The University of Michigan Cases: Social Scientific Studies of Diversity and Fairness

Videos are ubiquitous and have significantly impacted our communication and information consumption. The video, as data, has helped researchers understand how human interactions and relationships develop and change, and how patterns emerge in various circumstances and interpretations. Given the expanding relevance of video data in social science and medical research and the constant introduction of new formats and sources, it is critical to be able to conduct a thorough analysis of this multimodal data. However, the few methodologies (e.g., Actor Network Theory, Picture Theory) appropriate to video data analysis lack detailed guidelines on how to select, organize, and examine the multimodality of video data. This article aims to overcome this practice or methodological gap by proposing and demonstrating the Visual-Verbal Video Analysis (VVVA) method, a six-step framework adapted from Multimodal Theory and Visual Grounded Theory for organizing and evaluating video material according to the following dimensions: general characteristics of the video; multimodal characteristics; visual characteristics; characteristics of primary and secondary characters; and content and compositional characteristics including the transmission of messages, emotions, and discourses. This article also looks at the theories underlying video data analysis, focusing on Grounded Theory and Multimodality Theory, and provides multiple examples of coding and interpretive processes to deepen understanding and comprehension. The VVVA data extraction matrices provide a systematic coding approach for verbal, visual, and textual content, allowing for structured, coherent extraction that supports the discovery of patterns and links among disparate types of information. The VVVA method may be applied to a wide range of video data in social and medical sciences that vary in length and originate from different sources (e.g., open access web sources, pre-recorded organizational videos and recordings created for research purposes). The VVVA method effectively tracks the ongoing research process, and can manage data sets of various sizes.

Chaucerian Obscenity in the Court of Public Opinion

Sharing qualitative research data, improving data literacy and establishing national data services

The ease of deployment of digital technologies and the Internet of Things gives us the opportunity to carry out large-scale social studies and to collect vast amounts of data from our cities. In this paper, we investigate a novel way of analyzing data from social sciences studies by employing machine learning and data science techniques. This enables us to maximize the insight gained from this type of studies by fusing both objective (sensor information) and subjective data (direct input from the users). The pilot study is concerned with better understanding the interactions between citizens and urban green spaces. A field experiment was carried out in Sheffield, U.K., involving 1870 participants for two different time periods (7 and 30 days). With the help of a smartphone app, both objective and subjective data were collected. Location tracking was recorded as people entered any of the publicly accessible green spaces. This was complemented by textual and photographic information that users could insert spontaneously or when prompted (when entering a green space). By employing data science and machine learning techniques, we identify the main features observed by the citizens through both text and images. Furthermore, we analyze the time spent by people in parks as well as the top interaction areas. This paper allows us to gain an overview of certain patterns and the behavior of the citizens within their surroundings and it proves the capabilities of integrating technology into large-scale social studies.

Integrating social and hydrologic sciences for understanding water systems is challenged by data management complexities. Contemporary mandates for open science and data sharing necessitate better understanding of the implications of social science data types. In the context of an interdisciplinary water research program that endeavors to integrate and share social science and biophysical data, we highlight the array of data types and issues associated with social water science. We present a multi‐dimensional classification of social water science data that provides insight into data management considerations for each data type. Recommendations for cyberinfrastructure, planning, and policy are offered.

Recent international trends demonstrate multilevel efforts to ‘open’ science across its whole ecosystem and lifecycle – from capturing research data through to publishing results. In social sciences, the publication process is already largely ‘open access’ or transitioning toward it. However, opening research data raises specific issues and concerns for the field. Here, we set out to understand what open research data mean for social sciences, and if, why, and how data should be made open. We argue that while the ecosystem of actors, infrastructures, standards, and principles is starting to take structure in France and abroad, there are several barriers to the process of opening data in social sciences: (1) a misperception of the motivations for opening data (i.e., focusing on risks of exercising control over researchers and their academic freedom and overlooking motivations like data patrimonialization, pooling and potential synergies, trust-building, and broader engagement), (2) a system based on competition and the dominant process of ‘starification’ in research, (3) a lack of resources and capabilities that might further exacerbate inequalities among genders, communities, institutions, and countries, and (4) the potential risks inherent to opening data and the specific constraints posed by social science data. Against this backdrop, we investigate several ways forward to operationalize not only FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) but also CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles for open data in social sciences, before going on to present M@n@gement’s new open data policy.

The research on big data in the social sciences and its impact has received much interest from practitioners and policy-makers. Data science can help find the answer to research questions in the social sciences because data is the lifeblood of the decision-making process; it is also the raw material for the accountability process. New data sources, new technologies, and new analytical approaches can make evidence-based decision-making more efficient and flexible. The analysis of this data plays a large role in discussing the challenges facing our societies today. This research provides an analysis of the six factors that influence happiness—GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom, corruption, and generosity. In this research, the World Happiness Report was studied in 2019, where its survey of the state of global happiness ranks 156 countries through their citizens’ happiness. Depending on six factors. This study focuses on analyzing factors that affect happiness and satisfaction with life.

