Overview
Social science increasingly uses data that requires advanced tools and algorithms. Preparing text, audio, and video data for analysis and running those analyses involves linking contemporary computational tools with datasets and major research challenges in ways that cut across disciplines. Building bridges between data scientists who develop the tools to analyze these data and social scientists who have datasets to address research questions in unprecedented ways that could benefit from them is critical for both opening the world of these new data and refining the tools for analysis.
The Social Research with Unstructured Data working group facilitates collaborations between NLP methodology experts and domain researchers who pose significant research questions that could benefit from NLP. One of the primary working group activities is organizing a regular connection series, with presentations on works in progress, funding opportunities, and new data sources. This ongoing series, jointly sponsored by MIDAS, the AI Lab and ISR, began in Fall 2022.
The working group also organized an NLP workshop series in Fall 2022.
Past workshop series informationWorking Group Members
Danai Koutra – Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Josh Pasek – Associate Professor, Communications and Media, Political Science
Elyse Thulin – Michigan Data Science Fellow
Julia Lippman – Senior Research Specialist, Center for Political Studies
Beth Uberseder – Research Manager, MIDAS
Social Research with Unstructured Data: Connection Series
Social science increasingly uses data that requires advanced tools and algorithms. Preparing text, audio, and video data for analysis and running those analyses involves linking contemporary computational tools with datasets and major research challenges in ways that cut across disciplines. Building bridges between data scientists who develop the tools to analyze these data and social scientists who have datasets to address research questions in unprecedented ways that could benefit from them is critical for both opening the world of these new data and refining the tools for analysis.
The Social Research with Unstructured Data working group facilitates collaborations between NLP methodology experts and domain researchers who pose significant research questions that could benefit from NLP. One of the primary working group activities is organizing a regular connection series, with presentations on works in progress, funding opportunities, and new data sources. This ongoing series, jointly sponsored by MIDAS, the AI Lab and ISR, began in Fall 2022.
The working group also organized an NLP workshop series in Fall 2022. Past workshop series information is available here.
Events
Upcoming Events
Winter 2023 Term
During the Winter 2023 Term, the Social Research with Unstructured Data: Connection Series events were held from 2:00-3:30 PM in ISR 6050 (426 Thompson Street).
Fall 2023
dates and speakers – TBA
Past Events and Speakers
May 5, 2023
Z. Tuba Suzer-Gurtekin, Assistant Research Scientist of the Survey Research Center and Institute for Social Research, presenting “Explaining Consumer Expectations using Big Data”.
David Jurgens, Assistant Professor of Information & Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, discussing “Recognizing Empathy in Conversation”.
April 18, 2023
Stella Yu, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, discussing “Unsupervised Data-Driven Learning of Visual Hierarchy”.
Sara Lafia, Research Investigator, David Bleckley & Trent Alexander, Population Studies Center and Research Professor, on “Digitizing and parsing semi-structured documents from the GI Bill mortgage program”.
March 31, 2023
Dallas Card, Assistant Professor of Information, on “Measuring Language Ideology in Text Data Selection for Large Language Models”.
February 3, 2023
Walter Mebane, Professor of Political Science and Professor of Statistics, discussing “A Twitter Election Observatory Using Decahose Data”.
Viktoryia Kalesnikava and Aparna Ananthasubramaniam presenting on NLP methods focused on understanding circumstances around suicide deaths that occurred in 2020.
January 20, 2023
No presenters for this week. Elevator pitches about research, networking, and a brainstorming event to kick off the term.
December 9, 2022
Elle O’Brien, Lecturer & Research Investigator at the School of Information, discussing “Barriers to Adopting Data Science Methods for Research”.
Brady West, Research Professor in the Survey Research Center, on “Adjusting Estimated Regression Coefficients for Mismatch Error when Linking Twitter and Survey Data”.
November 11, 2022
Fred Conrad, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Survey Research Center, discussing recent work using stance detection to uncover hidden alignment between social media posts and survey responses.
Vinod Vydiswaran, Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences and the School of Information, presenting “NLP works hand-in-hand with Qualitative Research — Solutions and Pitfalls”.