Built around the entire research process with a main focus on ethics, this book equips you with scaling up your skills to successfully conduct a computation social science research project with Python.

This book explores answers to the fundamental questions driving the research, innovation and practices of the latest revolution in scientific, technological and economic development: how does data science transform existing science, technology, industry, economy, profession and education? How does one remain competitive in the data science field? What is responsible for shaping the mindset and skillset of data scientists? Data Science Thinking paints a comprehensive picture of data science as a new scientific paradigm from the scientific evolution perspective, as data science thinking from the scientific-thinking perspective, as a trans-disciplinary science from the disciplinary perspective, and as a new profession and economy from the business perspective.

The peer-reviewed contributions gathered in this book address methods, software and applications of statistics and data science in the social sciences. The data revolution in social science research has not only produced new business models, but has also provided policymakers with better decision-making support tools. In this volume, statisticians, computer scientists and experts on social research discuss the opportunities and challenges of the social data revolution in order to pave the way for addressing new research problems. The respective contributions focus on complex social systems and current methodological advances in extracting social knowledge from large data sets, as well as modern social research on human behavior and society using large data sets. Moreover, they analyze integrated systems designed to take advantage of new social data sources, and discuss quality-related issues. The papers were originally presented at the 2nd International Conference on Data Science and Social Research, held in Milan, Italy, on February 4-5, 2019.

The Handbook of Computational Social Science is a comprehensive reference source for scholars across multiple disciplines. It outlines key debates in the field, showcasing novel statistical modeling and machine learning methods, and draws from specific case studies to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges in CSS approaches. The Handbook is divided into two volumes written by outstanding, internationally renowned scholars in the field. This second volume focuses on foundations and advances in data science, statistical modeling, and machine learning. It covers a range of key issues, including the management of big data in terms of record linkage, streaming, and missing data. Machine learning, agent-based and statistical modeling, as well as data quality in relation to digital trace and textual data, as well as probability, non-probability, and crowdsourced samples represent further foci. The volume not only makes major contributions to the consolidation of this growing research field, but also encourages growth into new directions. With its broad coverage of perspectives (theoretical, methodological, computational), international scope, and interdisciplinary approach, this important resource is integral reading for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers engaging with computational methods across the social sciences, as well as those within the scientific and engineering sectors.

The Handbook of Computational Social Science is a comprehensive reference source for scholars across multiple disciplines. It outlines key debates in the field, showcasing novel statistical modeling and machine learning methods, and draws from specific case studies to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges in CSS approaches. The Handbook is divided into two volumes written by outstanding, internationally renowned scholars in the field. This first volume focuses on the scope of computational social science, ethics, and case studies. It covers a range of key issues, including open science, formal modeling, and the social and behavioral sciences. This volume explores major debates, introduces digital trace data, reviews the changing survey landscape, and presents novel examples of computational social science research on sensing social interaction, social robots, bots, sentiment, manipulation, and extremism in social media. The volume not only makes major contributions to the consolidation of this growing research field but also encourages growth in new directions. With its broad coverage of perspectives (theoretical, methodological, computational), international scope, and interdisciplinary approach, this important resource is integral reading for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers engaging with computational methods across the social sciences, as well as those within the scientifi c and engineering sectors.

The cultures of law and social science differ markedly as to the kinds of truth they pursue. Law is deductive, presenting its findings as certainties; social science is largely inductive, presenting its conclusions as subject to revision and contingency. Yet the legal community traditionally draws at will and unsystematically on the findings of social science, sometimes with unfortunate results. The authors of this study explore this issue by focusing on the manner in which the United States Supreme Court uses social science data in reaching its decisions. Concentrating on decisions involving the issues of abortion, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment, they show that the use of such data has increased over the last twenty years, but they also show that whether such data are used appears to hinge more on the liberal, conservative, or longheld positions of the judges and the types of cases involved, rather than on the objectivity or validity of the data. By offering insights into how data are used by the Supreme Court, the authors hope to show social scientists how to make their research more suitable for courtroom use and to show the legal community how such data can be used more effectively.

