Over the past two centuries, economists, policy makers, and researchers have aspired to “harden” social science. A lot of progress has been made: using randomized, controlled experiments; making ...

Is social science research trustworthy? The economist Noah Smith raises this question in a recent piece entitled “How many of our ‘facts’ about society health, and the economy are fake?” As he points ...

Applications of social science theory and concepts are central to today’s public life, from social networks to employee trainings to voting reforms. Social science methods using big data and ...

McMaster University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA. McMaster University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. A forum on Skills and Knowledge for ...

Studying the social world requires more than deference to data—no matter the prestige or sophistication of the tools with which they are parsed. The entwining of data and theory is especially fraught ...