Suchergebnisse

The explosive growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web in recent years has produced not only the trivial and bizarre, but also information useful for social science research and teaching. Yet most of this information is difficult to locate, particularly for those unfamiliar with the Web, primarily because of its nonlinear architecture—called "hypertext." The purpose of this research note is to give scholars a sense of what is unique about research resources on the Web and an indication in general terms of what types of information and materials can be accessed through it. First, I describe primary and secondary materials, teaching resources, reference material, and news sources. I then suggest several guidelines for Web site development that I believe will improve the potential for social science research on the Web. Finally, I conclude by outlining some directions for further analysis raised by the widespread use of the Web for academic research and teaching. A companion guide to research resources on the Web will be posted on the International Organization Web site through which the material here (and much more) can then be accessed.

Die starke Verbreitung des Internet bzw. des World Wide Web ermöglicht auch den Sozialwissenschaften den Zugang zu nützlichen Informationen für Forschung und Lehre. Bisher ist es aber relativ schwer, diese informationen aufzufinden, insbesondere wenn man mit dem Aufbau des Web nicht vertraut ist. Der Artikel gibt Hinweise darauf, welche Art von Informationen und Forschungsmaterial vorhanden sind und wie man zu ihnen Zugang gewinnen kann. Angeführt werden Primar- und Sekundärliteratur, Lehrmaterial, Verzeichnisse und neue Quellen. Weiterhin werden einige Richtlinien angegeben, mit denen man sich als Sozialwissenschaftler im Web orientieren kann. (SWP-Clv)

International relations scholars are often interested in nominal dependent variables, and commonly analyze such variables with multinomial logit (MNL) models that treat status quo outcomes (e.g. "peace") as a homogeneous baseline-choice category. However, recent studies of zero-inflation processes within international relations suggest that these baseline cases may often arise from two distinct sources. Specifically, some status quo responses are likely to correspond to observations that actively opted for this choice over all others, while the remaining status quo outcomes are likely to arise from observations that were unable to realistically register a non-status quo choice under any reasonable circumstances. Including both sets of responses within an MNL model's baseline category can bias the estimated effects of covariates, leading to faulty inferences. As a solution to this problem, this study considers a recently proposed baseline-inflated MNL (BIMNL) model that explicitly estimates and tests for heterogeneous populations of status quo observations. After discussing the model and its theoretical underpinnings, I demonstrate the BIMNL's utility through replications of two existing studies of political violence and cooperation within the areas of international relations and civil war.