This book is a guide to non-academic careers for quantitative social scientists. Written by social science PhDs working in large corporations, non-profits, tech startups, and alt-academic positions in higher education, this book consists of more than a dozen chapters on various topics on finding rewarding careers outside the academy. Chapters are organized in three parts. Part I provides an introduction to the types of jobs available to social science PhDs, where those jobs can be found, and what the work looks like in those positions. Part II creates a guide for social science PhDs on how to set themselves up for such careers, including navigating the academic world of graduate school while contemplating non-academic options, and selling their academic experience in a non-academic setting. Part III offers perspectives on timelines for making non-academic career decisions, lifestyle differences between academia and non-academic jobs, and additional resources for those considering a non-academic route. Providing valuable insight on non-academic careers from those who have successfully made the transition, this volume will be an asset to graduate students, advisors, and recent PhDs, in quantitative social science.

Although major funding agencies now require social scientists to share their documented raw data, scientists have been reluctant to comply. The reasons include unwillingness to divulge all of the conditions under which the data were generated, cost in time and money, and the desire by social scientists to carry the research further themselves. Data sharing, however, promises to foster more open, cost-effective and cumulative research, and to improve the quality of methodology, data and inference. Sharing Social Science Data presents the major accomplishments of social scientists who have pioneered in data sharing, highlighting the advantages for social science. It also includes an examination of the reasons for data sharing, the specific sharing practices in various disciplines, the factors affecting the usefulness of shared data (documentation, archiving, and marketing), and individual and institutional concerns about data sharing. A timely examination, this cohesive and well written volume will interest graduate students and researchers in all areas of the social sciences. ". . .the chapters are thoughtful and well written, and they address many of the crucial issues faced by the social sciences in the 1990s. . . .anyone who wants to help shape the future of the social and behavioral sciences can benefit from giving this book at least a quick read." --Contemporary Psychology

As data is an important asset for any organization, it is essential to apply semantic technologies in data science to fulfill the need of any organization. This first volume of a two-volume handbook set provides a roadmap for new trends and future developments of data science with semantic technologies. Data Science with Semantic Technologies: New Trends and Future Developments highlights how data science enables the user to create intelligence through these technologies. In addition, this book offers the answers to various questions such as: Can semantic technologies facilitate data science? Which type of data science problems can be tackled by semantic technologies? How can data scientists benefit from these technologies? What is the role of semantic technologies in data science? What is the current progress and future of data science with semantic technologies? Which types of problems require the immediate attention of the researchers? What should be the vision 2030 for data science? This volume can serve as an important guide toward applications of data science with semantic technologies for the upcoming generation and, thus, it is a unique resource for scholars, researchers, professionals, and practitioners in this field.

This open access handbook describes foundational issues, methodological approaches and examples on how to analyse and model data using Computational Social Science (CSS) for policy support. Up to now, CSS studies have mostly developed on a small, proof-of concept, scale that prevented from unleashing its potential to provide systematic impact to the policy cycle, as well as from improving the understanding of societal problems to the definition, assessment, evaluation, and monitoring of policies. The aim of this handbook is to fill this gap by exploring ways to analyse and model data for policy support, and to advocate the adoption of CSS solutions for policy by raising awareness of existing implementations of CSS in policy-relevant fields. To this end, the book explores applications of computational methods and approaches like big data, machine learning, statistical learning, sentiment analysis, text mining, systems modelling, and network analysis to different problems in the social sciences. The book is structured into three Parts: the first chapters on foundational issues open with an exposition and description of key policymaking areas where CSS can provide insights and information. In detail, the chapters cover public policy, governance, data justice and other ethical issues. Part two consists of chapters on methodological aspects dealing with issues such as the modelling of complexity, natural language processing, validity and lack of data, and innovation in official statistics. Finally, Part three describes the application of computational methods, challenges and opportunities in various social science areas, including economics, sociology, demography, migration, climate change, epidemiology, geography, and disaster management. The target audience of the book spans from the scientific community engaged in CSS research to policymakers interested in evidence-informed policy interventions, but also includes private companies holding data that can be used to study social sciences and are interested in achieving a policy impact.