Jump to: Schedule


Unorthodox Research Methods

SI 755 / STS 755 / COMM 755 -- Fall 2025
Prof. Sandvig, University of Michigan
http://umich.edu/~csandvig/755F25
Class meets Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
2280 Leinweber

 

Announcements

 

About the Class

Instructor

Prof. Christian Sandvig
csandvig@umich.edu
http://umich.edu/~csandvig/
Office Phone: 734/763-0861
Office: 4244 ISR Thompson
 
Physical mail: My campus/inter-office mailbox is in the Center for Political Studies, Bay 4200 ISR Thompson
 
Office Hours: Drop-In (no appointment needed) from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Tuesdays in 4244 ISR Thompson and also by appointment;

Course Description

Any traditional research method was once unorthodox. While many are prone to think about methods as boring tools (or even as a necessary but unpleasant step on the road to results), every boring method was once daring and controversial. This seminar will cover challenging developments in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including perspectives from the humanities, social sciences, art, design, and engineering. It will address the question of how new research methods are invented, applied, transferred between problems and disciplines, and formalized. The overall focus of the course will be research design, rather than learning the procedures of a single method. In addition, we will spend some time trying to think creatively about possible new methods and research designs. Readings are split between "classics" and recent innovations. In discussion of recent methodological trends, particular attention will be paid to Internet / digital / new media / XR research, algorithm studies, artificial intelligence (AI) in social research, new digital sources of data ("big data" or "computational social science"), visualization as a research method, activism in/as research methods, and unobtrusive methods. The primary goal of the seminar is to encourage people who want to find things out -- whether using new or old methods -- to see their research method as a creative act.

Learning Objectives

Course Credit

Class Requirements

As the main deliverable for this course, students will be responsible for a seminar paper proposal (usually due week 11) and a seminar paper of about 20 pages (double spaced) due at the end of the semester. In addition, there will be short weekly assignments or "weekly questions" due at the beginning of each class meeting when reading is assigned. These will be read and discussed in class but graded pass/fail without written comments. All assignments will be turned in electronically. Late work is not accepted except in cases of illness or emergency.

Our seminar paper deadline is at the end of the semester. According to university policy, work in this class may not extend after the end of the semester unless special circumstances exist that conform to the rules for incomplete courses receiving a grade of "I" (Incomplete). Please do not assume that an extension of the final paper deadline is possible, as it typically is not possible except via the incomplete grade process dictated by the registrar's office.

The weekly questions will probably follow this pattern:

4 short responses to questions about methods
4 research designs
1 proposal for a new measure or statistic
2 ideas for new visualizations or maps

The course grade breakdown will be:

40% Seminar Paper (due at end of term)
60% Participation and Discussion
The above includes: 15% for class attendance, 15% for online discussion questions (graded pass/fail), 30% for class participation, including both quality and quantity, both in-person and online (e.g. Perusall)

Letter grades will be calculated using the following scale.

  A 93%+     C 73-76%
  A- 90-92%   C- 70-72%
  B+ 87-89%   D+ 67-69%
  B 83-86%   D 63-66%
  B- 80-82%   D- 60-62%
  C+ 77-79%   E 59% or below

In order to allow grade weighting in Canvas, sometimes letter grades need to be entered as numbers. If this happens in this class, the number entered will be the middle of the range for that grade, rounding up if necessary (see the list above). For instance, a C+ would be entered as 78.

Required Books

There ARE required books. Other readings will be distributed electronically.

The required and optional books are not listed at the bookstore. Instead, you can buy the books online. Some are available free from the library if you are willing to read them in electronic form. Other students have reported that if you want print copies, used copies are reasonable on alibris (links below). Most of these books are also available as textbook rentals.

A quick word about buying the books: As befits the topic of the class some of them are unorthodox. A librarian and fan of the Lesy book commented, "I can't believe this is an assigned reading for a course!" I know the Webb book is not cheap and the Lesy book is strange but I think you will find them worthwhile.

  1. Unobtrusive Measures
    by Eugene J. Webb, Donald T. Campbell, Richard D. Schwartz, Lee Sechrest
    Sage, 1999
    (revised edition)
    [read online for free via your UM library login], [buy a NEW print copy from Literati], or [buy a USED print copy from alibris] Note: In paper, this book is very expensive new ($182) but very cheap used ($5).
  2. Wisconsin Death Trip
    by Michael Lesy
    University of New Mexico Press, 2000
    (new edition)
    [buy a NEW print copy from Literati] [buy a USED print copy from alibris] Note: This is a book of photographs. The arrangement of the photographs is important for the meaning of the book, but the e-book does not preserve the arrangements, and the scans are of inferior quality. Do not buy the e-book.

Recommended Books

These books are recommended in the sense that every doctoral student working in a research tradition of the social sciences and humanities should own them already. If you don't own them, you should buy them! They are highly recommended.

