// Replace title block colour with text shadow
What is a Jupyter Notebook?

What is a Jupyter Notebook?

A fantastic benefit of the course Introduction to Data Science for Social Scientists is that it introduces you to using Jupyter Notebooks, part of the Jupyter Project. But what is Jupyter? And why is it such a useful tool? We asked course instructor Geoff Bacon to share his thoughts.

Inside SAGE Campus: The eLearning advisory board

Inside SAGE Campus: The eLearning advisory board

At SAGE Campus we’re passionate about providing a learning journey that is successful from start to finish. To ensure that our courses are pedagogically effective and provide an engaging learning experience, we work with an eLearning Advisory Board.  Read about how the expert feedback we receive is woven throughout the creation of our courses. 

 Webinar: Quantitative Text Analysis

Webinar: Quantitative Text Analysis

Watch our free webinar and learn more about the role that quantitative text analysis plays for social scientists when working with large amounts of data.

Webinar: Introduction to Python

Webinar: Introduction to Python

Do you want to learn more about how Python can be used for working with social data? Watch our webinar with SAGE Campus course instructor, Rob Mastrodomenico and find out all you need to know.

Data visualisation: labelling

Data visualisation: labelling

Find out how to make clever choices about label placement, and how labels that appear to be simple, can actually make visualisations confusing.  

Data visualisation: Use of colour

Data visualisation: Use of colour

This blog post is the first in a series of pieces by Andy Kirk, on the 'little’ of visualisation design: the small decisions that make a big difference towards the good and bad of visualisation. This week’s post discusses use of colour.

Why are Social Scientists choosing Python?

Why are Social Scientists choosing Python?

Python is one of the most popular programming languages in the data science world, but it is also proving integral to the burgeoning field of computational social science. Find out what attracts social scientists to Python.

Where should I start - R or Python?

Where should I start - R or Python?

If you conduct social science research and you are using Stata, SAS, or SPSS, you might be looking to learn how to use some of the new tools on the block. R and Python are the two popular programming languages used by data analysts and although you could learn both, that would require a significant time investment. So which should you start with? And which one is best for social scientists?

Glossary of Big Data Terms

Glossary of Big Data Terms

Learning how to work with Big Data comes with a lot a new terminology (and jargon!). In an effort to bring some clarity to what can be a confusing area, the SAGE Campus team have created this glossary of Big Data and data science terms.

The good and bad of data visualisation

The good and bad of data visualisation

May is the month for Data Visualisation! Stay tuned to the SAGE Campus blog to discover from Andy Kirk, data viz guru, the small decisions that make a big difference to your visualisations.

Take 5 with Phillip Brooker

Take 5 with Phillip Brooker

Phillip Brooker is an interdisciplinary researcher in the field of social media analytics, with a background in sociology and sociological research methods. Phillip co-convenes the Programming-as-Social-Science (PaSS) network (www.jiscmail.ac.uk/PaSS) which explores computer programming as a subject and methodological tool for social research and teaching. Phillip is also our social science expert and course instructor on Introduction to Python for Social Scientists. We spoke to him about his background in computational social science and what he’s been working on recently.

Take your visualizations to the next level By Lily Mehrbod

Take your visualizations to the next level By Lily Mehrbod

Visualizations, whether we realise it or not, surround us and are part and parcel of the fabric of our everyday lives. From weather reports to emotive statistics conveyed in new stories, visualizations profoundly shape our cognitive awareness and understanding of reality. But how can social science researchers use them to their advantage?

Get your data in order with R! By Lily Merhbod

Get your data in order with R! By Lily Merhbod

You’ve probably heard of R, the statistical software package, but are you aware of all its benefits? I’m going to briefly outline the main advantages of R, with a focus on how it can help you clean up and sort all that messy data that threatens to disrupt your research project if not dealt with properly (as well as give you a major headache!).