Use of statistical measurement systems to study human behavior in a social environment
Social statistics is the use ofstatistical measurement systems to studyhuman behavior in a social environment. This can be accomplished throughpolling a group of people, evaluating a subset of data obtained about a group of people, or by observation and statistical analysis of a set of data that relates to people and their behaviors.
Diagram illustratingpath analysis: causal paths link endogenous variables and exogenous variables.Cluster analysis showing two main clustersA classification performed using theperceptron algorithm
Methods and concepts used in quantitative social sciences include:[9]
The use of statistics has become so widespread in the social sciences that many universities such asHarvard, have developed institutes focusing on "quantitative social science." Harvard's Institute for Quantitative Social Science focuses mainly on fields likepolitical science that incorporate the advanced causal statistical models thatBayesian methods provide. However, some experts in causality feel that these claims ofcausal statistics are overstated.[13][14] There is a debate regarding the uses and value of statistical methods in social science, especially inpolitical science, with some statisticians questioning practices such asdata dredging that can lead to unreliable policy conclusions of political partisans who overestimate the interpretive power that non-robust statistical methods such as simple and multiplelinear regression allow. Indeed, an important axiom that social scientists cite, but often forget, is that "correlation does not imply causation."
S. Kolenikov, D. Steinley, L. Thombs (2010),Statistics in the Social Sciences: Current Methodological Developments, Wiley{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Blalock, Hubert M (1979),Social Statistics, New York: McGraw-Hill,ISBN0-07-005752-4
Irvine, John, Miles, Ian, Evans, Jeff, (editors), "Demystifying Social Statistics ", London : Pluto Press, 1979.ISBN0-86104-069-4
^abcHoffman, Frederick (1908). "Problems of Social Statistics and Social Research".Publications of the American Statistical Association.11 (82):105–132.doi:10.2307/2276101.JSTOR2276101.
^Willcox, Walter (1908). "The Need of Social Statistics as an Aid to the Courts".Publications of the American Statistical Association.13 (82).
^Mitchell, Wesley (1919). "Statistics and Government".Publications of the American Statistical Association.16 (125):223–235.doi:10.2307/2965000.JSTOR2965000.
^Pearl, Judea 2001, Bayesianism and Causality, or, Why I am only a Half-Bayesian, Foundations of Bayesianism, Kluwer Applied Logic Series, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol 24, D. Cornfield and J. Williamson (Eds.) 19-36.