  1. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article
    by Howard S. Becker & Pamela Richards.
    University of Chicago Press, 2020, third edition. (but any edition is fine.)
    (Note that although the phrase "social scientist" is in the title of the book, this book is equally relevant to any researcher from the social sciences or humanities even if they don't identify with the phrase "social scientist".)
    [read online for free with your UM library login], [Buy NEW from Literati], or [Buy USED from alibris]
  2. The Elements of Style
    by William Strunk, Jr. & E. B. White.
    New York: Longman, 2000.
    (You probably want the fourth edition or the new edition. Watch out for the 1920 or 2011 "Original Edition" or the 2018 "Classic Edition" that does not include E. B. White. Be sure it has E. B. White. If it has Kalman as a co-author too, I think that is OK -- this just means it is the illustrated edition. Also don't buy anything that says "Workbook" as that is not the same book.)
    [Buy NEW from bookshop.org] or [Buy USED from alibris]

Other Readings

The remaining readings are available online via Perusall (on the Canvas site for this class) if they are PDFs. If not, they are usually free on the Web as noted below.

Seminar Schedule

Important warnings about this schedule:

  1. The fact that something is assigned on the syllabus does not mean it is correct or endorsed by the instructor. Many readings implicitly or explicitly contradict each other, as these are areas of controversy.
  2. It's probably better to read these things in the order given on this page. Sometimes doing the earlier readings makes understanding the later ones possible.
  3. These dates and readings will be adjusted to reflect student interest and our progress (or lack of it). This means that you should check this Web page for updates before you start the readings an assignments each week.
  4. As discussed in more detail below, note that work on Perusall and the Weekly Question on Canvas should be submitted two hours before class begins.

 

Part I: An Overview of Orthodoxy and Research Methods

27 Aug (Tue): Introduction
(includes: A brief discussion about how to use Perusall.)

  • TO DO: If you haven't already, please complete these tasks now.
  • Please read all of the course policies on the syllabus carefully -- that means this Web page.
  • Ensure you can access the class Canvas site.
  • Set a profile picture and name for Canvas -- this is important because Perusall uses Canvas's settings. The picture can be non-photographic, it just needs to be set and unchanging for the semester.
  • Optional / For Future Reference: (Each week the indented material below contains examples discussed in class that are NOT required readings. These are listed for future reference and may be updated after class.)
    • Humphreys, Laud. (1970). Tearoom trade: a study of homosexual encounters in public places. New York: Duckworth. (see: Humphreys Ch. 2, Hoffman, Glazer, and Humphreys -- Retrospect.)
    • von Hoffman, Nicholas; Horowitz, Irving Louis & Rainwater, Lee. (1970). Sociological Snoopers (reprints from The Washington Post and Trans-Action.

3 Sep (Tue): The Fundamentals: Methods, Instruments, and Orthodoxy
(includes: "normal science.")

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • The syllabus is this Web page. Please carefully read the course policies and skim the entire class schedule before class today.
  • Popper, Karl. (1962) Conjectures and Refutations, London: Routledge and Keagan Paul. (read only pp. 33-39, Science as Falsification)
  • Forscher, Bernard K. (1963). Chaos in the Brickyard. Science 142(3590): 339. (Yes, just the one letter.)
  • Feyerabend, Paul. (1975). Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge. Humanities Press.
  • Pajares, Frank. (n.d.). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn: A Synopsis. The Philosopher's Magazine.
  • Bird, Alexander. (2004). Thomas Kuhn. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, California: Metaphysics Research Laboratory. (Just the section "Kuhn and Social Science")
  • de Solla Price, Derek J. (1986). Little Science, Big Science... and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press. (read the chapter: "Of Sealing Wax and String")
  • Harding, Sandra. (1992). Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What is "Strong Objectivity?" The Centennial Review 36(3): 437-470. (~10 pp. of excerpts as marked.)
  • Sandoval, Chéla. (1994). Re-Entering Cyberspace: Sciences of Resistance. Dispositio/n XIX.46: 75-93. (~7 pages of excerpts as marked.)
  • Examples from the #overlyhonestmethods hashtag on Twitter.
  • Optional / For Future Reference / Also discussed in class:
    • The Science Wars of the 1990s (link to Wikipedia)
    • Funtowicz, S. O. & Ravetz, J. R. (1993). Science for the post-normal age. Futures 25(7): 739-755.

Part II: Case Studies of Unorthodox Research Methods

10 Sep (Tue): Interestingness, Publication Bias, The Decline Effect, and the Crisis of Confidence in Significance Testing
(includes: The discipline as a "null field.")

