Social Research

Social media connected the world - and gave rise to fake news and increasing polarization. Now a leading researcher at MIT draws on 20 years of research to show how these trends threaten our political, economic, and emotional health in this eye-opening exploration of the dark side of technological progress.

Do you want your business or brand on social media to thrive but find yourself struggling to get a sale, engagement, or even an endorsement? Are you sick of watching other businesses successfully grow their online presence, but you are unable to even get a follow? Have you tried applying the so-called “tricks” of the trade, but nothing seems to get you the kind of results that you desire?

In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years: the rise of personalization.

A compelling argument - masterfully researched and brilliantly articulated - that despite increasing prosperity for most of Earth’s inhabitants and an explosion of goods overall, consumption of natural resources such as metals, water, and timber has begun to decline. Best-selling author and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy Andrew McAfee says there’s a new reason for optimism: We’re past the point of "peak stuff" - from here on out, it'll take fewer resources to make things and fewer dollars to lead a comfortable life.

In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant. Groups are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.

This Kindle document is the culmination of a three month action research (AR) project. It was undertaken with the purpose of getting the unheard voice heard in a writing and dialogue group in the Northeast. This work describes the transformation of the group in that three month time span under which the study took place. AR utilizes a four cycle process of discovery, measurable action, reflection, and action, in order to strategically work towards a goal with data constantly informing decisions. It is these qualities of AR that make it ideal for social justice and educational equity work. ...

The American child welfare system is bent toward protecting adults, not children. Kids in danger are treated instrumentally to promote the rehabilitation of their parents, the welfare of their communities, and the social justice of their race and tribe. It is time to stop letting efforts to fix the child welfare system get derailed by activists who are concerned with race-matching, blood ties, and the abstract demands of social justice, and start asking the most important question: Where are the emotionally and financially stable, loving, and permanent homes where kids can thrive?

How does the brain work? How different is a human brain from other creatures' brains? Is the human brain still evolving? In this fascinating book, Michael O'Shea provides a non-technical introduction to the main issues and findings in current brain research, and gives a sense of how neuroscience addresses questions about the relationship between the brain and the mind.

No one in America has done more observing of more people than Dr. Frank I. Luntz. From Bill O'Reilly to Bill Maher, America's leading pundits, prognosticators, and CEOs turn to Luntz to explain the present and to predict the future. With all the upheavals of recent events, the plans and priorities of the American people have undergone a seismic shift.

Updated Jan 2025 What is an Author’s Online Presence? Are you being told you need an author platform or an online presence but don’t know what the heck that is? Tired of wasting valuable writing time trying to figure things out by yourself? You have come to the right place. The Author’s On-Line Presence is a clear primer covering the topic of an author’s platform and how to use it in language that will have you feeling confident of your abilities. It will start you on the road to finding readers for your work as well as how to effectively communicate with them. Barb Drozdowich is ...

Lee Eisenberg's The Number hit the New York Times best-seller list and became an instant classic with those wanting to learn more about retiring comfortably. Here he investigates the forces that compel Americans to shop till they drop. A timely exploration, Shoptimism takes a critical look at an often downplayed aspect of American economic prosperity.

Wade didn’t remember much about his early childhood. He did remember being sick constantly and he remembered his mother. She wasn’t really his mother at the time, just a kind and caring woman who lavished him with attention. He had been trapped in the facility with twenty other children, the nice lady and her husband. One morning he awakened and she was no longer there. Later he learned that she and her husband had escaped from the facility with one of the other kids. Over time he learned the nature of his illness which was tied to the nature of the facility. He learned that all of his ...

In four decades, bookended by the Pope’s visits to Ireland in September 1979 and August 2018, Ireland has become one of the wealthiest and most progressive nations in the world. Characteristically brilliant and timely, Renaissance Nation is a thrilling account of Ireland’s vertiginous rise and a timely exploration of its conflicted present, where stark decisions await the next generation of would-be revolutionaries.

The Researcher's Bible provides a short introduction to the major concepts and approaches used in the social sciences, especially in sociology, anthropology, leisure, recreation, and tourism. It is an ideal supplement to a more detailed text on research methods and a guide to choose which research methods to use in a study. It also provides an explanation of different options for company owners and managers of organizations, who might want to do research or hire a research company to conduct a study for them.

We live in an era of tribalism, polarization, and intense social division - separating people along lines of religion, political conviction, race, ethnicity, and sometimes gender. How did this happen? In Conformity, Cass R. Sunstein argues that the key to making sense of living in this fractured world lies in understanding the idea of conformity - what it is and how it works - as well as the countervailing force of dissent.

Our preferences and opinions are constantly being shaped by countless forces–especially in the digital age with its nonstop procession of “thumbs up” and “likes” and “stars.” Tom Vanderbilt, bestselling author of Traffic, explains why we like the things we like, why we hate the things we hate, and what all this tell us about ourselves.

What was a Buddhist monk doing at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos lecturing the world's leaders on mindfulness? Why do many successful corporations have a chief happiness officer? What can the chemical composition of your brain tell a potential employer about you? In the past decade, governments and corporations have become increasingly interested in measuring the way people feel: the Happiness index, Gross National Happiness, well-being and positive psychology have come to dominate the way we live our lives.

How would you like to be given a new identity to live by and then removed from your sisters and brothers—never to be legally permitted to contact them again—even upon your deathbed? This is just one of many examples of red tape adoptees are forced to contend with. This book reveals the making of the current child welfare system. The pioneers who built and profited from the industry continue to deny adoptees access to documents that could lead them back to their families. This book protects you against adoption profiteers and traffickers who profess God is on their side.

While millions of consumers carry on unaware, powerful companies are racing to gain more knowledge and data than anyone, including any government, has ever had. The goal is to understand consumer behavior and desires, from mundane matters to our most private and intimate affairs. This massive trove of data represents an immense prize for these companies. In economic terms it is one of the most valuable assets on the planet.

Political Research Design and the Science of Politics offers listeners detailed information about the basic principles and nuances of developing empirical research design procedures to predict and describe political phenomena. In chronicling the predominant approaches used in empirical political research, the strengths and limitations of various research strategies are contrasted. Major controversies in contemporary political science are discussed.