Typical Steps in Quantitative Social Science Research

1
Typical Steps in Quantitative Social Science
Research

• State general nature of problem, question,
  relationship
• Review previous studies
• Create and state stylized facts
• Develop testable hypotheses
• Discover or develop data to be used to test
  hypotheses
• Size nature of the sample
• Perform appropriate (statistical) tests
• Describe results
• Draw conclusions

2
Two examples with two very different models

• Econometric model of effect of Internet use on
  scholarly productivity
• Financial model to estimate costs of removing
  minority preferences in broadcast licensing

3
Traditional Bibliometric Model of Scholarly
Productivity
Socio-economic factors
Institutional factors
Funding
Research output
Citation Noam Kaminer, Yale M. Braunstein
"Bibliometric Analysis of the Impact of Internet
Use on Scholarly Productivity." JASIS 49(8)
720-732 (1998)
4
Revised Bibliometric Model of Scholarly
Productivity
Socio-economic factors
Institutional factors
Funding
Research output
Computer skills/literacy
Computer use / Internet use
5
Revised Bibliometric Model of Scholarly
Productivity
Socio-economic factors
Institutional factors
Funding
Research output
Computer skills/literacy
Computer use / Internet use
Major issues - What sample/universe to
use? - How to measure inputs? - How to
measure outputs? - Functional form? (linear?,
additive?)
6
List of Selected Processes
7
(No Transcript)
8
(No Transcript)
9
Our main hypothesis in this research is that
scholars' Internet-use data add explanatory power
to models of scholarly productivity. The formal
null and alternate hypotheses are H0 Internet
use data does not add explanatory power to the
Traditional Publication Model. H1 Internet use
data adds explanatory power to the Traditional
Publication Model. We used multiple regressions
to estimate the four models listed in Figure 5.
Since we are interested in whether a set of one
or more Internet-use variables improves the
explanatory power of the traditional model, the
appropriate measure is the F-statistic from a
comparison of the restricted (traditional) model
with the unrestricted (new) model.
10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
The exact equation, as estimated in Equation 1,
is PUBAV 17.1 0.313 AGE 0.197 PHD-AGE
0.0860 RL 0.0794 PIM1 19.6 (Login-FTP
principal component) 2.99 (Kermit principal
component).
15
(No Transcript)
16
Two examples with two very different models

• Econometric model of effect of Internet use on
  scholarly productivity
• Financial model to estimate costs of removing
  minority preferences in broadcast licensing

17
Motivation

• FCC was leader in creating equal opportunity
  requirements in employment and ownership via its
  regulatory authority
• Many (most? / all?) of the provisions have
  disappeared
• But poor data and no valid theoretical analysis
• Common response why collect data if we dont
  know what to do with it?

18
Financial Model of Typical Radio Broadcaster

• Create financial model
• Use data from large chain broadcaster to
  calibrate model
• Define base case

Citation Yale M. Braunstein "The FCCs
Financial Qualification Requirements Economic
Evaluation of a Barrier to Entry of Minority
Broadcasters, Fed. Comm. Law J., V. 53, No. 1,
pp. 70-90.
19
What have been major legislative, judicial, or
regulatory actions?

• Review case law
• Review other articles, testimony, etc.
• Develop ways to operationalize the changes

20
Key findings

• Excel-based financial model useful for this sort
  of analysis
• Already widely used in consulting, acquisitions,
  etc., but not often in scholarly work