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Davis, Murray S. (1971). That's Interesting! Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology. Philosophy of Social Science 1: 309-344.
  • Hacking, Ian. (1990). The Taming of Chance. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Read Ch. 1, The Argument and Analytical Outline (This PDF is intentionally truncated.)
  • Sterne, Jonathan A. C. & Smith, George Davey. (2001). Sifting the Evidence: What's Wrong with Significance Tests? British Medical Journal 322: 226-231. (assumes some familiarity with statistical methods -- if you don't have that, just stick the to text and do the best you can.)
  • Ioannidis, John P. A. (2005). Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Medicine 2(8): 696-701. (assumes familiarity with statistical methods -- if you don't have that, just stick the to text and do the best you can.)
  • Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100 (3): 407-425.
  • Gonzales, J. E. & Cunningham C. A. (2015, August). The Promise of Pre-Registration in Psychological Research. Psychological Science Agenda.
  • Please browse / glance through the AEA RCT registry
  • Open Science Collaboration, The. (2015). Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychological Science. Science 349(6251): 943, aac4716-1 to aac4716-8. (Only the summary is required, the rest is optional.)
  • Zongker, Doug. (2006). Chicken Chicken Chicken: Chicken Chicken. Annals of Improbable Research 12(5): 16-21. (Yes, it's a joke.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • If you don't know what Bayesian means, and you would like to: Jackman, Simon. (2009). Bayesian Analysis for the Social Sciences. Wiley-Blackwell: New York. (Excerpts.)
    • Wagenmakers, E.-J., Wetzels, R., Borsboom, D., and van der Maas, H. L. J. (2011). Why Psychologists Must Change the Way They Analyze Their Data: The Case of Psi: Comment on Bem (2011). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100 (3): 426–432.
    • McCloskey, Donald N. (1986). Why Economic Historians Should Stop Relying on Statistical Tests of Significance, and Lead Economists and Historians Into the Promised Land. Newsletter of the Cliometrics Society 2(2). http://www.deirdremccloskey.org/docs/pdf/Article_180.pdf (probably worth reading for attitude alone)

17 Sep (Tue): Unusual Archives, Database Subtraction, Visual Argument
(includes: The case of Michael Lesy's rejected dissertation.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Read Wisconsin Death Trip. (all of it).
  • Paglen, Trevor. (2007). Unmarked Planes and Hidden Geographies. Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular 2(2). Read: Editor's Introduction, browse the interactive project itself (including planes, bases, movements, flight procedures), Author's Statement, Designer's Statement, Peer Response.
  • Ankerson, Megan S. (2015). Read/Write the Digital Archive: Strategies for Historical Web Research. In: E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.) Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (ch. 2, pp. 29-54). Cambridge: MIT Press.
  • American Physical Society. (2014, April 1). APS Announces New Open Access Initiative to Make Single-Authored Papers by Cats Freely Available. APS News. https://journals.aps.org/2014/04/01/aps-announces-a-new-open-access-initiative.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

24 Sep (Tue): Research As Allyship, Solidarity, or Activism
(includes: The Eric Michaels aboriginalism controversy.)

  • TO DO: Read/watch these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Indigeneous Broadcasting (a timeline and summary from the Australian Government; Just read the part about Eric Michaels, skim the rest or read if you are interested.).
  • Langton, Marcia. (1994) "Introduction" In: Michaels, Eric Bad Aboriginal Art: Tradition, Media, and Technological Horizons. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.
  • Michaels, Eric & Warlpiri Media Association. (1986). The Aboriginal Invention of TV: A Video Report. Satellite Dreaming Revisited. Video (13 min.) https://satellitedreaming.com/sources/the-aboriginal-invention-of-television-in-central-australia-1982-1986
  • Michaels, Eric (1994). "For a Cultural Future: Francis Jupurrurla Makes TV at Yuendumu" (In: Michaels, Eric Bad Aboriginal Art: Tradition, Media, and Technological Horizons. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press. Note: this is an edited, updated version of the 1986 written report "The Aboriginal Invention of Television")
  • Instructor compilation of excerpts of criticsism and comment about Eric Michaels.
  • Michaels, Eric. (1990). Unbecoming. Durham: Duke University Press. (various excerpts as marked) (Note that this is Michaels's AIDS diary.)
  • Skim the editorial information for the Journal of Universal Rejection.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Kindon, Sara & Zonjic, Maja. (2021). Participatory Video [as a Research Method]. The International Encyclopedia of Geography. doi:10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0533.pub2.
    • Michaels, Eric. (1982). TV Tribes (via the Internet Archive). Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Texas, Austin. Austin, TX.
    • Bush Mechanics. (2001). Bush Mechanics, Episode 1. Broome, Western Australia: Rebel Films.
    • Barbekuieria. (1986). Barbekuieria. Sydney, Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
    • Ronin Films. (2019). Jupurrurla -- Man of Media. (Documentary, 28 mins.) Available on Vimeo. (e.g., see 08:59-11:50)
    • Hodge, R. (1990). Aboriginal Truth and White Media: Eric Michaels meets the Spirit of Aboriginalism. Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture 3(2).

