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Curving Normality
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- March 18, 2013
- 04:04 AM
- 112 views
Internet Bad Neighborhoods
by Rense in Curving Normality
ResearchBlogging.org
Don’t venture too far on the internet: bad neighborhoods were located! Internet bad neighborhoods are those geographical areas where the majority of spam and phishing mails originate from. Interestingly, some regions specialize in spam, while others focus on phishing for your bank account. ... Read more »
Giovane C. M. Moura, Anna Sperotto, Ramin Sadre, & Aiko Pras. (2013) Evaluating Third-Party Bad Neighborhood Blacklists for Spam Detection. IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management. info:/
- January 9, 2013
- 12:30 PM
- 185 views
Price Winning Research: Do children keep their mother from working?
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
“Do children keep their mother from working?” I used this title for a poster presented at a PhD conference, two years ago. The intentionally provocativeprovocative title, of course, spurred some discussion about the world being a little more complex than it suggested. Of course it is, I know. But it got the attention of many. Today, I won a best research award.... Read more »
Rense Nieuwenhuis, Ariana Need, & Henk van der Kolk. (2012) Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women's Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975-1999. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(June), 614-630. info:/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00965.x
- December 21, 2012
- 06:00 AM
- 171 views
Influence.ME: Tools for Detecting Influential Data in Multilevel Regression Models
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Despite the increasing popularity of multilevel regression models, the development of diagnostic tools lagged behind. Typically, in the social sciences multilevel regression models are used to account for the nesting structure of the data, such as students in classes, migrants from origin-countries, and individuals in countries. However, multilevel models were not designed to analyze data on a limited number of groups with per group a large number of observations. We provide diagnostic tools.... Read more »
Rense Nieuwenhuis, Manfred te Grotenhuis, & Ben Pelzer. (2012) Influence.ME: tools for detecting influential data in mixed effects models. R Journal, 4(2), 38-47. info:/
- June 20, 2012
- 12:00 PM
- 214 views
Will Partisan Polarization get in the way of Obama’s Second Term?
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
I just realized that Obama’s chances of being re-elected might be seriously compromised. Not because of any of the policies he did (or did not) implement, but because of polarization of America Public opinion. The New Yorker has a piece of his re-election, describing all (recent) presidents that were re-elected for a second term.... Read more »
Carmines, & Woods. (2002) The role of party activists in the evolution of the abortion issue. Political Behavior, 24(4), 361-377. info:/
- May 25, 2012
- 09:30 PM
- 238 views
Women's Employment: Institutions and Demographics
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Women's employment increased dramatically during recent decades. Nevertheless, women's employment falls behind that of men. One key explanation for that discrepancy is that mothers are less likely to be employed than women without children. In a recent publication in the Journal of Marriage and Family, it was shown that government policies can have a substantial impact on the degree to which women combine motherhood with employment. ... Read more »
Nieuwenhuis, Rense, Need, Ariana, & Van der Kolk, Henk. (2012) Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women’s Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975 – 1999. Journal of Marriage and Family, 74(3), 614-630. info:/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.00965.x
- December 7, 2011
- 06:02 PM
- 428 views
The Dutch Paradox: Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Netherlands 1954-2002
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
The Dutch Paradox of abortion entails the observation that in the Netherlands induced abortion is legal, safe, available, and free, but also extremely rare compared to other countries. A new publication in the European Sociological Review, authored by Mark Levels (corresponding author), Ariana Need, Rense Nieuwenhuis (that’s me), Roderick Sluiter, and Wout Ultee, examines the effect of both individual and societal effects on women’s decision process leading to an abortion. ... Read more »
Levels, M., Need, A., Nieuwenhuis, R., Sluiter, R., & Ultee, W. (2010) Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Netherlands 1954-2002. European Sociological Review. DOI: 10.1093/esr/jcq065
- November 21, 2011
- 03:22 PM
- 375 views
Why speeding neutrinos are interesting for social scientists
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
In the world as we understand it, based on Einstein, nothing can go faster than light. This prediction based on the general theory of relativity has proven itself countless times in empirical research. And now, lo and behold, a group at CERN has observed neutrino’s racing through earth from France/Switzerland to Italy at the World-record breaking speed of slightly above light-speed!... Read more »
The OPERA Collaboraton: T. Adam et al. (2011) Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam. Arxiv. arXiv: 1109.4897v2
- March 8, 2011
- 04:00 AM
- 961 views
The Leaking Pipeline of Women’s Academic Careers
