Academic

Would the Aragonese have chosen differently? Political Institutions in the New World

by

Spanish American political institutions were highly centralized during the colonial time period. I always assumed this was because the Crown wanted to have more control over how the colonies were run. However, there may be other factors that influenced the choice of highly centralized institutions in the colonies. It may be that centralized political institutions were chosen over less centralized ones because the Castilian Spaniards, not the Aragonese Spaniards, initially developed the New World.

More after the jump….

Read more

Conference Double Dipping: How Germ Free is Your Paper?

by

Since it had become suggested reading for our first year graduate students in their introduction to methods course, I finally compelled myself to read over the April edition of PS: Political Science and its symposium on duplicate paper presentations at conferences.  That is, whether it is acceptable for an identical paper to be presented at … Read more

Legislating While Grumbling: PM Must Resign Over Cooking Show

by

The Prime Minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, has had a severe legitimacy problem for some time now. Not only is he facing charges of corruption, his party has also been accused of electoral fraud in the last election. There have been many protests as well, some violent. However, none of these things have been sufficient … Read more

Paranormal Phenomenon and Economics

by

Peter Leeson, an economist from George Mason University, and Claudia Williamson, an economist from Appalachian University, are currently working on a UFO-Bigfoot sightings project. Their preliminary results indicate that there is a positive correlation between the number of UFO sightings in a state (per 10,000 residents) and the number of Bigfoot sightings in a state (per 10,000 residents). In other words, the more UFO sightings there are in a state, the more Bigfoot sightings there are in a state. Further, six of the top ten UFO and Bigfoot states are the same: Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Alaska, Wyoming, and Colorado.

Peter Leeson suggests that there can be many explanations for this correlation.

More after the jump….

Read more

Praying for an Orange Couch

by

After reading Youssef Cohen’s Radicals, Reformers, and Reactionaries for my summer course, I was reminded of what we mean when we assume rationality in rational choice models. We assume rationality in decision making, that individuals will attempt to maximize their utility given their preferences and the constraints that exist. There are a few important components … Read more

Over 100 Places that May Fund Your Research

by

Academic Productivity has recently posted a great find from the Online Education Database: 100 places to find funding for your research: Whether you’re researching the habits of marine life, ancient texts or just a new way to market products, you’ll likely need some funding to get your studies underway. The Internet is a great place to start looking … Read more

Strategies for Writing: Advice from the UNC Writing Center

by

Ever the connoisseur of writing strategy and style, I have encountered enough advice and discussion that I could probably change my dissertation topic to the analysis of the modi operandi of academic writers.  I’ll stick with my current dissertation topic for now, but some of this advice needs to be shared with as many  interested people as possible, such as that from the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The handouts they have created offer valuable advice for academic writers at all levels.  Of the most useful for my purposes has been the handout on writing dissertations, of course.

Receive some enlightening advice after the jump.

Read more

Manual Data Collection in the age of Computers

by

I am beginning a new data collection project that requires the manual coding of data collected from various sources in print and online.  As I start this project, I am tasked with how to build a master record of all the data I collect in the process.  I have worked on projects that used extensive paper coding forms that were later filed away only to be retrieved when appropriate.  This serves as a safeguard to both checking original coding decision, errors in the database, and any other information the coders found while researching the topic at hand.  Alternatively, other projects had an evolving excel spreadsheet that itself was the master record – duplicate copies served as a safeguard against accidents while the final form only existed when the researchers stopped coding.  Finally, projects that are entirely automated tend to generate their own database that the researchers can then use to extract useful information into a final dataset for examination.

For this project, I decided to make a separate, master database that then will be used to generate data sets as needed.  Any changes will be documented in the master set and stripping out coding variables (last updated, side notes, etc.) that are otherwise irrelevant to people using the data.  Thus, the final versions will be tab delimited for general consumption, produce in Stata, and a R version while the master remains in a different format for official changes.

More after the jump; those interested, there are screenshots and I attempt to elicit ideas for more efficient mechanisms to collect and store data…

Read more

More from SSRN: Publishing Advice for Graduate Students

by

It appears that I might be a little late to the game judging by the Technorati reactions; however, that will not stop me now or in the near future.  After some initial prompting from Richard Frank, this stellar introductory piece for graduate students posted back in January (universalized for all disciplines) details four avenues for … Read more