1 Oct (Tue): Auditing, Reverse Engineering, and Correspondence Studies
(includes: The law that killed Aaron Swartz.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • The perspective of a real-life housing auditor: listen to about the first 5 minutes of Act One (5:05 to about 10:00) in This American Life #512: House Rules. Rental Gymnastics. (~31 minutes)
  • Pager, D. (2007). The Use of Field Experiments for Studies of Employment Discrimination: Contributions, Critiques, and Directions for the Future. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 609: 104-133. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/pager/files/annals_pager.pdf
  • Sweeney, L. (2013). Discrimination in Online Ad Delivery ACM Queue 11(3): 1-19. https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2460278
  • Buolamwini, J. & Gebru, T. (2018). Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification. Proceedings of Machine Learning Research 81:1-15. http://proceedings.mlr.press/v81/buolamwini18a/buolamwini18a.pdf read AND/OR watch the video presentation of this paper (5 mins) at gendershades.org
  • Aidinoff, M., Armstrong, L., Bhandari, E., Biddle, E. R., Eslami, M., Karahalios, K., Matias, N., Metaxa, D., Nelson, A., Sandvig, C., & Vaccaro, K. (2026). AI Auditing. MIT Press. Read excerpts: pp. 5-13 (Introduction), 16-40 (Auditing: from taxes and landlords to AI), 57-61 (Sample audit: Does GPT's writing advice discriminate against women?), 141-170 (A healthy audit ecosystem).
  • Costanza-Chock, S., Raji, I. D., & Buolamwini, J. (2022). Who Audits the Auditors? Recommendations from a field scan of the algorithmic auditing ecosystem. ACM FAccT 22. https://facctconference.org/static/pdfs_2022/facct22-126.pdf
  • LaLoudouanna, Doudou & Tarare, Mambobo B. (2003). Data Set Selection. Journal of Machine Learning Gossip 1: 11-19 http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=41081C5E8486C751A2B1402EF9A9AE0B?doi=10.1.1.59.8077&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Skim only -- Note that this paper is not real, sort of.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Field Experiments (p. 103-108), in: National Research Council Panel on Measuring Racial Discrimination, The. (2004). Measuring Racial Discrimination. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. (This is a free PDF download -- read pp. 103-108.)
    • Chen, L., Mislove, A., Wilson, C. (2015). Peeking Beneath the Hood of Uber. Proceedings of the 2015 Internet Measurement Conference (IMC'15). https://cbw.sh/static/pdf/chen-imc15.pdf
    • Mathias Lecuyer, Guillaume Ducoffe, Francis Lan, Andrei Papancea, Theofilos Petsios, Riley Spahn, Augustin Chaintreau, and Roxana Geambasu. (2014). "XRay: Increasing the Web’s Transparency with Differential Correlation." Technical report. Columbia University.
    • Chen, L., Ma, R., Hannak, A., & Wilson, C. (2018). Investigating the Impact of Gender on Rank in Resume Search Engines. Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI'18). https://cbw.sh/static/pdf/chen-chi18.pdf
    • Bandy, J. (2021). Problematic Machine Behavior: A Systematic Literature Review of Algorithm Audits. Proc. ACM HCI 5(CSCW1) Article 74. https://osf.io/download/u7bgq/
    • Wilson, C., Ghosh, A., Jiang, S., Mislove, A., Baker, L., Szary, J., Trindel, K., & Polli, F. (2021). Building and Auditing Fair Algorithms: A Case Study in Candidate Screening. Proc. of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. https://doi.org/10.1145/3442188.344592

8 Oct (Tue): Visualization as Method
(includes: Bar graphs to critique realist models of knowledge.)

  • TO DO: Read/watch these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Drucker, Johanna. (2014). Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Read selected portion of Preface and Ch. 1, "Image, Interpretation, and Interface," pp. 7-63). (On Perusall -- start reading at "To begin, a brief gloss on a number of terms crucial to our discussion...". It is OK to skim this and focus on what interests you, it is quite long).
  • Drucker, Johanna. (2011) Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display. Digital Humanities Quarterly 5, 1. http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html
  • D'Ignazio, Catherine and Klein, Lauren F. (2020). Data Feminism. MIT Press. (full text online) https://data-feminism.mitpress.mit.edu/ (see esp. Ch. 6 "The Numbers Don't Speak For Themselves" and Ch. 7: "Show Your Work").
  • Ullman, T., Yakter, A., & Perry, T. (2013). The Crying Game: Infant Distress Vocalization as Competitive Advantage During Violent Conflict. BAHFest. Cambridge, MA, USA. (Video, ~6:30) https://youtu.be/Zm-sQnazFAQ?si=cLf47xaijlGz_AKQ&t=18 (Note: This is a joke.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • "The Data Visualization Catalogue" at https://datavizcatalogue.com.
    • Kosara, Robert. (2008). Visualization Criticism - The Missing Link Between Information Visualization and Art. IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications (CG&A), Visualization Viewpoints, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 13-15.

