Spring 2013

ABSTRACT: We carry out an analysis of societal variations in the process of educational attainment using a multilevel modeling strategy to assess how societal modernization, educational expansion, social inequality, a world-wide secular trend toward greater equality of opportunity, and communist educational policies affect the dependence of educational attainment on parental status and the gender gap in educational attainment. Using data from 541 sample surveys conducted in 54 countries, we define five-year birth cohorts ranging from the late 19th century through the late 20th century.

ABSTRACT: In analysis of longitudinal data about migration behavior in rural northeastern Thailand, we examine the association of migration behavior with patterns of NDVI signals to estimate exposure to non-modal clusters over varying periods of retrospective time. Our hazard model approach indicates significantly different associations between rural out migration and return migration depending on the length of the temporal lens.

ABSTRACT: Despite widespread success in using Twitter data to explain what people are doing or talking about, little attention has been paid to developing systematic ways of gathering demographic information from this data source. This paper develops a scalable, sustainable toolkit for social science researchers interested in using Twitter data to examine behaviors and attitudes, as well as understand the populations expressing them. We begin by describing how to collect Twitter data on a particular population ¿ in this case, individuals who did not plan to vote in the 2012 U.S.