Encyclopedia of Sociology

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN SOCIOLOGY

draft a questionnaire with any word processor.
From embedded branching commands within the
questionnaire document, the QPL software pack-
age simultaneously produces two versions of the
questionnaire: one for computer administration
and the other for interviewer- or self-administra-
tion. An additional bonus of the program is that it
automatically produces data definition commands
for SPSS or SAS to use for data analysis.

Visualization and Graphics. Many social re-
searchers have come to rely on computer graphic
systems to produce maps, charts summarizing sta-
tistical data, network diagrams, and to retrieve
data from GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
databases. GIS data contain coordinates to associ-
ate a specific spatial point or area with any attrib-
ute, e.g., social density, associated with that point
or collection of points. Because of the complexi-
ties of these data structures, the integration of
these techniques onto sociologists’ desktops has
been slow. Another constraint is the paucity of
techniques for analyzing such data. Work such as
that of Cleveland (1993) for analyzing and visualiz-
ing data graphically may increase the utilization of
such data by sociologists. In addition, techniques
for storing and delivering interactive audio and
video by means of the Web may stimulate sociolo-
gists to investigate multimedia data containing
sounds and moving images.

Teaching and Learning. During the 1970s
long before the microcomputer, a small group of
social science instructors began to explore how to
utilize computer technology in teaching (Bailey
1978). Now it has become quite common, and
several sociologically-oriented instructional pack-
ages are widely used. The most popular have been
Chipendale, designed by James Davis (1990), and
MicroCase, developed by Roberts and Stark (cf.
Roberts and Corbett 1996). These two packages
have served as the basis for the exercises contained
in at least a dozen published textbooks and
workbooks. A variety of instructional approaches
and software tools are described regularly in Teach-
ing Sociology and the Social Science Computer Review.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

The practice of computing in social research has
evolved rapidly. Computers have been applied to

practically every research task, including such un-

likely ones as interviewing, and hundreds of other

tasks (Brent and Anderson 1990). This variety of

computer applications will continue to evolve with

the newer Internet-based technologies.

The application of computing to sociology is

not without problems. Errors in data and software

abound yet rarely do social scientists check their

results by running more than one program on the

same data. Data and software tend to be very

costly, but there are many impediments to the

sharing of these critical resources. Better software

is needed but graduate students often are discour-

aged from programming new software. Nonethe-

less, new breakthroughs in computer technology

will continue, and major new opportunities will

emerge. Many of the advances in sociological com-

puting during the next few years undoubtedly will

follow the lines of progress already described:

hypertext networks; integrated, high performance,

graphic data analysis stations; software for com-

puter-supported cooperative work; and neural net-

works for complex models of social systems.

Perhaps the most exciting challenge for the

future involves a concert of these innovations

directed at the problem of modeling and analyzing

vast amounts of social data. One solution would

incorporate three-dimensional, multicolored, dy-

namic graphical representations of complex social

data structures. But new techniques for analyzing

these data will require new models of dynamic

social structures as well as parallel social processes.

Computer representations of these models tend

to require extremely fast processing. Access to

such models on the Web, supplemented with au-

dio and video displays, may evolve into an impor-

tant part of the sociologist’s tool kit of the future.

REFERENCES

Anderson, Ronald E. 1981 ‘‘Instructional computing in

sociology: current status and future prospects.’’ Teach-

ing Sociology. 8,2 (Jan):171–195.

——— 1997 ‘‘A Research Agenda for Computing and

the Social Sciences.’’ Social Science Computer Review

14, 1 (Summer):123–134.

———, and Edward Brent 1989 ‘‘Computing in Sociolo-

gy: Promise and Practice.’’ Social Science Computer

Review 7,4 (Winter).

——— 1991 ‘‘Sociological Computing: An Opportunity

Missed?’’ The American Sociologist 22,11 (Spring):65–77.