15 Oct (Tue): Large Language Models as Simulations of Human Behavior
(includes: The model that doesn't want poor people to take vacations.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Kosinski M. (2024). Evaluating large language models in theory of mind tasks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(45): e2405460121.
  • Argyle, L. F., Busby, E. C., Fulda, N., Gubler, J. R., Rytting, C., & Wingate, D. (2023). Out of one, many: Using language models to simulate human samples. Political Analysis 31(3): 337–351.
  • Bisbee, J., Clinton, J. D., Dorff, C., Kenkel, B., & Larson, J. M. (2024). Synthetic Replacements for Human Survey Data? The Perils of Large Language Models. Political Analysis 32(4): 401-416.
  • Abdurahman, S., Atari, M., Karimi-Malekabadi, F., Xue, M. J., Trager, J., Park, P. S., Golazizian, P., Omrani, A. & Dehghani, M. (2024). Perils and opportunities in using large language models in psychological research. PNAS Nexus 3(7): pgae245.
  • Chen, Y., Wu, A., DePodesta, T., Yeh, C., Li, K., Marin, N. C., Patel, O., Riecke, J., Raval, S., Seow, O., Wattenberg, M., & Viégas, F. (under review). "Designing a Dashboard for Transparency and Control of Conversational AI" arXiv.
  • Anthropic. (2025, September). System Card: Claude Sonnet 4.5 (read sec. 7.2, "Evaluation Awareness", pp. 58-62).
  • Fox, S. T., Reid, N., Tornvall, I., Weerasekera, S., Gordon, E., & Hubbard, R. E. (2021). Anticipating the ageing trajectories of superheroes in the Marvel cinematic universe. British Medical Journal 375(8319): e068001. (Skim only, this is a joke.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Stephanie Dinkins, (2021). Not the Only One. https://www.stephaniedinkins.com/ntoo.html.
    • Paleja, A. (2023, January 2). The Black Mirror-esque AI service lets you speak to the deceased loved ones. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/ai-service-lets-you-converse-with-dead
    • Horton, "Large language models as simulated economic agents: What can we learn from homo silicus?" (Tech. Rep. 31122, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2023).
    • P. Li, N. Castelo, Z. Katona, M. Sarvary, Frontiers: Determining the validity of large language models for automated perceptual analysis. Mark. Sci. 43, 254–266 (2024).
    • D. Dillion, N. Tandon, Y. Gu, K. Gray, Can AI language models replace human participants? Trends Cogn. Sci. 27, 597–600 (2023).
    • I. Grossmann et al., AI and the transformation of social science research. Science 380, 1108–1109 (2023).
    • B. S. Manning, K. Zhu, J. J. Horton, Automated social science: Language models as scientist and subjects (Tech. Rep. 32381, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2024).
    • L. Zhou et al., Larger and more instructable language models become less reliable. Nature 634, 61–68 (2024).

22 Oct (Tue): Unobtrusive Methods, Crowdsourcing
(includes: The hatching chicks floor erosion study.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Read Webb et al. Unobtrusive Measures book Ch. 2-5 and Ch. 8-9 (Physical Traces: Erosion and Accretion, Archives I: The Running Record, Archives II: The Episodic and Private Record, and Simple Observation, A Statistician on Method, and Cardinal Newman's Epitaph.).
  • Roth, Julius A. (1966). Hired Hand Research. American Sociologist 1(4): 190-196. Read only only the preface.
  • Confessions of a mental health research interviewer: This American Life #37: The Job That Takes Over Your Life: Act One, The Test -- listen only from 02:41-09:16 (the timecodes are in the upper-right corner.)
  • Bennett, C. M., Miller, M. B., & Wolford, G. L. (2009). Neural correlates of interspecies perspective taking in the post-mortem Atlantic Salmon: an argument for multiple comparisons correction. NeuroImage 47, supplement 1: S125.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Shaw, A. (2015). Hired Hands and Dubious Guesses: Adventures in Crowdsourced Data Collection. In: E. Hargittai & C. Sandvig (eds.) Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (ch. 7). Cambridge: MIT Press.
    • The complete Roth article from this week may be interesting.
    • Ch. 6 ("Contrived Observation") in Webb et al. may also be interesting.
    • Middlemist, R. D., Knowles, E. S. & Matter, C.F. (1976). Personal Space Invasions in the Lavatory: Suggestive Evidence for Arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33 (5), 541-546.

