#quantitative reasoning

[man-and-atom]

This hourly diagram of electricity production and emissions for eleven European countries over the course of 2023 is honestly fascinating.

The lowest emissions, unsurprisingly, are found in Norway (hydro), Sweden and Switzerland (hydro plus nuclear, although Switzerland has yet to abandon its “nuclear phase-out” policy), and France (nuclear). The highest are in Poland, which burns coal very heavily. And Germany varies wildly.

But we can also see, for instance, that Poland has a very narrow range in its production of electricity. So does Denmark, perhaps suprisingly ― although, contrary to what you might expect, Denmark is not among the top 10 countries in the world by share of wind power, according to OECD-IEA. We can guess that Norway’s very broad range of output variation reflects the use of its hydro plants to follow the variations in the Danish load.

Belgian output is also in a fairly narrow band, and we can likewise guess that a part of the large variation in French output is to compensate for that. German output, on the other hand, is all over the map because of variations in supply, not correlated with load.

What inferences can you draw?

#split don't emit #not a climate leader #europe #deep decarbonization #atomic power to the people #quantitative reasoning

[antvnger]

Ohhhhhh! Quantitative reasoning! I actually wasn’t expecting that answer. Using math to solve real world problems and even some non-mathematical problems. That’s very important.

Hey I don’t blame you for not dropping out because of a pretty girl, Anon.

Listen, Anon, it’s gonna be okay. I know it seems rough now, but if you have questions, maybe I can help. I don’t know how much I can be now for your assignment but maybe for the rest of the semester.

#asks #anon asks #ask scott lang #scott lang #ant-man #math #mathematics #quantitative reasoning #ant man #antman

[kateshappyplants]

Had my first test of my college career today! It was really nerve wracking but I got through it and I think I did pretty good!

Now onto finishing up my project!

#personal #school #college #college degree #quantitative reasoning #greenhouse operations aas

[anghraine]

"You only don't like vegetables because you've never had them prepared properly"

"You only don't like math because you've never been taught properly"

Once y'all are done insulting my mother, you might want to consider that you don't know other people's lives?

#anghraine rants #if only i had a reason for oversensitivity and struggling with quantitative reasoning #that has nothing to do with my parents or teachers #rare breed of attack unicorn

[knxfesck]

something something you need to be critical of the sex offender list

#being critical of how the government handles any of ts for many other reasons is also important #but here's some quantitative data for who theyre coming for first #txt

[mildew-dread-mold]

me (computer science student) asking my friend (humanities major) arithmetic problems (what’s 2^18, what’s 76-12, what’s 1207/18, etc) 🤝 my friend (aforementioned) asking me (me) how to do in text citations

#symbiotic relationship #the reason he is not in a quantitative science and i am btw. is feminism #hashtag women in stem hashtag women in cs hashtag

[zvaigzdelasas]

Asking for consistent rubrics is one of those demands that seems simple & insufficient but is ultimately undigestible for imperialism - that's also exactly why "whataboutism" as a canard is so effective

#superprofits cant be extracted from consistent rubrics - bc comprador & sovereigntist bourgeois are qualitatively different #& that qualitative difference has no choice but to reify itself as inconsistent standards #that ensuing *quantitative* difference is also why pointing out when ppl give up the game & say smth like #'what matters more than authoritarianism vs democracy is whether theyre [our guys] or not' #is actually more meaningful than just going 'well everyone knows thats the real game' #bc like. no! most people dont! most people in the imperial core buy into 'authoritarianism vs democracy' #thats seen as the primary factor and anyone who doesnt fit into that is only given credence insofar as theyre 'moving towards' democracy #MBS's '''progressive reforms''' are actually done for a reason!!! #bc then sanctions towards the 'bad guys' can b portrayed as 'baby steps' (real excuse ive heard) #towards applying that same standard to 'our guys'

[medsocionwheels]

Sociological Theory and the Canon

It's Sociology Sunday! Today we're talking theory.

What is sociological theory?

Sociological theory is a set of interrelated ideas that allow for the (1) systematization of knowledge of the social world (2) the explanation of that world, and (3) predictions about the future of that world, and which are falsifiable through empirical research.

Theory provides a possible answer to questions like, “why did this happen?” or, “why did they do that?” This means theory is speculation, not fact, but unlike “ideas” generally, theory is speculation driven by a more formal, systematic, process, which incorporates the work of previous theorists and research findings.

The Sociological Canon

Some theories are more popular than others. Some theories, while unpopular, are considered “pivotal” to the foundation of sociology. The “sociological canon” helps us identify the “popular” and “pivotal” theories.

