it out amongst themselves. But it is now a real problem when people cannot always trust the word of scientists themselves. Yet people can't do the research and experiments for themselves because we have day jobs and our own lives to lead, plus IP laws and scientific equipment costs tend to be chilling and prohibitive respectively.

This wasn't a problem until science became pre-emptively politicised.
The solution is for politicians and corporate sponsors to spend more time and money on science to allow the scientific method to run its course, instead of biasing the results and taking action on the first theory that anyone imagines.

I don't see there is much that us lay people can do about it.

EDIT:
This is a good book related to the topic: Sorry, Wrong Number! by John Brignell.

I think it could be interesting for you to check out the Critical Realist school of the philosophy of science. It has primarily (but not exclusively) influenced the various social sciences and there emerged as a powerful alternative to empiricist/positivist and interpretive approaches to research.

Andres Colliers book Critical Realism is a good introduction to the central ideas. You could then continue on with Andrew Sayers Method in Social Science.

Also check out this short paper on how a researcher can analyze data with a critical realist methodology. It also provides a summary for some of the basic concepts of CR: http://www.academia.edu/1255275/In_Search_of_Mechanisms._Conducting_a_Critical_Realist_Data_Analysis

I got this study guide for my specific test. There are a few different social studies tests, so make sure you get the right one. It covered everything, I knew exactly what to expect, and I got a 175. A general knowledge isn't going to cut it. They ask for specific dates and names, and a solid understanding of complex concepts. You'll want a study guide for sure.

> this vague sensationalism is helping nobody.

I wanted to respond to this, specifically. I presented a simplified version of exactly why it's important for people to start with anecdotes. I hear you when you ask for evidence, but there's a general misconception that evidence is the first step of remedying a systematic problem, which child abuse most certainly is.

Wood can't speak out specifically because of the informal boundaries that are drawn, especially in the film industry. What he can do is raise awareness.

Awareness is an important step of improving a flawed system. Currently, there's a distinct lack of awareness as to just how pervasive childhood sexual abuse is in Hollywood, among other places. Once the informal boundaries that maintain silence start to fade, you'll start to find more and more legally viable evidence.

If you're interested, I encourage you to check out Social Problems by Joel Best. It's a little text-booky, but it effectively communicates some of the broader theories of constructing social problems. I also encourage you to read up on Social Deviance, my area of focus. It's a fascinating field which examines stigmatization and formal vs. informal social control.

I just got Narrative in Social Work Practice and really like it so far:

https://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Social-Work-Practice-Possibility/dp/023117361X

This is the textbook if anyone was interested https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199588058/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_asp_joyED.063DVJW

As a PS, this is what i mean when those experts are quacks. For example, here is a highly recommended textbook used in the social sciences. It's by Alan Bryman, who is, per the book review (4.6 out of 5 stars) " to Research Methods as Paganini to the violin". It contains a section "Feminism and qualitative research", which harbors such gems as:

• Quantitative research is often viewed as incompatible with feminism for the following reasons:
  
  It then lists some reasons:
  
  
• The criteria of valid knowledge associated with quantitative research are ones that turn women, when they are focus of research, into objects. This means that women are again subject to exploitation, in that knowledge and experience are extracted from them with nothing in return, even when the research is conducted by women
  
• The emphasis on controlling variables further exacerbates the last problem, and indeed the very idea of control is viewed as a masculine approach
  
• It is sometimes suggested that the quest for universal laws is inconsistent with feminism's emphasis on the situated nature of reality
  
• quantitative research suppresses the voices of women either by ignoring them or by submerging them in a torrent of facts and statistics.
  
  https://imgoat.com/uploads/f39f8317fb/60050.jpg
  
  And there you have it. Control variables --a fundamental of scientific research --are incompatible with feminism, because control variables are a masculine construct. But hey, the 'experts' in gender studies aren't quacks for eschewing empirical science in favor of ideology .... rather, I'm an extremist for dismissing them, because I question their integrity and commitment to reality and objective science. Smash the cis-hetero-patriarchy; fuck science.

Need this book: $10

https://www.amazon.com/Investigating-Social-World-Practice-Research/dp/1506361196/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1538509619

https://www.amazon.ca/Health-Promotion-Canada-3rd-Perspectives/dp/1551304090

https://www.amazon.com/Biostatistics-Biological-Health-Sciences-2nd/dp/0134039017

https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Nutshell-Australia-Healthcare-Medical/dp/0070278431/

https://www.amazon.ca/Discovering-Qualitative-Methods-Ethnography-Interviews/dp/0199349622

https://www.amazon.ca/Cognitive-Psychology-Laboratory-Kathleen-Galotti/dp/0176440658

Do you have a source on that? Where is this from?

e: Seems to be from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Research-Methods-Alan-Bryman/dp/0199588058

I need these textbooks:

https://www.amazon.com/Research-Methods-Administrators-Elizabethann-OSullivan-ebook/dp/B01LYQE9MP/

https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Statistics-Public-Managers-Analysts-ebook/dp/B07D516P2L/

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Management-Public-Profit-Organizations-ebook/dp/B01B6E7IS0/

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

It's this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Social-Research-Methods-Alan-Bryman/dp/0199588058

It won't be long before we're all living in Lean-To's at this rate.

SPEZ: This is being taught in High School and University

SOURCE: Social Research Methods by Alan Bryman
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199588058/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_asp_joyED.063DVJW

Supposedly from this book, but I can't verify:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199588058/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_asp_joyED.063DVJW

Archives for the links in comments:

• By DooDooDoodle (en.wikipedia.org): http://archive.fo/je1J6
  
• By DooDooDoodle (reason.com): http://archive.fo/l6uBg
  
• By DooDooDoodle (heradventure.com): http://archive.fo/FZdHG
  
• By DooDooDoodle (sciencemag.org): http://archive.fo/QwcBi
  
• By ScatterYouMonsters (reddit.com): http://archive.fo/FIWKs
  
• By DooDooDoodle (heritage.org): http://archive.fo/keneD
  
• By DooDooDoodle (amazon.co.uk): http://archive.fo/0Ksqy
  
• By nybbas (jamanetwork.com): http://archive.fo/AOMew
  
• By DooDooDoodle (amazon.co.uk): http://archive.fo/0Ksqy
  
• By Kildigs (theguardian.com): http://archive.fo/RzwPh
  
• By fourredfruitstea (amazon.co.uk): http://archive.fo/qLwfl
  
• By AntonioOfVenice (nymag.com): http://archive.fo/xR2dl
  
• By garbagetime95 (harrisjonesanthropology.com): http://archive.fo/SyLZF
  
• By boommicfucker (en.wikipedia.org): http://archive.fo/HrpkJ
  
• By red_dinner (en.wikipedia.org): http://archive.fo/s7CrY
  
  ----
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I am seeing 10 new copies and 20 used copies:
https://www.amazon.com/Research-Design-Qualitative-Quantitative-Approaches/dp/1452226091/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Check out Longitudinal Data Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences Using R

Social Research Methods by Alan Bryman

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199588058/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_asp_joyED.063DVJW

This is a handy summary of the latest approaches to surveying people and businesses.

https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Phone-Mail-Mixed-Mode-Surveys/dp/1118456149/

http://www.amazon.com/Tides-Consent-Opinion-American-Politics/dp/0521601177

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo13948250.html

http://www.jstor.org/stable/586586?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1965236

http://www.amazon.com/Campaigns-Matter-Contemporary-American-Politics/dp/0803973454