29 Oct (Tue): Unobtrusive, Digital Methods
(includes: Search as research.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • read Rogers book, Digital Methods.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

5 Nov (Tue): The Nonhuman Turn
(includes: The performative frog pregnancy experiment. a.k.a. "the weirdest week")

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Latour, B. (1996) Aramis, Or: The Love of Technology. (C. Porter, trans.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Excerpts. (Excerpts -- OK to skim this!)
  • Kirksey, S. E. (2010). The Emergence of Multispecies Ethnography. Cultural Anthropology 25(4): 545-576.
  • Kirksey, S. E., Hannah, D., Lotterman, C., Moore, L. G. (2016). The Xenopus Pregnancy Test: A Performative Experiment. Environmental Humanities 8(1): 37-56. https://read.dukeupress.edu/environmental-humanities/article/8/1/37/61689/The-Xenopus-Pregnancy-TestA-Performative
  • Dobson, K. (2005). Wearable body organs: critical cognition becomes (again) somatic. Proceedings of the 5th ACM conference on Creativity & cognition (C&C'05): 259-262.
  • Leahu, L. & Sengers, P. (2015). Freaky: Collaborative Enactments of Emotion. CSCW'15 Companion https://feministcscw2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/csde104-leahu.pdf
  • Ziewitz, M. (2017). A not quite random walk: Experimenting with the ethnomethods of the algorithm. Big Data & Society 4(2): 1-13.
  • Pencil, Murdock. (1976). Salt Passage Research: The State of the Art. Journal of Communication 26 (4): 31-36.
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Bogost, I. (2012). Alien Phenomenology: or, What It's Like to Be a Thing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Ch. 3: Metaphorism, and Ch. 4: Carpentry -- N.B.: "OOO" stands for Object-Oriented Ontology.)
    • Galloway, A. R. (2014). The Cybernetic Hypothesis. differences 25(1): 107-131.
    • "Computers Watching Movies" by Ben Grosser https://bengrosser.com/projects/computers-watching-movies/
    • Tsing, A. L. (2021). The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    • Dobson, K. (2004). Blendie. Proceedings of the 5th ACM conference on Designing interactive systems (DIS'04) Exhibits: 309.
    • Data Walking (Website). http://www.datawalking.com/ (See: Home page, Roles, Case Studies [all 3]).
    • Vertesi, J. (2015). Seeing like a Rover. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Ch. 6: Visualization, Embodiment, and Social Order).

12 Nov (Tue): Attacks On Researchers / Risky Research
(includes: Friendship bracelets for oppressed graduate students.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • NOTE: Seminar paper proposals are the weekly question topic this week.
  • O'Grady, Cathleen. (2022, 24 Mar). In The Line Of Fire. Science 375(6587).
  • Matias, J. Nathan. (2020, 8 Jan). This Scientist Got Fired from Harvard for Research that Changed History. Medium. https://natematias.medium.com/this-scientist-got-fired-from-harvard-for-research-that-changed-history-d9585c8f1aa7
  • McCarthy, S., & Kamola, I. (2022). Sensationalized surveillance: Campus reform and the targeted harassment of faculty. New Political Science, 44(2), 227-247.
  • Marcus, Adam. (2021, 22 Dec). Misinformation Review retracts paper on Black advocacy in elections. Retraction Watch (excerpts.) https://retractionwatch.com/2021/12/22/harvard-journal-retracts-paper-on-black-advocacy-in-elections/
  • Staff of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives. (2024, February). The Weaponization of the National Science Foundation: How NSF Is Funding The Development Of Automated Tools To Censor Online Speech "At Scale" And Trying To Cover Up Its Actions. Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives. (OK to skim.)
  • Facilitator Materials from the "In Good Company" Project.
  • Browse the Web site of the Researcher Support Consortium at: https://researchersupport.org/
  • van Nostrand, M., Riemenschneider, J. & Nicodemo, L. (2017). Uromycitisis Poisoning Results in Lower Urinary Tract Infection and Acute Renal Failure: Case Report. Urology & Nephrology Open Access. (Skim / glance at only. Note: This article is a joke. It is not true. It was published by a predatory journal in a sting operation.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:
    • Sunoo Park & Kendra Albert. (2020, October). A Researcher's Guide To Some Of The Legal Risks Of Security Research. Cyberlaw Clinic, Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University. http://clinic.cyber.harvard.edu/files/2020/10/Security_Researchers_Guide-2.pdf
    • Gosse, C., Veletsianos, G., Hodson, J., Houlden, S., Dousay, T. A., Lowenthal, P. R., & Hall, N. (2021). The hidden costs of connectivity: Nature and effects of scholars’ online harassment. Learning, Media and Technology, 46(3), 264-280.
    • Oksanen, A., Celuch, M., Latikka, R., Oksa, R., & Savela, N. (2022). Hate and harassment in academia: the rising concern of the online environment. Higher Education, 84(3), 541-567.

