Owego Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 I have an undergraduate degree in sociology and am about to embark on a masters program in computer science. I like computer science but sociology (specifically population studies) remains my true passion. I want to find a way to marry the two subjects and use my computer science skills to make me a better sociologist. I've been reading up on computational sociology, but it doesn't seem as useful to population studies as it is for other sociology disciplines. There is something called Agent-Based Computational Demography, but it doesn't seem very mainstream. Any thoughts on other ways computer science can be married with population studies?
socialequity Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 I have an undergraduate degree in sociology and am about to embark on a masters program in computer science. I like computer science but sociology (specifically population studies) remains my true passion. I want to find a way to marry the two subjects and use my computer science skills to make me a better sociologist. I've been reading up on computational sociology, but it doesn't seem as useful to population studies as it is for other sociology disciplines. There is something called Agent-Based Computational Demography, but it doesn't seem very mainstream. Any thoughts on other ways computer science can be married with population studies? What would you like to do after you're done with the masters program? Here is a possible resource to get some insight: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1775257 Another insight: https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S27/92/93G66/index.xml?section=featured Pennywise and jacib 2
Owego Posted December 27, 2013 Author Posted December 27, 2013 What would you like to do after you're done with the masters program? Here is a possible resource to get some insight: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1775257 Another insight: https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S27/92/93G66/index.xml?section=featured Thanks for the resources. I'm keeping my options open about what I want to do, but a PhD in Sociology is a strong possibility.
socialequity Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 Thanks for the resources. I'm keeping my options open about what I want to do, but a PhD in Sociology is a strong possibility. That's good! Good to weigh your options. And if you went with a Ph.D., you would be more likely get funding!
cultsoc Posted December 27, 2013 Posted December 27, 2013 (edited) there's lots of new and exciting research going on in computational sociology. check out badhessian(dot)org. a number of the folks contributing to that blog are graduate soc students with comp sci backgrounds and tackle big data type research. Edited December 27, 2013 by cultsoc Pennywise 1
gilbertrollins Posted December 29, 2013 Posted December 29, 2013 Bad Hessian is good. Also take a look at Michael Macy and his lab at Cornell, Fabio Rojas at Indiana, Chris Bail at UNC, and James Evans and his lab at Chicago. Computational people are having a bit of trouble making inroads into sociology - there's a lot to get worked out. But there is sufficient excitement and useful enough results coming out of the methods that it will gain ground and likely tip into more mainstream hires and pubs. Pennywise 1
adornoscapitalistcast Posted January 9, 2014 Posted January 9, 2014 You'll have to look into Salganik at Princeton. He's got a book about methods from CS and their applications to sociology. THere's also a paper about wiki-fying survey research that I thought was pretty interesting. Evans at Chicago is the other great thinker in this area. Pennywise 1
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