Role of Computing in Sociology
Difference between computer and Computing:
Most of the people get confused with Computing and computer science. Indeed,
both areas have almost common topics.
Computing contains designing, developing, building hardware and software
systems by writing algorithms in order to process, structure and manage
information. It also involves in research and development in communications
and entertainment media by using various computing principles.
Even Computer science deals with understanding and designing computers,
software systems, and computational process. But, it is mostly concerned with
the information transfer, and designs algorithms accordingly.
Key Differences
Though the difference between both the fields will not create much gap, I am
giving you some differences to show these areas are distinct.
Computing Computer Science
Computing is fundamentally about Computer science more concerned
information process about understanding computational
processes and information
transformation.
Computing involves how to best make It is focused on developing applications
use of developed applications by for computers
troubleshooting the problems
Computing and IT professionals Computer science professionals create
applied programs in solving computer programs and applications
technological problems and make the by writing complex code.
smooth business processes.
Both the Computing and Computer science have equal opportunities and growth
rate. A career with both degrees is very promising.
Computational sociology:
Computational sociology is a branch of sociology that uses computationally
intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena. Using computer
simulations, artificial intelligence, complex statistical methods, and analytic
approaches like social network analysis, computational sociology develops and
tests theories of complex social processes through bottom-up modeling of social
interactions.
It involves the understanding of social agents, the interaction among these
agents, and the effect of these interactions on the social aggregate. Although the
subject matter and methodologies in social science differ from those in natural
science or computer science, several of the approaches used in contemporary
social simulation originated from fields such as physics and artificial intelligence.
Some of the approaches that originated in this field have been imported into the
natural sciences, such as measures of network centrality from the fields of social
network analysis and network science.
In relevant literature, computational sociology is often related to the study of
social complexity. Social complexity concepts such as complex systems, non-
linear interconnection among macro and micro process, and emergence, have
entered the vocabulary of computational sociology. A practical and well-known
example is the construction of a computational model in the form of an "artificial
society", by which researchers can analyze the structure of a social system.
Introduction to the topic:
With respect to the understanding and study of person to the social phenomenon
of social phenomenon, social phenomenon can be divided into deterministic
events and uncertain events. The connotation and extension of deterministic
events is unmistakable, clear, easy to grasp, such as population, wage,
occupation, nationality. Uncertain events are divided into two sub class, a
subclass is a random event, it is uncertain, but the understanding of such events
is clear. It appears and do not appear, and after all is clear, such as crime,
disaster, collective behavior, which belongs to this kind of phenomenon. Another
sub class is fuzzy event. The so called fuzzy is caused by something intermediary
transitional meaning about the things and extension of the concept of
uncertainty. It is between the two things; show those characteristics, so that
people can not accurately put it classified as a class or a class hierarchy, such as
behavior, attitudes, values and other types of phenomena. Based on the above
analysis, we divide the social phenomena such as shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 Social phenomena
Classification of social phenomena:
The research object of sociology, there are a lot of uncertain events. Even if it is
deterministic events, classified, will also appear uncertain. As the wage income is
clear, once it is divided into high, medium, low three grades, the boundary was
not clear. An important problem in the research of visible sociology facing is how
to deal with the problem of fuzzy phenomenon. The reasons of social
phenomenon of fuzziness have:
The social phenomenon and the volatility do not know the reciprocating
and the lag of contradictions. Any kind of social phenomenon is dynamic process
of changing, and gone forever, not repeat, and awareness of people always occurs
after the obtained, and stay at a point in time, when people are finishing own
understanding, things is not the same, when people want to feature can only
grasp of things to make judgments based on the existing memory. However it is
used and so on concept to understand and describe the social phenomenon, did
not feel inconvenient. If the sociologist must according to the accuracy of
ordinary mathematics to define these concepts, it will bring inconvenience to the
people.
The complexity of social phenomena and human cognitive ability
limitations is contradiction. The complexity of social phenomenon is caused by
phenomenon reason is various, between one kind of social phenomenon and
other social phenomenon is multifaceted, multi-level changes, resulting also in
various forms and multi direction. However the performance of human cognitive
ability and the use of the tool of cognition are limited. Therefore, all the people
always cannot penetrate the social phenomenon, which will cause the shortage of
information. In the information shortage, people need to nature and law of things
to make judgments, so can only take the likelihood inference.
The positivist approach common mathematics with fuzzy events a lot but
incapable of action, showing its limitations, the specific performance:
Because of the subjective meaning of positivism method to eliminate the
social phenomenon, also ruled out the possibility of nature or human behavior. If
only according to the statistical data on the judgment of the nature of social
phenomena, and often come and experience the opposite conclusion people.
Based on two valued logic positivism method of ordinary mathematics, make the
social phenomenon of "either this or that" conclusion, and has the objective
things vague to exist in large quantities, namely "this and that “phenomenon, the
"make it rigidly uniform", resulting in inconsistent with the facts. As for the
overall sample definition, positivist methods that define more clearly, the more
accurately as possible, and in fact the whole sample boundaries are fuzzy.
For the analysis of natural language incapable of action, trying to expel it from
the study of sociology, it is virtually impossible to. Unless the sociologists do not
use natural language research, but it will make the scientific research activities
can not progress, the results also nobody can understand. Deal Cam once said:
"unfortunately, in the sociological discussion, some not clear concept still appears
constantly. People think these nouns are defined, very much in line with the thing
itself, but they often use of the concept, some fuzzy concept, with feelings,
prejudices, and empty impression indiscriminately mixed as one concept.
