[Air-l] Technical competence
Paula
pmg at gmx.co.uk
Tue Jun 7 14:24:20 PDT 2005
For once we more or less agree! ;-)
Ellis Godard wrote:
>Just because some folks are applying advanced techniques to data,
>doesn't mean that anyone (much less everyone) else needs to understand
>those techniques. Frequently, methods employed in the social sciences
>surpass the theoretical maturity available. Perhaps I'm archaic to think
>that techniques should test ideas, rather than generate them. But even
>factor analysis and stepwise regression give me pause - not because I
>lack the technical competence, but because sampling deviations may
>generate findings that won't hold beyond the available sample.
>
>-eg
>
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
>>[mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Cox
>>Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 4:23 AM
>>To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>>Subject: RE: [Air-l] Technical competence
>>
>>
>>The need for knowing about computer technologies in
>>communications research is becoming greater than the
>>rudiments of web composition and traffic analysis. Already,
>>artificial intelligence is being applied to content analysis,
>>as in the case of a number of papers published on the Enron
>>email corpus. The skill sets involved fall outside those
>>typically found among communications researchers. A principle
>>researcher in one of these Enron studies is Andrew McCallum
>>at UMass, who is a physicist iirc. Another physicist, Andrew
>>Smith, is responsible for the Leximancer tool mentioned
>>earlier by Thomas Koenig. Less abstract tools like structural
>>equation modeling are common now, and require competence in
>>computer technologies beyond SPSS.
>>
>>Whether these technologies should be incorporated in
>>curricula is maybe not the right question, as they are not
>>the types of skills one gets in a course or two. Perhaps the
>>field should recruit from among information science and
>>computer science undergrads who come equipped with the skills
>>already.
>>
>>
>
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