nominal bleg

I need some available data that allows a simple model with a nominal outcome.  Ideally, there would be 4 categories (less ideally 5, less still 3), and it would be not quasi-ordinal.  The model will probably need to include a binary explanatory variable, a categorical explanatory variable, and a continuous or quasi-continuous variable.  But the […]

the future of academic freedom!

Inside High Ed has a story on a Florida state university that will not have tenure.  What struck me about the article was not that the university won’t have tenure, but the argument for why this is a good thing: “We don’t want the [professors we hire] to be worrying within the first five or […]

ncaa women’s lacrosse championship predictions

My predictions for the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship.  

tess

Incidentally, the TESS project that I’ve co-run for nearly five years is currently in another round of funding from NSF, with Jamie Druckman, a political scientist here at Northwestern, as the new co-PI.  (You might note that, as a subtle shout-out to our home institution, the main color on the TESS website is now purple.) […]

flawed science moves good science

I was fortunate to attend a talk by an economist visiting our campus last week and, during lunch, she mentioned the embarrassment that the Reinhart and Rogoff scandal caused the economics profession, including being flogged by Stephen Colbert. I then explained the embarrassment in our fair discipline, the Regnerus affair, of which she had not […]

congress and science funding

In the latest battle in the war on science, the Chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has asked the NSF to explain the peer review process that lead to five grant applications being funded. This time the attack hits a little closer to home for sociologists. Although the focus seems to […]

conflicts

Over at OrgTheory, Philip Cohen asked about norms of retraction when a reviewer has an undisclosed conflict. Here is a test case. Walter Schumm (Kansas State) is the author of an article in Social Science Research defending the New Family Structures Survey (NFSS) and the Regnerus article that uses the data. Dr. Schumm was also paid by the Witherspoon Foundation to consult on the, […]

interfolio bleg

So, Interfolio: does it work?  Specifically, I mean the part of the service where job candidates sign up for the service, faculty members (or those in their employ) upload the letters, and then the service handles delivering letters of recommendation to the jobs for which the candidates are applying, regardless of whether the job wants […]

too much sociology…?

The magazine n+1 recently published an article about the rise and inefficacy of critical sociology. It’s a strange piece which, i think, accords sociology way too much influence. but it does have some salient points, particularly relating to the balance between structure and agency in sociological writing. The editors write:  ”In spite of the strenuous […]

on procrastination

I was talking with my emeritus colleague, Alan Silver, this weekend in the office, lamenting the fact that I was so behind on so many things and yet managed to nonetheless still procrastinate. He shared this Samuel Johnson essay with me, from the Rambler. I thought others might enjoy it. 

the poetry in sociology

We argue for a sociology of health, illness, and disease. Few empirical tests exist to address this important issue. Procedures used in studies may blur or ignore status distinctions.

just as well

orgtheory has a recent thread on the Regnerus episode.  Sally Hillsman, ASA president, has a letter to the editor in the Washington Post that includes (HT: Phil Cohen): …How well do children turn out when they are raised by gay parents?  The answer is: They turn out just as well as children raised by heterosexual […]

turnaround

I knew that AER compensated their editors, but I didn’t realize they also paid their reviewers.  From the American Economic Review webpage: The AER pays $100.00 for timely reports. Payment is by check only. Checks are issued four times a year, approximately six weeks after the end of each calendar quarter. Of course, I don’t know if […]

pressing asa question

Dearest Scatterbrains – I’ve been asked to help construct the ASA restaurant guide this year. I’m rather excited about the chance to write a snarky guide (“Are you sitting at the bar? No? Get up and move to the bar…”*). But in all seriousness, are there any elements you’d like to see in the dining […]

session organizer bleg

I’m late doing my ASA session organizing work this year. Ugh. I still the hate the interface. It’s a Saturday, I can’t ask ASA. So questions for experienced Scatterplotters. (1) Before sending a paper off to another session, I’d like to know whether that session organizer is already done. If they are, there is no […]