Full presentations of many of the entries below have already been distributed to BMS subscribers and RC33 members over the BMS-RC33 distribution list
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Le 23 septembre 2011, à Lille, la Seconde Journée d’études de l’Observatoire des Réseaux Intra- et Inter-Organisationnels (ORIO) a eu lieu à l’Université Lille 1, Laboratoire Clersé-CNRS, avec des présentations par Tom Snijders, « Analysing Multiplexity, A New Approach for Dissecting Network Dynamics », par Eric Quintane, Garry Robins et Philippa Pattson, « An Event-based Investigation of Triadic Closure in Organizations » et Catherine Comet, « Elites dirigeantes et réseaux de gouvernance ».
On 25-27 September 2011, in Prague, the Symposium: “Paul Felix Lazarsfeld - His Methodological Inspirations and Networking Activities in the Field of Social Research” took place. 110 years have passed since the birth of Paul Felix Lazarsfeld in Vienna (13.2.1901) and 35 years have passed since his death in New York (30.8.1976). P. F. Lazarsfeld was an “organizational man”. He founded four research institutes – in Vienna, Newark, Princeton and New York – during the 45 years of his active scientific career. He developed an unprecedented network of social scientists, ranging from the fields of sociology, social and developmental psychology to history, communication science, demography, social anthropology, and philosophy, to mathematics and statistics and the Frankfurt School of criticism, and he established many ties between Europe and America involving Vienna, New York, Paris, Oslo, Palo Alto, Rome, Chicago, Warsaw, Washington, Moscow, Princeton, and even Prague. He and his close fellow-workers inspired two generations of social scientists in the field of Research Methodology. His research, educational, scientific and organizational activities served to unify social research for almost 45 years, from the time of his famous Marienthal study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, to his UNESCO seminars in the 1970s in Eastern Europe. This small symposium followed from the successful WAPOR Thematic Seminar,“The Early Days of Survey Research and Their Importance Today”, which was held in Vienna on 1-3 July 2010. For further information, contact jerabek@fsv.cuni.cz.
On 6-7 October 2011, in Mannheim, the joint Fall meeting of the “Model Building and Simulation” (DGSModSim) and the “Models of Empirical Social Research” sections of the German Sociological Association (DGS) took place on the theme “New Models of Causal Inference”. For further information (in German), see http://www.socio.ethz.ch/modsim/tagungen/mannheim2011/Mannheim2011cfp.pdf.
Le 13 octobre 2011, à Paris, le Séminaire « Actualités des Sciences Sociales » 2011-2012 du Groupe d’Etude des Méthodes de l’Analyse Sociologie de la Sorbonne (GEMASS) a organisé une séance par Raymond Boudon, « Does One Choose One’s Beliefs? » Pour plus d’information, voir http://www.gemass.fr/.
On 13-14 October 2011, in Colchester at the University of Essex, the UK Data Archive organized at workshop on “How to Set Up and Run a Data Service”. It was a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes at the UK’s largest collection of digital research data in the social sciences and humanities, and talk one-to-one with experts on all aspects of the data life cycle. Experts also shared strategies and practices related to specialised datasets, including qualitative, historical and disclosive microdata. The full program and details can be found at http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news-events/events.aspx?id=2864.
Le 14 octobre 2011, à Paris, la première journée « Trajectoires », co-organisée par le SAMM et le CEREQ, a eu lieu. Le but de cette journée était de rassembler des chercheurs des disciplines très diverses représentées à Paris : économistes, sociologues, démographes, géographes, historiens, statisticiens. Les conférenciers invités ont fait un tour d’horizon sur les techniques et méthodologies récentes dédiées à l’analyse des données longitudinales (parcours de vie, trajectoires d’insertion professionnelle, etc.). Le programme de la conférence est désormais disponible sur la page Web http://samm.univ-paris1.fr/Journee-Trajectoires-11,453.
On 24-28 October 2011, in Amsterdam, the Social Network Analysis & Organizations Workshop took place. It was a comprehensive five-day workshop for Ph.D students, post-doctorates and other interested participants who wanted an introduction to applying social network theory and methods to studies in and between organizations. The workshop offered the opportunity to get acquainted with the basic elements of social network methods with an emphasis on organizational network studies. It also offered a possibility to gain hands-on experience with social network software with data provided either by the participants or the organizers. The workshop was organized by: the Department of Organization Sciences on behalf of the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS), the Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI), the VU University Amsterdam, and the University of Kentucky, LINKS International Center for Research on Social Networks in Business. Further information can be obtained from snaworkshop@vu.nl.
