Data Science

Python Web APIs

February 8, 2024, 10:00am
In this workshop, we cover how to extract data from the web with APIs using Python. APIs are often official services offered by companies and other entities, which allow you to directly query their servers in order to retrieve their data. Platforms like The New York Times, Twitter and Reddit offer APIs to retrieve data.

Qualtrics Fundamentals

February 20, 2024, 10:00am
Qualtrics is a powerful online tool available to Berkeley community members that can be used for a range of data collection activities. Primarily, Qualtrics is designed to make web surveys easy to write, test, and implement, but the software can be used for data entry, training, quality control, evaluation, market research, pre/post-event feedback, and other uses with some creativity.

Measuring Migration: Old Challenges, New Opportunities

January 16, 2024
Suraj Nair
by Suraj Nair. In the 21st century, patterns of human migration are being reshaped by various forces, including economic opportunity, conflict, and anthropogenic climate change. Understanding these (and other) drivers of migration is key to designing and implementing policies which better promote human development. In this blog post, I discuss some well-known challenges in measuring migration, following which I provide a brief overview of my ongoing research demonstrating the opportunities offered by non-traditional data sources to provide new insights on migration patterns across the world.

Python Fundamentals: Parts 1-3

January 8, 2024, 9:00am
This three-part interactive workshop series is your complete introduction to programming Python for people with little or no previous programming experience. By the end of the series, you will be able to apply your knowledge of basic principles of programming and data manipulation to a real-world social science application.

Tracking Urban Expansion Through Satellite Imagery

December 12, 2023
Leïla Njee Bugha
by Leïla Njee Bugha. Among its many uses, remote sensing can prove especially useful to document changes and trends from eras or settings, where traditional sources are either inexistent or infrequently collected. This is the case when one wants to study urban expansion in sub-Saharan countries over the past 20 years. To further remedy the lack of data on land cover uses from earlier time periods, classification methods can be used as well. Using easily accessible satellite imagery from Google Earth Engine, I provide here an example combining remote sensing with classification to detect changes in the land cover in Nigeria since 2000 due to urban expansion.

The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same?

December 18, 2023
Tonya Lindsey, Ph.D.
By Tonya D. Lindsey, Ph.D. Think about how often you hear someone gripe about the deterioration of society and then blame the Internet or social media. This blog suggests that the things we are exposed to virtually are not new but instead present us with more and frequent opportunities to reflect on perennial social problems and find solutions even as we better understand ourselves as individuals in a global community.

Social Sciences D-Lab Celebrates a Decade of Innovation and Welcomes New Leadership

December 4, 2023
Claudia von Vacano
by Claudia von Vacano, Ph.D. On November 8, 2023, the Social Sciences D-Lab celebrated its 10th anniversary with the introduction of the new faculty director, Demography Professor Dennis Feehan. The event celebrated D-Lab’s accomplishment with the outgoing faculty director Sociology Professor Dave Harding. Social Sciences Dean, Raka Ray, offered warm congratulations to the leadership and staff, underscoring the importance of promoting equity in computational social sciences and the support of qualitative methods research.

From Ideas to Streamlined Research: The Benefits of Full-Cycle Methodology

December 5, 2023
Farnam Mohebi
by Farnam Mohebi. As an aspiring leading researcher, I find the full-cycle research methodology crucial for transforming initial curiosities into organized studies and research products. This approach begins with thorough observation, leads to theory and hypothesis development and experimentation, and concludes with synthesizing findings into coherent narratives. It's beneficial for researchers of all backgrounds, enhancing the depth and impact of their work. By embracing this method, researchers comprehensively understand each stage and its contribution to the broader research context and can lead the process of converting an initial unspecified research idea to a streamlined research study and product. This systematic approach is particularly effective in complex studies, fostering thorough, investigative, and innovative research processes.

From Asking Causal Questions to Making Causal Inference

December 5, 2023
Lauren Liao
by Lauren Liao. What is causality and how do we ask causal questions? It may seem like a difficult and foreign concept, but fear not, I will guide you through the basic concepts in this blog post. We will start from how to ask causal questions then more formally address how to answer these questions. You may find causality more approachable than you think. It follows the same ideas as presented by the scientific method of rigorously testing how interventions produce different outcomes in a controlled environment.

Qualtrics Fundamentals

January 9, 2024, 9:00am
Qualtrics is a powerful online tool available to Berkeley community members that can be used for a range of data collection activities. Primarily, Qualtrics is designed to make web surveys easy to write, test, and implement, but the software can be used for data entry, training, quality control, evaluation, market research, pre/post-event feedback, and other uses with some creativity.