Author Archives: jsradford

Closing the Gender Gap on Wikipedia: Results from Some Simulations

Note: this post has been edited from the original to reflect initial feedback. Most notably, the introductory framing has been changed to focus more on the gap itself and closing it. The second change follows the comment from nemobis. The … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

The End of the Career as a Stage in Life?

I’ve had several conversations and read several pieces across the web on changing careers, preparing for retirement, and generally, what we’re supposed to be doing with our working lives.  I’m an intern and full time PhD student, so I’m still … Continue reading

Posted in Age, Current Issues, Historical Trends, Jobs | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

2N Analytics – Why More Data is Never Enough

The fervor over big data has largely focused on the number of data points now at our disposal by which ever-more specific and powerful analytic insights can be made. But managing the amount of computations is not the biggest challenge.  … Continue reading

Posted in Current Issues, Data, Methodology, Organizations, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Research Fugue: Measuring Power in Political Campaigns

I’ve been working on a project inspired by the Center for Investigative Reporting and moderated by Kaggle.  I used a network analysis of the movement of money between campaign committees to measure the extent to which different campaigns and different … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous | 1 Comment

Doing Program Evaluation Scientifically

I was inspired to write this post after reflecting on James Boutin’s series of posts critiquing the construction and use of data in schools.  There are a lot of ways to screw up evaluations, beginning with misguided initial theories, terrible … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Research, Miscellaneous, Nonprofits, Organizations | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Diminishing Power of the Public, Part 1: Nonprofits as Privatization

This is the first in a series of posts on privatization, the decline of public power, and its implications for democracy and the provision of public and social goods. A common argument among globalization’s flattening earth theorists is the assertion … Continue reading

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DonorsChoose Supplement Part 3: Market Corrections

Note: In preparation for the results announcement by DonorsChoose, this series is meant to carve up different issues raised by my work on the DonorsChoose Data and address them directly and more fully.  You can find the original announcement and … Continue reading

Posted in Applied Research, Economy, Education, Internet, Nonprofits | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment