Teaching Data Analysis &
Computational Methods to Social Scientists
Alex Hanna, Sociology
March 19, 2015
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
The problem
How teach data analysis and literacy to social science students?
How to teach computational methods to social scientists wanting to start in big data projects?
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
The problem
Social scientists use SPSS or STATA
But not R, Python, Hadoop
Literacy important for both new and veteran scholars
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Old tasks
Data munging
Regression
Graphing
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Old tasks
New tasks
Data munging
Regression
Graphing
Data munging
Web scraping
Large-scale networks
Automated text analysis
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Pedagogical approach
Meet people where they are at
How can you get them involved in a meaningful way?
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Pedagogical approach
Meet people where they are at
How can you get them involved in a meaningful way?
Provide a lab setting for working through problems
Guide people along with hands-on workshops
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Pedagogical approach
Meet people where they are at
How can you get them involved in a meaningful way?
Provide a lab setting for working through problems
Guide people along with hands-on workshops
Make code and instructions integrated and available on the web
Markdown, IPython/Project Jupyter notebooks
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Example 1:
Introduction to RStudio
Goal: Traditional tasks
Data handling
Plotting
Univariate and bivariate analysis
Audience: Introductory methods course
Undergrad sociology students
Some with STATA experience
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
RStudio:
Using Examples
Code blocks and interface
Allowing for “do-it-yourself” puzzle after initial instructions
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Example 2:
Blogclub “tworkshops”
Goal: From zero to Hadoop for social media data
Basic UNIX terminal, Python
Various types of analysis
Audience: Mix of ~10 faculty and PhD students in SJMC
Labs taking place over timespan of a year
http://alex-hanna.com/tworkshops
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Tworkshop syllabus
1. Twitter API and an introduction to the terminal
2. More terminal and your first Python script
3. Basic Python
4. Python modules and I/O
5. Hadoop and MapReduce
6. Basic sentiment analysis
7. Network analysis
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Example 3:
HSE Summer School
Goal: Python coding and network data collection
Audience: ~30 PhD students
10-day Summer School for Internet Research at Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
HSE Summer School: Three labs
Conceptual, showing data
Python (tweepy)
Python (scrapy)
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Takeaway
Provide tasks which students think of in their own research
Make it hands-on from the outset
Think of as a stepping stone to more activities
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com
Thanks!
ahanna@ssc.wisc.edu
@alexhanna // alex-hanna.com