Methods Bites

Using Geospatial Data in R

2021-06-11 17 min read tutorials [Stefan Jünger Denis Cohen]

The use of geospatial data – data that can be mapped using geographic information systems (GIS) – has become increasingly widespread in the social sciences. Applications not only extend to the analysis of classical geographical entities (e.g., policy diffusion across spatially proximate countries) but increasingly also to analyses of micro-level data, including respondent information from georeferenced surveys or user trace data from Tweets. In this Methods Bites Tutorial, Stefan Jünger (GESIS) and Denis Cohen (MZES) show how to retrieve, manage, and visualize geospatial data in R. Continue reading

regplane3D: Plotting 3D regression predictions in R

2021-03-19 19 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen Nick Baumann]

The interpretation and presentation of empirical findings from (generalized) linear models has come a long way in the social sciences. Researchers increasingly visualize substantively meaningful quantities of interest such as expected values, first differences, and average marginal effects and consistently include uncertainty estimates in the form of analytical, simulation-based, or bootstrapped confidence intervals. However, existing interpretations and presentations are typically restricted to bivariate patterns which show (changes in) expected values as function of a single predictor, holding all else constant. This can be a significant limitation, especially when substantive inquiries focus on the interplay of two variables in predicting an outcome. To interpret and visualize such applications effectively, researchers must extend their presentations to include a third dimension. In this Methods Bites Tutorial, Denis Cohen and Nick Baumann introduce and showcase the regplane3D package, a tool for plotting 3D regression predictions in R. Continue reading

Teaching Quantitative Social Science in Times of COVID-19: How to Generate and Distribute Individualized Exams with R and RMarkdown

2021-02-09 24 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen Marcel Neunhoeffer Oliver Rittmann]

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced universities around the globe to switch from on-site teaching to online teaching. As a consequence, quantitative social science classes that previously relied on closed-book in-class exams now have to administer open-book take-home exams. A downside of this switch is that it becomes impossible to monitor compliance with no-collaboration rules. Individualizing exam prompts can prevent students from sharing digital answers while taking the exam. Yet generating, distributing, and correcting individualized exams can be highly time consuming unless the procedure is automated. In this Methods Bites Tutorial, Denis Cohen, Marcel Neunhoeffer and Oliver Rittmann present an approach for the automated generation of individualized exam prompts and solution sheets, along with their automated distribution via email, using R and RMarkdown. Continue reading

Efficient Data Management in R

2020-02-18 36 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen Cosima Meyer Marcel Neunhoeffer Oliver Rittmann]

The software environment R is widely used for data analysis and data visualization in the social sciences and beyond. Additionally, it is becoming increasingly popular as a tool for data and file management. Focusing on these latter aspects, this Methods Bites Tutorial by Marcel Neunhoeffer, Oliver Rittmann and our team members Denis Cohen and Cosima Meyer illustrates the workflow and best practices for efficient data management in R. Continue reading

Applied Bayesian Statistics Using Stan and R

2020-01-30 64 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen]

Whether researchers occasionally turn to Bayesian statistical methods out of convenience or whether they firmly subscribe to the Bayesian paradigm for philosophical reasons: The use of Bayesian statistics in the social sciences is becoming increasingly widespread. However, seemingly high entry costs still keep many applied researchers from embracing Bayesian methods. Next to a lack of familiarity with the underlying conceptual foundations, the need to implement statistical models using specific programming languages remains one of the biggest hurdles. In this Methods Bites Tutorial, Denis Cohen provides an applied introduction to Stan, a platform for statistical modeling and Bayesian statistical inference. Continue reading

Studying Politics on and with Wikipedia

2019-08-26 25 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen Nick Baumann Simon Munzert]

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia, together with its sibling, the collaboratively edited knowledge base Wikidata, provides incredibly rich yet largely untapped sources for political research. In this Methods Bites Tutorial, Denis Cohen and Nick Baumann offer a hands-on recap of Simon Munzert’s (Hertie School of Governance) workshop materials to show how these platforms can inform research on public attention dynamics, policies, political and other events, political elites, and parties, among other things. Continue reading

Collecting and Analyzing Twitter Data Using R

2019-07-15 15 min read tutorials [Denis Cohen Simon Kühne]

How do you access Twitter’s API, collect a stream of tweets, and analyze the retrieved data? Which potentials, challenges, and limitations for social scientific research come along with using Twitter data? This Methods Bites Tutorial by Denis Cohen, based on a workshop by Simon Kühne (Bielefeld University) in the MZES Social Science Data Lab in Spring 2019, aims to tackle these questions. Continue reading