Contact

Michael D. Young

Phone: 614 442 5958

E-Mail: michael@socialscience.net

Company Description

Social Science Automation is a small, private company that specializes in the development of software tools and customized coding schemes for state-of-the art automated text analysis. The company is led by Dr. Michael Young, president, and Dr. Robert Woyach, vice president. Company founders, Dr. Young and Dr. Margaret Hermann are internationally recognized experts in the areas of political psychology, foreign policy analysis, and computer assisted content analysis. Founded in 1997, in the past two years our sales topped $1 million. With a committed local staff and access to a network of experts throughout the United States , Canada , and the United Kingdom , Social Science Automation has both the flexibility and resources to meet a wide variety of customer needs.

Visit our website at: www.socialscience.net

Functional Area Capabilities

Research and Consulting

• Social Science Automation specializes in using automated content analysis tools and techniques to improve program performance and increase the speed and accuracy of research efforts. We design and conduct a variety of customer-driven research including Thematic Analysis, such as comparing the policy foci and shifting priorities of political parties over time and across different parties and countries; Analysis of Communication Style, such as measuring the use of feeling expressions, evaluators, qualifiers, and retractors by public and private leaders; the Analysis of Personality Traits, such as conceptual complexity, need for power, and self-confidence; Public Image Analysis, such as the favorable or unfavorable characterization of corporations, public institutions, and public figures in various media; and Cognitive Mapping, such as efforts to compare pre- and post-intervention understandings of vaccination or AIDS in some target population. Past studies have also explored the feasibility of applying automated content analysis techniques and tools to new programmatic areas and the possibility of developing additional tools to implement new theoretical approaches. Social Science Automation consults with a variety of clients in academia, government, and business who are engaged in research that can benefit from the speed and accuracy of automated content analysis tools and techniques. In recent years, Social Science Automation has also developed the capacity to design and conduct studies that utilize Social Network Analysis.

Coding Scheme Development

• In support of our in-house research projects and as a special value-added service to customers, Social Science Automation offers a range of services to help clients who require specialized content analysis coding schemes. Specifically, we are involved in: Coding Scheme Development. Social Science Automation staff are experts in the development of new, specialized coding schemes. We are available to consults with end users who are developing their own automated coding schemes for use with the Profiler Plus text coding platform or will develop those coding schemes for end users. Over the past five years, Social Science Automation has worked with a variety of customers to develop such coding schemes as Leadership Trait Analysis, Operational Code Analysis, Verbal Behavior Analysis, Cognitive Mapping, Image Analysis, and Topical Analysis of Political Party Platforms.

Document Collection and Mark-up

• Social Science Automation can search public information sources and gather documents from which the content analysis data can be generated. We will also prepare those documents, according to client specifications, for coding. Testing. Social Science Automation has in place document sets and procedures that allow us to conduct rigorous testing of coding schemes that have been developed in house or by others. Reports provide information on performance and quality, with specific guidance as necessary for how the coding schemes need to be improved. Database Generation and Norming. Finally, Social Science Automation can help end users to organize and populate relevant databases for use in norming data produced by their coding schemes. This service includes the generation of queries and statistical routines needed to ensure high quality and statistically rigorous results.

Development of Specialized Analytic Tools and Software

• In support of client efforts at program improvement, Social Science Automation also provides project coordination and implementation in developing specialized software tools for analyzing textual and other social science data.

Training

• Social Science Automation, Inc. offers a series of standard 1-4 day workshops on the following topics: Automated Content Analysis Concepts and Techniques, Essentials of Coding Scheme Development, Leadership Trait Analysis, Operational Code Analysis, Cognitive Mapping, Introduction to Textual Analysis Using Profiler Plus, and Introduction to Cognitive Mapping Using WorldView. We can also create a variety of short- and long-term customized training programs related to automated content analysis, foreign policy analysis, leadership analysis, and political psychology.

Customer Base

US Intelligence Community

Carleton College

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

DSTL, Policy and Capability Studies

Haas School of Business

Information Systems Laboratories, Inc.

ITT Advanced Engineering & Sciences

Ohio State University

University of Wyoming

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Wake Forest University

West Virginia University

Systems Supported

Windows 2000 and above.

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