The sociological canon is defined as the theories, ideas, and texts that are widely considered as the most important in the field of sociology (Ritzer and Stepnisky 2018) 

“I’m not a regular mom theory, I’m a cool mom theory!”

The canonized theories are sort of like the “cool mom” in Mean Girls (oshowing my age here, the original 😘) – others exist, but these are the ones we tend to think of first when we think of “the mom in Mean Girls” (or, in this case, “sociological theory”).

Critics of the canon argue that the canon is not a neutral construction; rather, it is affected by power and the politics of the theory. To some degree, they are right.

The field of sociology has historically privileged theories that have testable hypotheses, known as “positivist” theories, and theories produced by white men faculty. In this, we can see that the canon, and relatedly, the field of sociology,  have tended to reflect power structures in society more broadly. Which means that, yes, technically the canon is full of theories created by old white dude philosophers in Europe in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Nowadays, though, most sociologists agree that the canon includes much more than Marx, Weber, and Durkheim. 

Meaning the canon is now considered to  include theories from other classical theorists writing during the same time as Mark/Weber/Durkheim, like W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells. The canon has also expanded in the last 40 or so years to include contemporary theories, such as emancipatory, feminist, and queer theories. These expansions were important steps towards accounting for the reality of the field as it presently exists, and to correctly reflect the field’s foundations which expand far beyond whiteness, masculinity, and western imperial culture. Presently, women make up the (quantitative) majority of sociology faculty, and while this women majority was historically white, the number of women, including and especially women of color, in sociology continues to grow, substantially outpacing white men. 

Sociological Theory and Empirical Research

Empirical research is rooted in theory.

Sometimes these theories are the driving force behind research, constituting the research question for an empirical study. You begin with the possible answer to the question, the theory, and you investigate to see if it holds up–your results may call into question some or all of the theory’s propositions. This is called “deductive reasoning.”

Theory is not always the starting point of research, though. Sometimes theory is generated from research. This process is called “inductive reasoning.” In this case, you begin with observations, draw conclusions, and from those conclusions, generate new ideas about the social world. 

Deductive reasoning is often linked with quantitative research. Quantitative researchers usually have some idea of theory before forming their research question, and some quantitative research is constructed with the goal of testing (falsifying) theoretical propositions.  Qualitative research, in contrast, often uses inductive reasoning, beginning with observation and developing theory as part of the study’s conclusions. This is not always the case with qualitative research, though. One approach to creating contemporary sociological theory assumes the “best” theory is constructed via inductive reasoning, and thus, begins with observation, absent of pre-existing ideas. This is known as a “grounded theory” approach, because it produces theory that is “grounded” in observation of tangible facts instead of based upon pre-existing abstract ideas. The sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss are often credited with popularizing the “grounded theory” approach, which they outlined in their 1967 book “The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research”.

Other approaches to qualitative research, like content analysis, may start with theory or observations.

Summary:

Watch full lecture:

#sociology #science #social science #higher education #professor #research #empirical research #sociology sunday #sociological theory #theory #deductive reasoning #inductive reasoning #qualitative research #quantitative research #grounded theory #marx #durkheim #weber #dubois #classical #contemporary #teaching #lesson #studyblr #college #university #Instagram

[ongreenergrasses]

5, 18, 24, 32?

hello! hope your Monday is going good 🌹

5. what made you start your blog?

answered!

18. do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

yes to both. ghosts bc one of my workplaces straight up has one and aliens bc i think it’s pretty self centered to believe earth has the only living creatures in the universe

24. what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

the progress i’ve made on my creative goals this year so far! it is only April and i have accomplished 2 out of 4 and am consistently working on the third (which is one that’s more of a long term goal). the fourth is one that requires time investment that i do not have rn but i do have a timeline for it to be completed by, so that’ll help

32. how many tabs do you have open right now?

yesterday shatters asked me this and I was like on gd this is too many. so I closed some and now I have 88

questions

#ask and you shall receive #scorchedhearth #a lot of the tabs are recipes. a lot are also fic that i’m like yeah someday I’ll read this and for some reason opened the tab and didn’t #mark it for later so idk what’s going on with that #also can you fucking believe that I had no creative goals around word count or anything quantitative about writing. and then all this shit #happened and I have written more words in four months than I have in years. like bro

[luvrxbunny]

it doesn’t get better

i’m 18 and still crying over math homework

#literally sobbing over it rn #like a full on breakdown stemming from math homework #i hate my math #quantitative reasoning can suck my butt

[pokemonedits-outofcontext]

#me in quantitative reasoning

[man-and-atom]

Where will the power to operate these all-electric buildings come from?

What transmission lines will that power flow through?

Policies which cannot be implemented will not be implemented.

