Oct 9th, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
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 of) country of origin, country of destination, and the migrant community in the country of origin. The did so by estimating advanced Cross Classified hierarchical regression models on the newly available data from the 2003 wave of the Project for International Student Assessment (PISA). Student performance of migrant’s children was measured at the hand of their math test scores.
Jun 20th, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Those of you who have ever attended a ‘Fête Nos’, a typical Brêton festival-type of gathering with music and people dancing, may immediately understand what I’m going to write about. All the others who have attended another gathering of a large number of people will also be completely familiar with my revived curiosity in [...]
May 18th, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Yesterday I watched “Katja en Sophie”, a Dutch talkshow hosted by Katja Schuurman and Sophie Hilbrand. The topic of the evening was the difficulties (Dutch) women have when combining a career with having children. Femke Halsema, political leader of Groenlinks, was one of the guests. She rightfully criticized an expert, but missed out on some of the more interesting arguments.
One of the elements of the talkshow was a video in which an ‘expert’ (Henk Noort) explained some scientific thoughts on why women still have lower career possibilities, compared with men. He mentioned two causes for the low labour market participation: women get physically ‘addicted’ to their children, thereby increasing the incentive for women to quit working after having had a child. The second reason was a comparison with the United States, where due to the shortage of men during the First World War men were forced to make way for working women.
Feb 12th, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Last time I wrote about how (socio)biologist Edward Wilson mis-interpreted the work of sociologist James Coleman. Basically, I argued that Wilson mixed what need the be explained (explanandum) up with what to explain it with (explanans). In the reactions it was pointed out (by Inti Suarez), that the criticism Wilson receives is often more [...]
Feb 9th, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
The social sciences are presently characterized by a methodological pluralism. Both between and within disciplines, several methods are applied to answer questions and test hypotheses. Some see this as a richness or an asset of the discipline, others see this as a serious problem. Recently, I’ve been writing a philosophical paper on the merit(s) of [...]
Jan 21st, 2008
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Amongst the more interesting aspects of present day sociology is the quest to properly understand the distinction between different levels of aggregation. Easy as this may seem, the real problem arises in analyzing properly how individual actions bring about changes at societal level.
But, besides on an analytical level, theoretically some interesting mistakes sometimes are made, [...]
Dec 12th, 2007
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Een toenemend aantal Amerikaanse meisjes legt tegenwoordig een `Virginity Pledge’ af. Dit houdt in dat vaders een contract aangaan met hun tienerdochters, waarin zij beloven zorg te dragen voor de maagdelijkheid van hun dochters. Hoe ze dat doen, is overigens niet duidelijk,
Het zal zeker te maken hebben met het nadrukkelijk na laten leven van religieuze [...]
Nov 28th, 2007
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Onlangs schreef ik over het UWV en hun subsidiëring van een brieven-service. Een sollicitatie-brieven-service, om precies te zijn. Deze service helpt werklozen aan een professioneel geschreven sollicitatiebrief en deze brief helpt hen vervolgens aan een (grotere kans op een) baan. Prachtig natuurlijk. Heel prettig zelfs voor diegenen die op deze manier aan een baan komen.
Ik [...]
Nov 16th, 2007
by Rense Nieuwenhuis.
Onlangs gezien op het NOS-journaal: het UWV besteedt 900.000 euro aan het inhuren van een bedrijf dat sollicitatiebrieven op hoog niveau voor klanten van het UWV. Dat dit werkt, blijkt volgens het bedrijf uit onafhankelijk onderzoek: meer mensen dan normaal worden uitgenodigd op gesprek. Dat is natuurlijk mooi voor die mensen die nu een [...]
Influence.ME: an R package providing tools for detecting influential data in mixed models.