19 Nov (Wed): Cartography and Geospatial Analysis
(includes: The idea of a "Narrative Atlas.")

  • Post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas forum before class begins.
  • Monmonier, Mark. (2018). How to Lie With Maps (3rd ed.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Read Ch. 1-3)
  • de Smith, Michael; Goodchild, Michael F.; & Longley, Paul A. (2024). Geospatial Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide to Principles, Techniques, and Software Tools. (7th ed.) Leicester: Winchelsea Press. (excerpts.) Read ONLY up to section 2.2.9 (the first 6 PDF pages)
  • Krygier, J. (2008). Denis Wood and The Narrative Atlas of Boylan Heights. In: Making Maps: DIY Cartography From: https://makingmaps.net/
  • TeleGeography. (1998). Clocks are Maps--Time is an Atlas. In: TeleGeography 1999 p. 12.
  • W20JW Radio Activity by Decade From: Gregory, D. & Sahre, P. (2003). Hello World: A Life in Ham Radio. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press. (WARNING: This map may not display properly in Perusall. Recommend that you click Download from the Library tab to use a PDF viewer.)
  • The Strange Maps Web site -- http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps. Please skim/check out these maps (no need to read all text, just grasp the basic idea of the map):
    1. Chernoff Faces
    2. Mapping Middle-earth
    3. Geoglyphs
    4. The Subjective Atlas
    5. Monopoly
    6. Null Island
    7. The Periodic Table
    8. A Topologist's Map of Europe
  • Borges, Jorge Luis & Casares, Adolfo Bioy. (1946/1975). On Exactitude in Science. In: J. L. Borges, A Universal History of Infamy. (Norman Thomas de Giovanni, tr.) London: Penguin.
  • Optional / also discussed in class:
    • Harmon, K. (2003). You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press.
    • Bhagat, A. & Mogel, L. (eds.) (2008). An Atlas of Radical Cartography. Journal of Aesthetics and Protest Press. http://www.an-atlas.com/contents.html
    • The People's Atlas by AREA Chicago.
    • ODT, Inc. (2005). The Peters Projection Pacific-Centered Equal Area Map (1st ed.) Tallinn, Estonia: Thorough Solutions OÜ.
    • Kitchin, R. & Dodge, M. (2002). Atlas of Cyberspace. New York: Addison-Wesley. https://kitchin.org/atlas/contents.html
    • Thompson, N. & Independent Curators International. (2009). Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism. New York: Melville House.

26 Nov (Tue): THANKSGIVING BREAK
No Class

No Class

 

3 Dec (Tue): XR (VR/MR/AR) / Online / Virtual / Cyber / Internet / Pandemic Ethnography
(includes: Long-distance ethnographic watercolor painting.)

  • TO DO: Read these items. On Perusall, note questions, make comments, and reply to comments. Then write and post your answer to the weekly question to the Canvas discussion forum. These tasks should be completed at least two hours before class begins.
  • Boellstorff, T., Nardi, B., Pearce, C., Taylor, T. L., & Marcus, G. E. (2012). Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (read ONLY Section 2.1 "A Brief History of Ethnographic Methods" PDF pp. 13-22. and Section 3.0 ["Ten Myths About Ethnography"] through the end of Section 3.6 "Ethnography is Writing About Your Personal Experience" pp. 29-45 -- .)
  • Hine, C. (2017). "Ethnographies of Online Communities and Social Media: Modes, Varieties, Affordances." In: N. G. Fielding, R. M. Lee, & G. Blank (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Online Research Methods, (pp. 401-415) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human. Princeton University Press. (Read ONLY Ch. 1: "The Subject and Scope of this Inquiry" and Ch. 9: "The Virtual".
  • Backe, E. L. (2016). "A Review of Virtual Reality Ethnographic Film, or: How We've Always been Creating Virtual Reality." The Geek Anthropologist. (Blog post.) https://thegeekanthropologist.com/2016/11/17/a-review-of-virtual-reality-ethnographic-film-or-how-weve-always-been-creating-virtual-reality/
  • Svašek, M. (2023). Ethnography as creative improvisation: Exploring methods in (post) pandemic times. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13(1). https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/725341
  • Journal: The California Review of Images and Mark Zuckerberg volume 1, volume 2 (Browse/skim only.)
  • Optional / For Future Reference:

12 Dec (Thu): Final paper due

Final paper due at 3:30 p.m.
This is the scheduled final exam period for this course according to the registrar's office. Submitting the paper will count as the final examination for this seminar; there is no other final examination (and nothing in person on this date). Submit your paper via e-mail to the instructor as discussed in class.

