Hands-on session on the Methods Hub

Hands-on session on the Methods Hub at DGPuK Methoden25.

Short URL: https://tinyurl.com/dgpukhub

Abstract

The Methods Hub is an open-access platform designed to help social science researchers discover, access, understand, and apply computational methods. This session introduces the Methods Hub as a portal for computational methods and demonstrates its core functionalities, guiding participants through finding suitable methods, accessing them, and understanding their purpose. The session also highlights the utility of tutorials that serve as step-by-step guides for applying a method to a concrete task. In the interactive portion, participants will select from predefined use-case scenarios and corresponding tasks based on their interests. Participants will be grouped by the selected scenario and collaboratively explore relevant methods on the Methods Hub. They will be encouraged to discuss methodological options, make informed decisions, and carry out the assigned task using the available resources.

Throughout the activity, the Methods Hub team will provide facilitation, technical support, and time management to ensure productive engagement. The session will conclude with a plenary discussion involving all participant groups and the Methods Hub team, reflecting on the rationale behind methodological choices, challenges encountered, and collaborative decision-making processes. Feedback on participants’ experiences with the portal—its usability, strengths, limitations, and perceived relevance to their research needs—will inform subsequent iterative refinements of the platform.

Schedule

Session Structure

• Introduction to the Methods Hub (Fakhri Momeni)
• Computational reproducibility (Chung-hong Chan)
• Testing the Methods Hub (in groups)
  • Scenarios:
    • Use Case 1: Josh has a dataset of a few hundred social media posts on climate change. He wants to use a method to extract useful social media entities from the posts to help with further analysis.
    • Use Case 2: Sarah has a few hundred blog posts, each discussing a movie’s plot. She wants to use a method to extract the most representative keywords for each post.
    • Use Case 3: Shah has downloaded a dataset of social media posts and wants to sample the posts that are highly relevant to his keywords of interest.
  • User Tasks:
    • Task 0: Which step in the research pipeline does the method belong to?
    • Task 1: Search for/find a suitable method for the use case
    • Task 2: Interactively execute the method and explore results
    • Share feedback via the feedback form
• User Feedback for Future Development
  • Pains, gains, and feature ideas (based on the Value Proposition Canvas)
    • Example Canvas
    • Canvas for this session

Target audience / expected background

Social scientists with a basic understanding of computer programming (preferrably in Python and/or R).

Acknowledgements

• Arnim Bleier: https://github.com/taimoorkhan-nlp/Reproducibility-ICWSM25
• Lorraine Saju: https://github.com/taimoorkhan-nlp/r2cass-icwsm

Organizers

Fakhri Momeni, Felix Victor Münch, Chung-hong Chan, M. Taimoor Khan

GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences