Tag: sociology
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Invitation to Commit Scientific Fraud
I’m probably just naive and am definitely far too idealistic, but the email I just received crushed my spirit. I need to share it. Here’s the email with contact information removed but the website still intact so everyone can see who is doing this: Dear Professor, I’m XXXXX, a researcher at Well-online, the flagship editorial…
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Qualitative Analysis Using LLMs on a Local Machine
While most of my research is quantitatively oriented, I am a mixed-methods researcher and periodically use qualitative sociological methods for research projects (typically interviews). I have used a variety of software packages to analyze qualitative data over the years, from NVIVO to Taguette to an abandoned R package to just coding text in word processing…
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Prague Day 7 – Church Visit, Recovery, and Dinner
As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m getting older. The 9-mile hike I did the day before to the summit of Snezka left me tired and sore. Luckily, with complete autonomy over my schedule, I could take the day off. And, so I did. As a sociologist of religion, I do try…
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Sociologist: It’s called ‘culture war’ for a reason
On May 2nd, 2022, the Haven, Kansas city council voted to remove decals from police cars that said “In God We Trust.” They did so in a sensible effort to recognize the separation of church and state. Sixteen days later, after an intense backlash from conservative citizens in Haven, the city council reversed that decision.…
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Does religion really improve educational outcomes?
Horwitz makes the claim that religiosity is beneficial for working-class young men when it comes to their educational attainment. The claims in the article are clear illustrations of two logical fallacies – faulty generalization and cherry-picking.
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an interesting conception of love
During my spring break I went to the Cherokee Nation to volunteer with students. During that trip we had several people come talk to us about Cherokee culture. One of those speakers said something that stuck with me. He explained that there is no word in Cherokee that translates into the word “love.” He said…
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jury duty and bias
I wrote this while waiting to serve on a jury selection panel: I’m sitting in the courthouse just outside a courtroom waiting to be part of a jury panel to determine whether I will be selected to serve on an actual jury. As I sit here, litigants walk back and forth and in and out…
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What if I’m gay?
I don’t get out much. It’s kind of sad, especially considering I’m a sociologist (meaning I study people), but I attribute it to the fact that Debi and I are both workaholics and introverted. Ergo, being around large groups of people is pretty rare for me. I mention that to introduce a couple of incidents…
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Something Interesting
In case you were wondering what effect Obama’s health care legislation (Affordable Care Act) will have on Medicare (’cause I’m sure everyone was wondering this), I have some visual aids for you. I create these for my Introduction to Sociology class for the chapter on aging. But the change was so dramatic I figured others…