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Female academics are a minority, compared to male academics. This overrepresentation of men is even stronger in higher ranking positions. The Leaking Pipeline hypothesis explains this discrepancy by focusing on the strongly selective nature of an academic career.... Read more »
Alper J. (1993) The pipeline is leaking women all the way along. Science (New York, N.Y.), 260(5106), 409-11. PMID: 17838262
Pell AN. (1996) Fixing the leaky pipeline: women scientists in academia. Journal of animal science, 74(11), 2843-8. PMID: 8923199
Travis, J. (1993) Making Room for Women in the Culture of Science. Science, 260(5106), 412-415. DOI: 10.1126/science.260.5106.412
- June 7, 2010
- 06:00 AM
- 678 views
Sex discrimination in graduate admissions? A real-life aggregation paradox
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
A 1975 study on graduate admissions at Berkeley found that male applicants had a substantially higher likelihood of being admitted, compared to women. However, upon closer examination the presence of aggregation paradoxes do not legitimize the conclusion that women were discriminated against.... Read more »
Bickel PJ, Hammel EA, & O'connell JW. (1975) Sex Bias in Graduate Admissions: Data from Berkeley. Science (New York, N.Y.), 187(4175), 398-404. PMID: 17835295
- May 31, 2010
- 06:00 AM
- 751 views
Simpson’s Paradoxical Card Trick
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Imagine this card trick. A statistician divides a regular deck of cards into two sets: one of 20 and one of 32 cards. Then, he lets students prove that in both sets, the proportion of court cards is larger among the black ones than among the red cards. How is this possible and what are the consequences for statistical analyses?... Read more »
Simpson, E.H. (1951) The Interpretation of Interaction in Contingency Tables. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), 13(2), 238-241. info:/
- July 27, 2009
- 06:00 AM
- 898 views
Elective fertility cryo-preservation instigates debate in the Netherlands
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
New technology has that unique property of creating fascinating moral debates, which is especially so when it relates to new technology regarding life, death, or in this case: fertility. For a few years, technology has been available for the cryo-preservation of oocytes or ovarian tissue, which is used to help save the fertility of women who run the risk of losing it, for instance due to chemotherapy. Now, the question is raised whether such techniques should be made available to healthy women a........ Read more »
Dondorp, W., & De Wert, G. (2009) Fertility preservation for healthy women: ethical aspects. Human Reproduction, 24(8), 1779-1785. DOI: 10.1093/humrep/dep102
- June 16, 2009
- 07:00 AM
- 969 views
One outlier and you’re out: Influential data and racial prejudice
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Currently preparing a presentation on analyzing influential data in mixed effects models myself, my eye fell on an article in which important claims on racial prejudice were refuted. An important aspect of the criticism on existing work, is that in one article the main correlation was completely due to a single observation. Solely based on [...]... Read more »
Blanton, H., Jaccard, J., Klick, J., Mellers, B., Mitchell, G., & Tetlock, P. (2009) Strong claims and weak evidence: Reassessing the predictive validity of the IAT. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(3), 567-582. DOI: 10.1037/a0014665
McConnell, A., & Leibold, J. (2009) Weak criticisms and selective evidence: Reply to Blanton et al. (2009). Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(3), 583-589. DOI: 10.1037/a0014649
- May 5, 2009
- 06:58 AM
- 1,000 views
What’s in a name? Dennis the Dentist and Joe the Plumber
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
American dentists were found to be named Dennis disproportionally often. However, do people called Dennis indeed 'gravitate towards dentistry'? The causality constituting this finding is discussed. And yes: it has to do with Joe the Plumber.... Read more »
Pelham, B., Mirenberg, M., & Jones, J. (2002) Why Susie sells seashells by the seashore: Implicit egotism and major life decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(4), 469-487. DOI: 10.1037//0022-3514.82.4.469
- January 21, 2009
- 06:00 AM
- 993 views
Unintended Consequences Catholicism and Abortion Attitudes
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
One of the elegances of sociology is found in the unintended consequences of our actions. In my studies of attitudes towards abortion, I found a nice example of such unintended consequences regarding the Catholic church. But, I doubt that the findings are warranted by the analyses.... Read more »
Cook, Elizabeth Adell, Jelen, Ted G., & Wilcox, Clyde. (1993) Catholicism and Abortion Attitudes in the American States: A Contextual Analysis. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32(3), 223-230. DOI: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1386661
- January 6, 2009
- 05:00 AM
- 980 views
Bad Science overestimates psychological consequences induced abortion
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Can bad science lead us to draw wrong conclusions about the world we live in? "Of course it can", we are inclined to think. And if so, can this have real-life consequences? Investigating these meta-questions is not as easy as it might seem, for it would require an exact manner to distinguish the good from the bad science, and it would require a subject that has been thoroughly investigated in both the 'good' and the 'bad' ways to compare the outcomes.