On 1-4 November 2011, in Ottawa, the Statistics Canada 2011 International Methodology
Symposium took place on the theme “Strategies for Standardization of Methods and Tools – How to Get There”. Members of the statistical community, such as those from private organizations, governments, or universities, attended. The first day consisted of workshops, while the following days consisted of both plenary and parallel sessions covering a variety of topics. Additional research and results were presented via poster sessions. Further information can be obtained from symposium2011@statcan.gc.ca.
Le 17 novembre 2011, à Lyon,
Liens Socio
, le portail francophone des sciences sociales, a fêté son 10ème anniversaire par une journée internationale de rencontres et de débats intitulée « Sciences sociales 2.0 ». L’objectif était de rassembler un certain nombre de regards originaux sur l’avenir possible des sciences sociales au cours des dix prochaines années, et de leurs relations avec les « nouvelles technologies ». A quoi vont ressembler les sciences sociales de demain ? Qu’est-ce que les nouvelles technologies font aux sciences sociales ? Comment les « humanités numériques » et les sciences sociales peuvent-elles s’articuler ? Quels sont les enjeux présents et futurs des développements de l’ingénierie cognitive pour les sciences sociales ? Sous l’impulsion des innovations technologiques en cours, comment les méthodes de recherche et d’enseignement en sciences sociales vont-elles évoluer ? En quoi peut consister « l’intelligence collective » en sciences sociales ? Comment vont circuler les résultats des recherches dans les communautés académiques ? Quels vont être les nouveaux usages de l’information scientifique ? Ce sont quelques unes des questions cruciales que pose l’imbrication croissante des nouvelles technologies et de la recherche en sciences sociales. Et ce sont quelques unes des questions auxquelles cette journée a contribué à apporter des réponses. La journée était organisée avec le soutien de l’ENS de Lyon, du Cléo, de l’ISH et de la région Rhône-Alpes. Pour en savoir plus, voir http://www.liens-socio.org/socio2.
On 17-18 November 2011, in Bremen, the Second International Conference “Advancing Survey Methods”, organized by the coordination project of the German Priority Programme on Survey Methodology (PPSM), took place. Frauke Kreuter, Ineke Stoop, Patrick Sturgis and Vasja Vehovar were invited speakers at the conference. Further information is available at http://www.survey-methodology.de/en/termine_en.html.
On 18-19 November 2011, in Lisbon, the Digital Methods & Historical Research Conference took place. With this initiative, the organizers intended to discuss the implications of using digital technologies in the production and dissemination of knowledge in History. The conference sought to understand how a set of digital methodologies has influenced historical research, to discuss its advantages and disadvantages, and to identify innovative ways of linking the future of the digital world to the study of the past. For further information, see http://digital-methods-and-tools-for-history.blogspot.com/.
Le 21 novembre 2011, à Paris, une conférence sur la « Mesure des inégalités » a eu lieu, organisée par Centre Maurice Halbwachs (Marion Selz) et la Société française de Statistiques (Avner Bar-Hen). Tout le monde a une idée de ce que sont les inégalités et en parle comme si c’était quelque chose de simple. Pourtant ce concept est complexe, intégrant d’emblée celui de comparaison : il s’agit en l’occurrence de comparer ce que possèdent les individus ou leurs probabilités d’accéder à un type de bien ou un statut, ce qui présuppose de pouvoir le mesurer de façon précise. Ces mesures-là ne sont déjà pas simples, notamment du fait du caractère multidimensionnel des richesses. Mais, même en imaginant que l’on sait les effectuer, la mesure des inégalités reste problématique : comment décider si une distribution est plus inégale qu’une autre ? Le manque de définition formelle conduit à des résultats qui semblent paradoxaux. Au-delà de ces questions formelles, le recueil de données robustes et fiables recèle des difficultés de plusieurs types : informations intimes, inconnues, inaccessibles, manipulées… Par ailleurs, il existe plusieurs sortes d’inégalités : inégalités de revenus, de santé, d’éducation, de talent, d’emploi, environnementales… et, selon le critère de comparaison, inégalités générationnelles, de genre, géographiques, professionnelles…, qui peuvent éventuellement s’entrecroiser; elles ne requièrent peut-être pas toutes la même méthodologie pour être calculées. La conférence a invité chercheurs et statisticiens à réfléchir à la façon dont on peut progresser vers une analyse réaliste, consensuelle et compréhensible. Plus d’information est disponible à Sfds@ihp.fr.