The emergence and development of fuzzy mathematics is inseparable with the
popularization and application of computer. Compared with the computer and
the human brain, in storage, memory, analysis and treatment of clear
information, has higher efficiency and accuracy. But there are also shortcomings,
namely computer is based on two valued logic ("yes" or "no")on the basis of
accurate information, can only identify the boundaries clear, the fuzzy uncertain
information can't accept that, unlike human talent is the ability of fuzzy
measurement. So, computer into the social and economic management decision
when it is incapable of action. Because in this field needs lots of fuzzy recognition,
fuzzy reasoning and fuzzy judgment. In order to meet the needs of the times,
American computer scientist Chad (L. A. Zadeh) based on the previous work, in
the mid 60's first proposed the idea of fuzzy mathematics. He wanted to use
mathematical method to imitate human thinking, the establishment of computer
fuzzy measurement, fuzzy recognition, fuzzy reasoning, fuzzy control and fuzzy
decision ability of complex things.
It is the mathematical logic in the fuzzy set is a generalization of the theory, the
classical two valued logic, fuzzy, and the formalization of natural language, which
is more suitable for the study of human thinking, it is the main means of
computer science to enter the human intelligence. From the content point of
view, it is the words of mathematical logic and the use of truth tables are made
corresponding promotion, the main research logic minimization problem and the
likelihood inference. Research on social science, how to use the natural language
to induction and deduction has certain precision and rigor of the conclusion is an
important task.
It is the mathematical logic in the fuzzy set is a generalization of the theory, the
classical two valued logic, fuzzy, and the formalization of natural language, which
is more suitable for the study of human thinking, it is the main means of
computer science to enter the human intelligence. From the content point of
view, it is the words of mathematical logic and the use of truth tables are made
corresponding promotion, the main research logic minimization problem and the
likelihood inference. Research on social science, how to use the natural language
to induction and deduction has certain precision and rigor of the conclusion is an
important task.
Data collection:
As the main tool, qualitative research to become researchers therefore,
researchers should make full preparations, to learn how to write the report,
master interview skills. To become a qualified quality, also open to experienced
people to consult, to obtain the necessary experience from them. In general and
social specific method has no essential difference research. For example, the
interview can consider what questions to ask, can also give interviews, but the
interview process can set aside the outline, and guide the respondents described
started around the problem. Pay attention to ethical issues in the research of, ask
respondents agreed before recording, video. If you can't live recording, it should
be at the end of the investigation immediately after finishing notes or through the
memories recorded interviews. Requirements of qualitative researches a true
representation of the firsthand data, many scholars are studying the report
directly reference interview. In order to distinguish between thinking and
interview process the collected data, we usually adopt different fonts or font size.
Some interviews, observation data collected as the appendix of the paper, the last
on the research results, and the interview content publishing.
Data analysis:
Qualitative research need various kinds of information the researcher collects
synthetically, this will require researchers to collect the data collation, analysis,
classification, and put your own observations or found methodically describe.
Data analysis and research with the traditional quantity have the very big
difference. Different from the experimental study and related research,
qualitative research in general do not use inferential statistics to test the
hypothesis. If it involves some statistics, researchers can also put their calculated,
but in the qualitative research, data analysis depends greatly on the description.
In the qualitative research, analysis of the data already in the process of data
collection, in the process of data collection, through the collation of data,
organization, direction and process of guiding his research by carefully put
forward the hypothesis. Of course, some people will these carefully put forward
the hypothesis called constantly discover. And the amount of data in digital form,
present the qualitative research collected data in text, description, in the form of
a picture.
Summary:
Study on Determination of total lead us in scientific research at the crossroads.
Research methods in social science development speed control. Social science has
attributes derived from the natural sciences, the humanities social science and
natural science two element method system of support.
Social science needs to be investigated, but not the data stack, but the
generalization of the theory; not issuing questionnaires, but the depth of field
experience. At present, the social science research in China has many problems in
research methods, which are restricting the development of social research. As
the study of social and human, society and social relationship and the basic rules
of sociology, research methods of analysis, can not be confined to the traditional
literature, questionnaire survey, mathematical statistics, logic analysis, and
should absorb education, medicine, anthropology has been studied widely used
qualitative nourishment.
References:
[1] Athena Vakali: Evolving social data mining and affective analysis
methodologies, framework and applications (Prague, Czech Republic, August 8-
10, 2012). Vol. 1, p.1.
[2] Slovak, P., Jansen, J, and Fitzpatrick, G: Proc. Proceedings of ACM CHI 2012
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Austin, Texas, May 5-10,
2012). Vol. 1, p. 859.
[3] Ying-Ming Xu and Shu-Juan Jin: Application of Computer System in the
study of Sociology (Switzerland, Adv Material Research, Vol 926-930, 2014). Vol.
926-930, p.1680-1683.
[4] L. Gao, X.Q. Song and J.P. Wang: Microcomputer and Its Applications, Vol.
30 (2011) No.10, p.5.
[5] X.H. Zhou: Sociological Research, (2002) No.5, p.33.
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_sociology