Joseph Alois Schumpeter worked at Chernivtsi city for almost two academic years (1909-1911). During this time, he wrote one of his major works, The Theory of Economic Development, a series of articles that were important for his subsequent economic, sociological and political science research. So, regarding his famous work “Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy” (1942) he spoke out that his ideas were founded back in 1910-1911 during discussions of lectures about the state and society. On the basis of university lectures Schumpeter's brochure “How does one study social science” was prepared and published. Social science, it says, is a doctrine of social events, the science of what unites the state and society, determines the behaviour and fate of social groups and individuals, in short, the science of social being and the formation of human. Schumpeter emphasizes that there is no single social science. There are only separate social sciences, which neither form a single organic whole nor agree with each other at all. Schumpeter believed that political economy was the oldest and better developed social science. Further, the brochure highlights sociology (the doctrine of the relationship between individuals and groups of individuals in the social whole), the doctrine of religion, the doctrine of law, folk psychology. Describing the essence of the social sciences, Schumpeter noticed that they were doing the same thing as the natural ones. They collect factual material and try to find certain patterns in it. The study of social sciences, according to Schumpeter, can contribute to seeing things in the right proportion, distinguishing the essential from the non-essential, and the causes from the consequences. Keywords: social science; the essence of social science; sociology; the doctrine of law; the value of the social sciences; the study of the social sciences

Introduction: the Sociology of Medical Science and Technology

Since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Americans have viewed school integration as a central tenet of the Black civil rights movement. Yet school integration was not the only—or even always the dominant—civil rights strategy. At times, African Americans also fought for separate, Black-controlled schools dedicated to racial uplift, community empowerment, and self-determination. An African American Dilemma offers a social history of debates over school integration within northern Black communities from the 1840s to the present. This broad geographical and temporal focus reveals that northern Black educational activists vacillated between a preference for either school integration or separation during specific eras. However, there was never a consensus, so the dissent, debate, and counter-narratives that pushed families to consider a fuller range of educational reforms are also highlighted here. Presenting a sweeping historical analysis that covers the entire history of public education in the North, the book broadens our understanding of school integration by highlighting the diverse perspectives of Black students, parents, teachers, and community leaders all committed to improving public education. It finds that Black school integrationists and separatists have worked together in a dynamic tension that fueled effective strategies for educational reform and the Black civil rights movement. The book draws on an enormous range of archival data including the black press, school board records, social science studies, the papers of civil rights activists, and court cases.

Alarmist narratives about online misinformation continue to gain traction despite evidence that its prevalence and impact are overstated. Drawing on research examining the use of big data in social science and reception studies, we identify six misconceptions about misinformation and highlight the conceptual and methodological challenges they raise. The first set of misconceptions concerns the prevalence and circulation of misinformation. First, scientists focus on social media because it is methodologically convenient, but misinformation is not just a social media problem. Second, the internet is not rife with misinformation or news, but with memes and entertaining content. Third, falsehoods do not spread faster than the truth; how we define (mis)information influences our results and their practical implications. The second set of misconceptions concerns the impact and the reception of misinformation. Fourth, people do not believe everything they see on the internet: the sheer volume of engagement should not be conflated with belief. Fifth, people are more likely to be uninformed than misinformed; surveys overestimate misperceptions and say little about the causal influence of misinformation. Sixth, the influence of misinformation on people’s behavior is overblown as misinformation often “preaches to the choir.” To appropriately understand and fight misinformation, future research needs to address these challenges.

The article provides an overview of the development of big data technologies in terms of the potential of their use in the study of social processes. The development of these technologies makes it necessary to transform the usual methods of scientific research and revise the models of social reality. To meet the demands of the modern world, the researcher needs to adopt digital tools. However, the relevance of the stated topic is not limited solely to the possibilities, since the use of digital technologies in the study of society is associated with many risks that can lead to negative consequences. Speaking about the sphere of big data, it is important to remember that one of the main risks is the violation of the rights and freedoms of other people, therefore, a researcher of social processes must understand and assess the consequences of his actions, guided, first of all, by ethical norms that allow the use of new technologies for the public. the benefits and suppression of the threats of a technogenic society. The authors propose to consider the complex of risks associated with the use of big data technologies, and also present their own approach to their systematization and classification.

