{"title":"Review of \"The New Symbiosis, by John G. Kemeny\", Dartmouth College, 1977","authors":"Lorraine Borman","doi":"10.1145/1103299.1103304","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103299.1103304","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this book is \"to provide the simplest possible introduction to the use of the computer in performing statistical analyses.\" An introduction to three computer packages (SPSS, SAS, and BMD) is provided for \"students at all levels who have some knowledge of statistics.\" The book makes no pretense of being a statistics text (although an excellent bibliography is provided at the end of Ch. 5).","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"59 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1978-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114707108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of \"Using the Computer in The Social Sciences: A Nontechnical Approach, by Ronn J. Hy\", Elsevier, 1977","authors":"J. Sonquist","doi":"10.1145/1103299.1103302","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103299.1103302","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this volume is \"to introduce the main components of a computer, the principal statistical packages used by social scientists , and some elementary techniques employed in the writing of a research report.\" The au-thor's prospective readers are those college students for whom other introductory research books are too complex. The book is put forth for use as a supplementary text for a wide variety of social science courses and has as its emphasis \"helping the reader understand and use the computer in order to write a research re-port\". Appendices are included which deal with card punching, coding data, and footnote form. The book ends with a glossary, selected bibliography , and an index. The idea is a nice one, to provide something really simple to deal with the whole area of quantitative research methods, computers and statistics for those students at the very beginning of learning. Unfortunately, the author succeeds hardly at all in meeting his objectives. If he had omitted his section on research report writing, perhaps he would have had enough space in his chosen 150-odd pages to do an adequate job on his other two topics. But, to do so would be to scrap the only part of the book that is useful. Though the preface talks about introducing \"packages\"~only SPSS receives any exposition worth mentioning. And this treatment is so abbreviated that such important topics as data management and variable generation receive completely inadequate coverage even at the most elementary level. The author's choice of topics is often poor. For example, a whole page is wasted on a picture of a line printer, while the concept of an algorithm as a procedure for accomplishing a task is never explained (nor is the word in the glossary). Useless information about hardware is given, instead of an explanation of, say, how an operating system works that would help the novice in dealing with job control language. The sections on computer concepts and statistical packages are so full of errors that one wonders who the pre-publication reviewers of the manuscript were. The errors are statistical , technical, and grammatical. For example, it is simply not true that modern statistical and methodological techniques are founded on the assumption that \"the larger the number of cases examined, the closer to reality the findings will be\" (page 3); or that batch processing is \"more efficient than time-sharing\" (page 26). …","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"389 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1978-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116661304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of \"Introduction to the Use of Computer Packages for Statistical Analyses, by Richard W. Moore\", Prentice Hall, 1977","authors":"Donileen R. Loseke","doi":"10.1145/1103299.1103303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1103299.1103303","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this book is \"to provide the simplest possible introduction to the use of the computer in performing statistical analyses.\" An introduction to three computer packages (SPSS, SAS, and BMD) is provided for \"students at all levels who have some knowledge of statistics.\" The book makes no pretense of being a statistics text (although an excellent bibliography is provided at the end of Ch. 5).","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1978-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128729316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A computer generated bibliography","authors":"A. Gottlieb, Joan Bodoff","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102985","url":null,"abstract":"The dominant use of computers in the social and behavioral sciences is for numeric calculations. For example, the statistical packages, SPSS, etc., have enjoyed widespread use and econometric models have often been implemented on computers, e.g. MIT's TROLL project.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131203817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"University computing as a political process","authors":"Richard A. Wiste","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102988","url":null,"abstract":"The various activities engaged in by those involved in computing can be looked upon from a number of perspectives. A choice of psychological, economic, geographic, political, or other perspectives may be made either on largely heuristic grounds or on grounds more closely tied to serious argument concerning the proper conduct of the activity under discussion. The choice of perspective embodied in this paper was made largely on the latter grounds. The basic argument is that, for many purposes, computing should be looked upon as a political process. If it were looked upon in this way, many things might be done otherwise, and the changes would be decidedly for the better.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"445 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116720146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The sociology of computing in sociology","authors":"Hans E. Lee, H. Perlstadt","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102989","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102989","url":null,"abstract":"One of the consequences of the introduction and extension of computing in sociology is the division of sociologists into two antagonistic groups: the empiricists and the humanists. The empiricists expect the computer to be the basic vehicle of salvation, whereas the humanists believe the computer to be the incarnation of all that is evil. A prolonged battle over computation and the utilization of computers in sociology may widen the cleavage between the two groups and make their differences irreconcilable. The major purpose of this paper is to trace how computation in sociology has contributed to this political cleavage and to present a possible start towards a future synthesis.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"59 7","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132575296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A model for the correction for guessing on multiple-choice tests","authors":"E. A. Hansen, F. Schmidt, J. C. Hansen","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102986","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102986","url":null,"abstract":"Multiple-choice tests are used widely because of obvious practical advantages, but inherent in them is the problem of dealing with the effects of guessing. The only widely used model for predicting effects of guessing is based on the primary assumption that, the probability of making a correct response on each test item is either 1.0 or the reciprocal of the number of available choices. The assumption that the subject either makes the correct response on each trial or guesses blindly is clearly too restrictive. Nunnally in [1] relates that because in most educational tests there is some opportunity for \"narrowing\" alternatives before guessing the standard correction for guessing tends to be an underestimate of the actual effects of guessing. The model proposed in this paper attempts to correct for this.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126109065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Computing and our relationship to work","authors":"J. Goldstein","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102984","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102984","url":null,"abstract":"Surveys of public attitudes toward computers suggest that, for most people, most of the time, the machines are not seen as having great importance in their lines. Yet there are developments occurring which may produce profound effects with important social consequences. It is now recognized that the automobile allowed and accelerated the development of specialized institutions, and changed residential patterns which, in turn, changed the nature and function of the family. An examination of the history of the automobile reveals that these important but indirect effects were not even hinted at (Flink, 1970). It is now time to see if it is possible to understand and anticipate the potential human impact of computation.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129877492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the sociology of computing: conceptual frameworks and curriculum development","authors":"Francis M. Sim, Ronald E. Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102987","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102987","url":null,"abstract":"This work was supported in part by NSF Grant GZ-3431 for a College Faculty Workshop on Computer Science in Social and Behavioral Science Education at the University of Colorado, 1974.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131654269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social science computing curricula: guidelines for the seventies","authors":"Ronald E. Anderson","doi":"10.1145/1102982.1102983","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1102982.1102983","url":null,"abstract":"Several decades ago a new body of techniques sprouted from the field of mathematics. This new technology, which came to be called statistics, grew into an autonomous academic field despite confining pressures. Although the invention of computer techniques historically lagged behind statistics, its entry into the academic world is strikingly similar. Both fields face issues of disciplinary autonomy and both are undergoing similar struggles between applied and theoretical interests. One outcome of these tensions in statistics has been the establishment of separate programs for applied statistics. While we do not dare make rigid predictions for computer science, we would anticipate similar structures, e.g., <u>applied</u> computer science curricula, to emerge.","PeriodicalId":129356,"journal":{"name":"ACM Sigsoc Bulletin","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1975-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127728743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}