One such subject would be the vast amount o........ Read more »
V CHARLES, C POLIS, S SRIDHARA, & R BLUM. (2008) Abortion and long-term mental health outcomes: a systematic review of the evidence. Contraception, 78(6), 436-450. DOI: 10.1016/j.contraception.2008.07.005
- November 14, 2008
- 05:00 AM
- 1,253 views
Republican Schoolmaster and the Narcissism of the Minor Differences
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Now that we all know who the new President of the United States will be, people are preparing for a new type of government, with a new and markedly different agenda than the previous one. Most people are very contend with this new agenda, but some will be disappointed. How does this influence the people's opinion, one might ask? Will conflict be the result, or can one expect that in general the new agenda will be accepted and that those who voted McCain will change their opinions to generally ac........ Read more »
Charles H. Franklin, & Liance C. Kosaki. (1989) Republican Schoolmaster: The U.S. Supreme Court, Public Opinion, and Abortion. The American Political Science Review, 83(3), 751-771. DOI: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1962059
Anton Blok. (1998) The Narcissism of Minor Differences. European Journal of Social Theory, 1(1), 33-56.
- October 9, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 1,331 views
Immigrant Children’s Educational Achievement in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
How well do migrant's children fare in the schooling systems of the receiving countries? That has been the main question of sociologists Levels, Dronkers, and Kraaykamp. Using advanced statistical techniques on newly available (survey) data, they were able to improve upon existing research in the field of educational sociology in exiting ways.
The authors of the article -- recently published in American Sociological Review -- were able to take into account influences from both (characteristics ........ Read more »
Mark Levels, Jaap Dronkers, & Gerbert Kraaykamp. (2008) Immigrant Children’s Educational Achievement in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance . American Sociological Review, 835-853. DOI: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asoca/asr/2008/00000073/00000005/art00007
- September 15, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 1,250 views
Abortion Activism in 1971 Science?
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Science changes, as does the way scientists report on their work. Reading a 1971 article in Science, on attitudes towards induced abortion, I was truly amazed by the sheer amount of apparent activism that might have influenced the interpretation of the findings. Let's have a look.... Read more »
J. Blake. (1971) Abortion and Public Opinion: The 1960-1970 Decade. Science, 171(3971), 540-549. DOI: 10.1126/science.171.3971.540
- September 8, 2008
- 04:00 AM
- 1,413 views
U.S. Presidential Abortion Debate
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
With the U.S. Presidential election campaigns gaining momentum, the important issues are becoming more and more clear. One such issue that might make or brake a candidate, is their stance on abortion. McCain and Palin strongly objecting against the possibility of women having an abortion, Obama and Biden take a pro-choice stance. More interestingly, though, Obama and Biden explicitly state on their site that it is their goal to protect the Roe vs. Wade ruling, whereas McCain-Palin explicitly sta........ Read more »
Edward G. Carmines, & James Woods. (2002) The Role of Party Activists in the Evolution of the Abortion Issue. Political Behavior, 24(4), 361-377. DOI: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1558379
- September 4, 2008
- 06:00 AM
- 1,394 views
Public opinion on induced abortion, comparison in Western Europe
by Rense Nieuwenhuis in Curving Normality
Building upon the paper written by Jelen et al. (1993) that I wrote about a few days ago, I'd like to bring to your attention a more recent paper by Dutch researchers. It also addresses attitudes toward abortion in Western Europe, but does so in a rather more advanced manner.
As might be expected from an article written 15 years later, much developments have been made in the research on public opinion regarding induced abortion, both on a theoretical level, as well as on a methodological ........ Read more »
Ariana Need, Wout Ultee, Mark Levels, & Marike van Tienen. (2008) Mening over abortus in West-Europa, 1981-2000. Mens en Maatschappij, 83(1), 5-22.
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