The article describes my efforts as a public anthropologist/journalist in addressing the official culture of silence in Michigan's colleges, universities and towns regarding Dow Chemical's extensive environmental health pollution and corruption. These sites include Midland, Michigan, home of Dow's international headquarters, and my own residence of East Lansing, site of Michigan State University, the state's largest higher education institution. Both are beneficiaries of Dow largess or philanthropy. This relative silence - which extends to nearly all state media and universities - is remarkable considering the fact that, unlike turn of the century company towns, Dow Chemical operates in a civic culture where thousands of highly educated professionals work in education, government and communications. Democracy is degraded by processes of accumulation, ideology, fear, suppression, conformity, specialization and, importantly, the self-censorship of professionals and academics. With Eriksen (2006) and Hale (2008) I argue for an engaged anthropology where anthropologists step out of their academic cocoons to embrace the local public. This is 'not just a matter of … reaching broader publics with a message from social science … it is a way of doing social science' (Hale 2008: xvii). This case study illustrates how an anthropologist engaged contradictions in order to show how Michigan universities are becoming veritable knowledge factories in service to Eisenhower's feared military-industrial-academic complex.

For the fourth time in nine years the Supreme Court last Term had the opportunity to review an unrenowned out controversial doctrine of federal court abstention. The Court, however, has again declined to consider expressly the propriety of the doctrine, and has thus given its tacit imprimatur to the principle that federal district courts may, in their discretion, abstain from exercising properly invoked jurisdiction for reasons of judicial economy or “wise judicial administration.” The quiet, unheralded development of this so-called “fourth branch” of abstention doctrine belies its importance. In recent years, as federal court dockets have become more congested, scholars, attorneys, and judicial administrators have proposed a variety of methods to relieve this judicial burden.4 The most notorious recommendation, of course, has been the proposal to eliminate diversity jurisdiction altogether, thereby permitting federal courts to hear only those cases that involve questions of federal law. This controversial proposal periodically reappears in Congress, only to be stalled in endless debate. As docket pressures have increased and Congress has not alleviated the burdens on the federal judiciary, a significant number of federal courts have seized the initiative to pare their dockets by exploiting a previously undeveloped branch of the abstention doctrine. This branch of the doctrine permits a federal court in its discretion to stay or dismiss a justiciable controversy where there is a parallel state court proceeding in which the dispute can be resolved satisfactorily. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the principle that a district court may refuse to hear a properly instituted case if “exceptional circumstances” exist that warrant federal deference to a concurrent state court adjudication. The Court has indicated its approval of this rule as a palliative means of avoiding duplicative litigation and furthering the interests of judicial economy and sound judicial administration. Invocation of the fourth branch of abstention is usually accompanied by imposing phrases such as “federalism,” “comity,” “avoidance of duplicative litigation,” “judicial efficiency,” “judicial economy,” and “wise judicial administration.” Increasingly crowded federal dockets make it difficult to argue against measures calculated to enhance sound judicial administration. Notwithstanding this meritorious purpose, the fourth branch of abstention is an invidious encroachment on the constitutional and statutory rights of federal litigants. If the courts desire to reduce their dockets, they should persuade Congress to abolish diversity jurisdiction or enact other palliative measures. The Supreme Court is not empowered to sanction the fabrication of an artificial abstention doctrine as a means of docket clearing. Even worse, the Supreme Court sullies its prestige by camouflaging this shabby doctrine with seemingly principled rationales and lofty slogans. The fourth branch of abstention is merely a doctrine of judicial convenience that has no place in American jurisprudence; it is a sickly branch that should be expeditiously pruned from the otherwise healthy abstention tree.The first part of this article briefly surveys the development of the fourth branch of the abstention doctrine and the serious problems posed by its application. Part II discusses the four cases in which the Supreme Court has considered the propriety of the fourth branch. Included in this part is a detailed presentation of the exceptional circumstances test. Part III describes the various interpretations given by the lower federal courts to the exceptional circumstances test and each of its factors. This part also examines a number of factors grafted onto the test by lower federal courts. Finally, part IV argues that regardless of the basis for federal jurisdiction, abstention for reasons of judicial administration is an unacceptable abdication of the federal judicial power.

Data in social sciences are typically non-normally distributed and characterized by heavy tails. However, most widely used methods in social sciences are still based on the analyses of sample means and sample covariances. While these conventional methods continue to be used to address new substantive issues, conclusions reached can be inaccurate or misleading. Although there is no 'best method' in practice, robust methods that consider the distribution of the data can perform substantially better than the conventional methods. This article gives an overview of robust procedures, emphasizing a few that have been repeatedly shown to work well for models that are widely used in social and behavioural sciences. Real data examples show how to use the robust methods for latent variable models and for moderated mediation analysis when a regression model contains categorical covariates and product terms. Results and logical analyses indicate that robust methods yield more efficient parameter estimates, more reliable model evaluation, more reliable model/data diagnostics, and more trustworthy conclusions when conducting replication studies. R and SAS programs are provided for routine applications of the recommended robust method.