Overview

This cross-disciplinary program introduces computational approaches to social inquiry. Learners explore appropriate text or network datasets, develop an analysis pipeline, and consider the relationship between computational patterns and social explanations. Research ethics, privacy, representativeness, and algorithmic bias are part of the methodological discussion.

Learning goals and possible work

Proposed learning outcomes for this program example:

  • Connect a social question to a defensible source of computational evidence.
  • Implement a small text, network, or bibliometric analysis.
  • Explain the limits of measurement, representation, and inference.

Illustrative learning sequence

The sequence below illustrates how this program’s content can be organized. Topics, pacing, and project depth are adapted for each offering. This is not an archived record of a specific cohort’s weekly syllabus.

  1. 01Computational social science and researchable questions
  2. 02Data sources, permissions, privacy, and sampling
  3. 03Data cleaning and a reproducible workflow
  4. 04Representing text and introductory text analysis
  5. 05Language models as research tools and evaluation challenges
  6. 06Network concepts and relationship data
  7. 07Bibliometric analysis and knowledge networks
  8. 08Algorithmic bias, representativeness, and interpretation
  9. 09Completing a scoped text or network study
  10. 10Research presentation and transparent documentation

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