The page claims that “New York is rapidly increasing its grid capacity with renewable energy sources”. Are these sources near the load centers? Are they going to be available, say, in the middle of winter?

It also states that “energy-efficient all-electric buildings will use significantly less electricity than buildings which run on fossil fuels”. We feel inclined to skepticism, especially since the Rocky Mountain Institute ― meaning Amory Lovins ― seems to be a major information source, and we may infer, involved in the policy-making process. There may well be apples-to-oranges comparisons involved.

Lovins is the guy who warned us all that a kilogram of plutonium would cause 20 billion lung cancers if it escaped into the environment, so that we absolutely must not use nuclear power. No such effect has been observed from the tens of tonnes of Pu injected directly into the atmosphere in the course of about 40 years of thermonuclear weapons testing.

That is only the beginning of the reasons to suspect any quantitative information received from Lovins of being fudged and manipulated. But he is widely regarded as an infallible guru as far as energy policy is concerned.

Extending the district heating network in New York City, and feeding it from a nuclear power plant at the Ravenswood site, would be a very effective first step in reducing the use of heating fuel. And if New York is serious about decarbonizing its energy supply, then authorizing the Power Authority of the State of New York to build more nuclear should be the very first step. If necessary, that nuclear capacity could be built across the border in Canada, for instance, as an expansion of the Point Lepreau CANDU plant in New Brunswick. But to the extent possible, it should be built close to the load.

#quantitative reasoning #lies of the lying liars #decarbonization #atomic power to the people #district heating

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

#me for like 22yrs of my life: god. get me tf outta the midwest. i hate it here #me flying home after 3yrs living in the desert: oh fuck. HOLY FUCK. its fucking green yall!!!! im losing my mind. HOW SO GREEN????!!!! #literally everytime i fly home im like: holy shit every town is like. in the woods. im gonna cry. that so beautiful #bc im a sap lol. its true tho! its crazy. and it's so fucking green here its beautiful #im so desperate to leave the desert. i really wanna go to school somewhere in the Appalachian mountains tbh #god its so nice to be home. we'll see if i acutally post less bc i might actually b happy for a bit haha. or i might post more nature #stuff bc ill be like: yo look how awesome the world is. ya kno? #my mum is super into rock collecting so i come home and shes like: yo lets watch YouTube vids of ppl rock collecting and im like omg i lov #this. ppl sharing their lov of geology and pretty rocks 😭 and my parents r like hey if u get the summer off bc ur funding runs out and ur #between programs u can come home and we can do some traveling in our camper! we can go to the UP and down to the gray fossil site. bc i #cant shut up abt paleontology lol. my parents r so good 😭😭😭 #im so excited to see the lake and go to the museum and we're gonna visit my old prof in my college town and he does quantitative models so #like he doesn't get a ton of students enthusiastic abt his work and he really started me out on my path. so like. im paying my respects 🙏 #hopefully all goes well lol. im also gonna snipe some samples from a state park and mail them back to school. which should be neat #sigh... anyway im just happy for now and theres so much cool stuff in the world #and yet for some reason i canoot sleep. despite the fact i woke up at 3.30am yesterday so that i could travel for like 11hrs #im too awake now #i want it to be morning! #also shout out to my nose that apparently does not work. like thr dogs got sprayed by a skunk yesterday morning and i do not smell it #its so weird. i dont kno why. i can smell other things. i just cant smell this? idk ive long suspected my sense of smell is awful #and i guess this confirms it. everytime my boss is like: do u smell this??? im like: lol no. what r u talking abt? #that's prob why im so picky. everything is bland 😵‍💫 bc i cannot taste that much #unrelated #lol i slept like 3hrs and now my brain is like hmmm that enough of that lol #also wtf not that many ppl were wearing masks in the airport. u hate to see it

[akuasucc]

the feeling of superiority when u the first person in the class to finish the test

#this was me a few mintues ago #in my quantitive reasonings class #that test was eaay asf #finished it in 15 minutes

[holedyke]

passed the first section of my test but have to redo the second bc i was a little under score :/ that or take an extra college math course which ummm no fucking way

#quantitative reasoning is above my pay grade this shit sucks #h

[sentimental-sil]

okay so unfortunately I've discovered that having both a partner (unofficial) AND internet access at the same time equals uhhhhhh Pining.

#hewwo where are my texts from boy?????? #contrary to reasonable expectations i am now in a feequent state of I Have Never Waited For Anything So Long in My Entire Life #why was i not warned of this. why did i not forsee 😭 #quantitatively i am an adult but mentally i am the high school gf making gooey eyes at their phone #such is the suffering of queer coming-of-age....