{"id":3143,"date":"2015-01-04T16:12:15","date_gmt":"2015-01-04T21:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2015-01-04T16:25:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T21:25:55","slug":"methods-are-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/2015\/01\/04\/methods-are-beautiful\/","title":{"rendered":"Methods are Beautiful"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GMAC\"<\/a>Many\u00a0TSP\u00a0readers are more interested in research findings than the methodologies used to obtain them. But methods are often an important part of the story, such as new\u00a0experimental studies<\/a> that provide powerful tools for measuring discrimination. Backstage at TheSocietyPages, we’re constantly arguing about\u00a0whether a study’s methods are strong enough to support its\u00a0findings. And methods are so important that we won’t run a\u00a0piece\u00a0unless we agree the underlying research\u00a0is\u00a0methodologically sound — regardless of who produced\u00a0it or where it was published.<\/p>\n

So we’ve always wanted a\u00a0front-stage spot\u00a0on the site to geek out about methods and explore how we know what we (think we) know. That’s why we’re so\u00a0delighted to welcome Give Methods a Chance<\/a> to TSP. GMAC is hosted by Kyle Green<\/a> and Sarah Lageson<\/a>, two all-star\u00a0TSP board members, podcasters, and exceptionally creative multi-method researchers and teachers. Their first couple podcast\u00a0interviews will give you a sense of the\u00a0site’s\u00a0vision and mission: thoughtful discussions with\u00a0Deborah Carr\u00a0on\u00a0how and why we do longitudinal studies, and Francesca Polletta on systematically coding and analyzing people’s stories. Like a good research design, their interviewing approach helps render\u00a0complex ideas clear and comprehensible.<\/p>\n

These\u00a0podcasts are wonderful\u00a0for\u00a0researchers and readers eager\u00a0to learn\u00a0how first-rate scholars do their work, but they’ll be an especially useful resource for methods students and teachers. When instructors bring methodology alive for students, as Kyle\u00a0and Sarah are doing,\u00a0it has\u00a0a lasting impact on students. As a\u00a0department chair, I saw how\u00a0alumni who\u00a0pursued careers in\u00a0business, justice, or\u00a0social services routinely cited methods as the “sleeper” courses that paved the way for\u00a0their success. And we hear similar stories from students who became social scientists (like Eric Hedberg, who just sent Facebook props for teaching him paired t<\/em>-tests 15 years ago — along with his new\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0on the subject).<\/p>\n

We also think Give Methods a Chance will show how sound\u00a0methodology has far\u00a0more\u00a0to do with elegant design principles\u00a0than\u00a0technical complexity.\u00a0As Paola Antonelli<\/a> of the Museum of Modern Art puts it, good design “combines technology, cognitive\u00a0science, human need, and beauty to produce something that the world didn’t know\u00a0it was missing.\u201d As you’ll see from Give Methods a Chance<\/a>, the best\u00a0social science does precisely the same thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many\u00a0TSP\u00a0readers are more interested in research findings than the methodologies used to obtain them. But methods are often an important part of the story, such as new\u00a0experimental studies that provide powerful tools for measuring discrimination. Backstage at TheSocietyPages, we’re constantly arguing about\u00a0whether a study’s methods are strong enough to support its\u00a0findings. And methods are so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3149,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions\/3149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}