Class Policies

Our Discussions

This seminar practices the "Guidelines for Dialogue" developed by students and faculty from the University of Michigan Program on Intergroup Relations. That means that we will do our best to:

  1. Maintain confidentiality. We want to create an atmosphere for open, honest exchange.
  2. Commit to learning from each other. We will listen to other and not talk at each other. We acknowledge differences among us in backgrounds, skills, interests, identities and values. We realize that it is these very differences that will increase our awareness and understanding through this process.
  3. Not demean, devalue, or "put down" people for their experiences, lack of experiences, or difference in interpretation of those experiences.
  4. Trust that people are always doing the best they can. We will give each other the benefit of the doubt. We will assume we are all trying our hardest and that our intentions are good even when the impact is not.
  5. Challenge the idea and not the person. If we wish to challenge something that has been said, we will challenge the idea or the practice referred to, not the individual sharing this idea or practice.
  6. Speak our discomfort. If something is bothering us, we will share this with the group. Often our emotional reactions to this process offer the most valuable learning opportunities.
  7. Step Up, Step Back. We will be mindful of taking up much more space than others. On the same note, empower ourselves to speak up when others are dominating the conversation.
  8. Not to freeze people in time. We are all works in progress. We will be willing to change and make space for others to do so. Therefore we will not assume that one comment or one opinion made at one time captures the whole of a person's character.

--The Program on Intergroup Relations, University of Michigan, 2012

Attendance Policy

Attendance and participation are central to this small seminar. If you must be absent because of an emergency or illness, please make every effort to e-mail me about it beforehand. I will excuse such absences with a doctor's note or other form of official documentation. Please notify me of absences due to religious observance or University sporting events as soon as you can, or by the third week of the semester. Because in-person participation is such an important part of this seminar, more than two excused absences may require make-up work in order to pass the class. Unexcused absences also reduce your final grade as described in the grading breakdown.

This policy follows the recommendation of the doctoral committee of the School of Information, which states that doctoral students should not miss more than two class periods for a doctoral course for any reason. Because this doctoral course meets only once per week, a substantial portion of the course material will have been missed with more than two absences.

Academic Integrity

This course, although it is cross-listed, is governed by the academic integrity policy of the School of Information.

Unless otherwise specified in an assignment all submitted work must be your own, original work. Any excerpts, statements, or phrases from the work of others must be clearly identified as a quotation, and a proper citation provided. Any violation of the School's policy on Academic and Professional Integrity (stated in the Master's and Doctoral Student Handbooks) will result in serious penalties, which might range from failing an assignment, to failing a course, to being expelled from the program. Violations of academic and professional integrity will be reported to UMSI Student Affairs. Consequences impacting assignment or course grades are determined by the faculty instructor; additional sanctions may be imposed by the assistant dean for academic and student affairs.

Audio and Video Recording

Class recordings and telepresence: This class does not use Zoom attendance. We may audio and/or video record some class sessions if there are exceptional circumstances require a recording, but this is not likely. If any recordings are made, these recordings will not be made available publicly. If any recordings are made, they will be available only to enrolled students who require them. As part of your participation in this course, you may be recorded. If you do not wish to be recorded, please contact the professor during the first week of class to discuss alternative arrangements. Our classroom does have a ceiling mike that picks up student voices, in addition the instructor's microphone records audio in the room. To ensure that we have an environment of trust for discussion, students may not make their own personal recordings without permission, may not copy and share authorized recordings with those not in the class, or upload them to any other online environment (this is a violation of the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act [FERPA]). If recording is made or a personal recording is approved, the approved recordings may only be used for the student's own private use.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

The University of Michigan recognizes disability as an integral part of diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive and equitable educational environment for students with disabilities. Students who are experiencing a disability-related barrier should contact Services for Students with Disabilities; 734-763-3000 or ssdoffice@umich.edu). For students who are connected with SSD, accommodation requests can be made in Accommodate. If you have any questions or concerns please contact your SSD Coordinator or visit SSD’s Current Student webpage. SSD considers aspects of the course design, course learning objects and the individual academic and course barriers experienced by the student. Further conversation with SSD, instructors, and the student may be warranted to ensure an accessible course experience. The instructional team will treat any information that you provide in as confidential a manner as possible.

Student Mental Health and Wellbeing

Students may experience stressors that can impact both their academic experience and their personal well-being. These may include academic pressure and challenges associated with relationships, mental health, alcohol or other drugs, identities, finances, etc.

If you are experiencing concerns, seeking help is a courageous thing to do for yourself and those who care about you. If the source of your stressors is academic, please contact me so that we can find solutions together. Ashley Evearitt, a Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) counselor, is embedded in UMSI, schedule an appointment with her by copying and pasting the following url into your browser: https://bit.ly/Evearitt-CAPS-UMSI

For personal concerns, U-M offers a variety of resources, many which are listed on the Resources for Student Well-being Web page. You can also search for additional well-being resources on that Web site.

(Note: This statement about mental health has evolved from one originally proposed by the UM Student Government. Thank you to them for doing that.)