On 30 November-2 December 2011, in Montreal, the international conference, “Social Statistics, Poverty and Social Exclusion - Perspectives from Quebec, Canada and Abroad”, took place. There were several sessions, including those on “International Comparisons of Poverty” and “Health and Poverty - Health Consequences of Neighborhood Poverty”. Among the Round Tables, there was one on “How to conduct the international comparisons required by the Quebec Act to combat Poverty and Social exclusion?” Information about the conference can be found at http://www.ciqss.umontreal.ca/conf_statsoc_2011/.
On 8-9 December 2011, in Leuven, the seminar, “Minimizing and Handling Non-response in Sample Surveys”, organized by Jaak Billiet and Gert Molenberghs, took place, focusing on practical measures, classical as well as innovative, to address such non-response. Further information is available from the QMSS 2 Web site at http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/qmss/seminars/2011-12-08/call.shtml.
Les 12-13 décembre 2011, à Lyon, le colloque « Réseaux sociaux – Des structures à la politique », a eu lieu à l’ENS de Lyon. Les intervenants comprenaient Bruno Latour (Sciences Po, Paris), David Stark (Columbia Univ.) et Pierre Mercklé (ENS de Lyon). Plus d’information est disponible à http://www.ixxi.fr/?page_id=857.
On 14-17 December 2011, in Dublin, the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR) 20th Anniversary Conference took place. ECSR’s purpose is to promote sociological research in Europe, in particular by encouraging cooperation between research centres. Membership is open to research institutes and University Departments in all European countries. ECSR organises yearly conferences, annual workshops for graduate students, and an annual Graduate School. It publishes a twice-yearly newsletter and the European Sociological Review is the official journal of the Consortium. The conference chairs were Robert Erikson (Swedish Institute for Social Research) and Christopher T. Whelan (Sociology, University College Dublin). Further information is available at http://www.rug.nl/soc/onderzoek/ecsr/escsr_conference/index.
On 9-20 January 2012, at the University of Limerick, the Fourth Winter School in Social Science Research Methods took place with separate parallel qualitative and quantitative streams appropriate to Ph level research.
On 23-27 January 2012, in Groningen, a workshop took place on “Analysis of Longitudinal, Group-centered Network Data with Siena”. The objective was to develop an understanding of the models and familiarise participants with the use of the RSiena software for model estimation. Researchers who were in the process of collecting or analysing their own longitudinal data sets participated in the workshop. Teachers were Christian Steglich, Filip Agneessens, Marijtje van Duijn and Mark Huisman. Further information is available at the workshop Web site at http://www.gmw.rug.nl/~steglich/workshops/Groningen2012.htm.
On 30 January-10 February 2012, in Sao Paulo, the International Political Science Association (IPSA) Methods Summer School took place around the theme “Concepts, Methods and Techniques in Political Science and International Relations”. More information at http://summerschool.ipsa.org.
On 5-7 March 2012, in Mannheim, the 2012 German Online Research Conference took place. Topics included Social Media Research, Market Research, Survey Research and Methodology. Further information is available at http://conftool.gor.de/conftool12/.
On 12-18 March 2012, in Redondo Beach, near Los Angeles, Social Networks Sunbelt XXXII conference took place. Further information is available at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sunbelt2012 or from lkoehly@yahoo.com.
On 24-25 March 2012, at the University of Southampton, the conference “Networks, Archaeology & History - The Connected Past - People, Networks and Complexity in archaeology and history”, took place, organized by Tom Brughmans, Anna Collar and Fiona Coward with the Networks Network List. The keynote speakers were Professor Carl Knappett and Professor Alex Bentley. Further information is available at http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/.