PRS: Practicing Research Skills
Computational Approaches
in Political and Social
Sciences
Week 1A: Introduction to the course. Mon 3 June
by Diliara Valeeva and Eelke Heemskerk
Diliara Valeeva
Eelke Heemskerk
Course on Canvas: https://canvas.uva.nl/courses/9873
Plan for today
1. What is computational pol & soc science?
2. Structure of the course
3. Group projects
4. Writing a research proposal
1. What is computational political & social science?*
* CPS and CSS
Computational political and social science explores
human behavior and relationships,
using computational approaches
and large datasets
Main question:
What is CPS and CSS?
* In this course, we will answer this question using computational approaches
2. Structure of the course
4 research steps = 4 weeks
Week 1. Exploring the subject
Week 2. Data gathering and preparation
Week 3. Data analysis
Week 4. Reflection and presentation
4 research steps = 4 weeks
Week 1. Exploring the subject => Project proposal (25%)
Week 2. Data gathering and preparation => Data portfolio
Week 3. Data analysis = > Results (25%)
Week 4. Reflection and presentation => Group presentation (25%) and Individual reflection (25%)
Project Proposal (25%)
- Review of the relevant literature
- Stating a research question
- Formulating hypotheses
- Describing data sources
- Describing methods
Data Portfolio
- Overview of the dataset
- Basic descriptive information
- Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the dataset
Data Analysis (25%)
- Description of methods
- Description of the results
- Interpretation and meaning of the results
Group presentation (25%)
- Introduction to the topic
- Stating the research question
- Description of the data and methods
- Main findings
Individual Reflection (25%)
- The quality of the gathered data and of the analysis
- The adequateness of chosen methods
- Options for future improvement
- The experience of working in groups
- Learn how to conduct a full research cycle
- Learn how to analyze the data
- Learn how to present your results
- Practice group work
Main goals
Meeting Formats
- Very few lectures
- Skills Tutorials
- Project Meetups
Plan for Week 1
Mon 3 June: Introduction to the topic
=> Preliminary decision about the group project
Wed 5 June: Introduction to data and methods
=> Final decision about the group project
Fri 7 June: Skills tutorial
=> Writing a research proposal
3. Group projects
Datasets
1. Presentations at IC2S2 (2015-2018)
Source of the dataset: https://github.com/ibsmirnov/css
Datasets
1. Presentations at IC2S2 (2015-2018)
2. Twitter data
Title Text
Methods
- Content Analysis
- Network Analysis
Project 1.
Past & Present
Project 2.
Success
Project 3.
Neighbors
Project 4.
Key players
What is CPS and CSS?
Project 1. Past and Present
Questions:
-- What do CSS scientists study?
-- How does it change over time?
Data: text of presentation titles
Methods:
-
Content analysis of the most often used terms in titles
-
Comparing changes in topics over time
Project 2. Success
Methods:
-
content analysis of word used in the titles
-
comparing the topics presented as talks, posters or keynote talks
Questions:
- Which topics are popular in CSS?
- Why are some papers accepted as talks while others as posters?
Data: Text of presentation titles
Project 3. Neighbors
Methods:
-
Content analysis of tweets about CSS and other fields
-
Analyzing the popularity of CSS-related tweets over time
Questions:
- How is CSS related to other fields?
- What do people write about CSS and other related fields?
Data: Twitter data
Project 4. Key players
Methods:
-- Content analysis of tweets / presentation titles
-- Analyzing the most popular presenters
Questions:
-- Who are the users writing about CSS online?
-- Who are the most popular authors at IC2S2?
-- What do they write about/work on?
Data: Twitter data / presentation titles
Project 1.
Past & Present
Project 2.
Success
Project 3.
Neighbors
Project 4.
Key players
What is CPS and CSS?
4. Research Proposal
The structure
- Review of the relevant literature
- Stating a research question
- Formulating hypotheses
- Describing data sources
- Describing methods
The format
- Submitted by each group
- No more than 1500 words
- Deadline: Tuesday 11 June at 17:00
Plan for Week 1
Mon 3 June: Introduction to the topic
=> Preliminary decision about the group project
Wed 5 June: Introduction to data and methods
=> Final decision about the group project
Fri 7 June: Skills tutorial
=> Writing a research proposal (deadline Tue 11 June)