Income Inequality 1

Question 1

Psychological focus (attribution theory)

Answer 1

debate between internal versus external attributions e.g. for a homeless person what causes homelessness

Question 2

System focus

Answer 2

Welfare state versus Market model (should government be involved in health and Welfare?)

Question 3

Statistical focus

Answer 3

correlation versus causation; does income inequality drive health and welfare or do people’s abilities and choices create poor health and presence of welfare which in turn drive income inequality

Question 4

Policy focus

Answer 4

economy versus policy; Should Governments manage the economy [control capital through interest rates, etc] or should Governments use social policy and social indicators to inform decision making

Question 5

What has changed for many social scientists

Answer 5

the world has changed for many social scientists; they are no longer just collecting their own data, but are analysing secondary data [that is, data collected by others].

Question 6

Two prime examples

Answer 6

meta data analysis; big data

Question 7

Big data

Answer 7

extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns relating to human behaviour and interactions

Question 8

What does big data analysis generate (2)

Answer 8

Generates descriptive correlational data but not causal explanations; Predicts future trends but does not develop or test theory [that is, it is atheoretical]

Question 9

Example of big data analysis

Answer 9

RMIT evaluates the performance of undergraduate programmes by collecting three major metrics:1) Program quality – Course Experience Survey [collected each semester] and Program Experience Questionnaire [a survey of graduates]; 2) Program relevance - Graduate Destination Survey [% of graduates either employed or in postgrad courses three months after graduation]; 3) Viability Program demand - # of VTAC applications and # of applications listing program 1st, 2nd, 3rd preferences, Retention level - % of students completing degree in the minimum time and Financial performance - net profit level

Question 10

Big data advantages

Answer 10

1) data driven organisations improve productivity and are more profitable; 2) Allows researchers to study extreme pathological populations;

Question 11

Example

Answer 11

In my gambling research, need to collect 2000+ respondents to identify 30 probable pathological gamblers [problem gamblers not yet diagnosed]. By using betting activity on Bet.com, researchers can quickly identify a large sample of probable, pathological gamblers

Question 12

Example 1 of big data success

Answer 12

Spots-hotter data – has been used to improve crime analysis and prediction of crime hot spots

Question 13

Example 2 of big data success

Answer 13

Twitter data – more accurate in making national economic predictions by monitoring entries on job losses, job gains and job postings

Question 14

Example 3 of big data success

Answer 14

Google-search – made timely [same day] predictions of the spread of influenza outbreak – monitored online searches for flu symptoms compared to health department statistic [published weekly]

Question 15

Big data disadvantages (2)

Answer 15

1) some organisations focus on outcome and not causation; 2) No social conscious – remove programs that are not economically viable irrespective of their community importance: e.g. Disability