Question 1

What is the &#34;Menlo Report&#34;?&#10;A) A report on the Menlo Project, under which John van Neumann and others created computing machines for crytpography in WWII.&#10;B) A report from Menlo College (Atherton, CA) by its program on business ethics regarding ethics guidelines for information technology.&#10;C) Ethics guidelines for information technology issued by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security&#10;D) A report associated with M.E.N.L.O., an acronym for &#34;massive electronic neural learning online&#34;, an architecture for machine learning.

Accepted Answer

Regarding "A", there was no "Menlo Project" though von Neumann's work did lay the groundwork for early computers. Regarding "B", Menlo College does have a program in business ethics but they were not originators of "The Menlo Report". Regarding "D", there is no such acronym. The Menlo Report is in the online readings and resources section of the student Companion Website to this book.

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT effected by computer algorithms?&#10;A) Determine if a person is likely to be a terrorist.&#10;B) Diagnose a medical condition.&#10;C) Conduct a symphony&#10;D) All of the above have been done by way of computer algorithms.

Accepted Answer

Computer algorithms have done all of the above. Other examples include evaluating credit score, collecting revenue, reading medical images, driving cars, writing scientific texts, composing music, navigate drones, answering help desk questions, writing film scenarios, inventing new chemical formulations, painting pictures, and creating weather reports. Algorithms pervade our social and business lives.

Question 3

What was seen as the &#34;key to success&#34; for artificial intelligence and related data analytic efforts by Sipior (2020)&#10;A) Diversity in the development team&#10;B) Transparency&#10;C) Protection of privacy&#10;D) Support of top management

Accepted Answer

is the correct answer as put forward by Sipior. Diversity serves to mitigate tendencies toward technocratic narrowness and bias, minimizing risk. Answers B and C are commonly regarded as important but not necessarily as factors in project success. In other research on implementation of new technology, active support by top management (D) has often been seen as a critical success factor.

Question 4

&#34;Big Data&#34; and data analytics assure decisions are objectively-based since so much data are used.

Accepted Answer

Data do not "speak for themselves". All data requires interpretation, which has subjective elements, not the least of which derive from the interests of those creating or paying for the creation of data collection and its use by algorithm-based systems. Among the points at which bias may enter are framing the question to be addressed, deciding what information to collect and from which sources, what data to retain and what to eliminate, what data to make public, what the causal model should be with regard to the outcome variables of interest, what weights to give to various factors, what analytic procedures to use, and above all, how to interpret patterns in the data.

Question 5

What is NOT a significant obstacle to social science research on &#34;Big Data&#34;?&#10;A) Social media companies restrict the access to their data, creating a &#34;digital divide&#34; separating social scientists with wide access from those who lack such access.&#10;B) Software for analyzing &#34;Big Data&#34; is proprietary and prohibitive in cost.&#10;C) Many sources of &#34;Big Data&#34; lack demographic data on age, gender, income, and other essential control variables ordinarily important in social science research.&#10;D) Sound research design commonly requires random sampling or enumeration (data on all the cases), neither of which characterize most &#34;Big Data&#34;.

Accepted Answer

is correct. Data science is a stronghold of open source, free software tools in R, Python, and other platforms, though it is true that expensive proprietary software also exists. Answers A, C, and D are all true obstacles for the social scientist wishing to use "Big Data".

Question 6

What is NOT true of &#34;hyperactive&#34; social media users, according to Papakyriakopoulos et al. (2020) and other researchers?&#10;A) Algorithms used by Twitter, Facebook, and other social media counterbalance the effects of hyperactive users.&#10;B) They become opinion leaders with an agenda-setting effect.&#10;C) They like different content than average users.&#10;D) They might be paid spammers or even bots.

Accepted Answer

is correct. B, C, and D are true. Social media companies do not routinely counterbalance the effects of hyperactive users and even regulation of spammers and bots is sporadic and limited. The bias introduced by hyperactive users translates directly into bias in recommender systems, such as those used by Facebook and all major social networks,

Question 7

Name three of the ten ways La Fors et al. (2010) have identified as threats to ethics arising from "Big Data" and data analytic algorithms.
a. ____________________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________________

Accepted Answer

The answer of Name three of the ten ways La...

Question 8

What was the main argument in the work of well-known social scientist Eszter
Hargittai (2020) regarding research based on social media and similar "Big Data:?

A) Strict IRB control is needed to assure data protection and privacy.
B) Government regulation is needed to require transparency in Big Data projects.
C) Bivariate reportingdominates in Big Data research but multivariate social science analysis is needed.
D) Higher SES groups are overrepresented and the less privileged are underrepresented

Accepted Answer

is correct. A, B, and C may be worthy objectives but are not the thrust of Hargittai's argument. Hargittai's abstract summarized, "Those of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to be on several platforms suggesting that big data derived from social media tend to oversample the views of more privileged people. Additionally, Internet skills are related to using such sites, again showing that opinions visible on these sites do not represent all types of people equally. The article cautions against relying on content from such sites as the sole basis of data to avoid disproportionately ignoring the perspectives of the less privileged. Whether business interests or policy considerations, it is important that decisions that concern the whole population are not based on the results of analyses that favor the opinions of those who are already better off."

Question 9

Bias in what field was the main focues of the dispute between ProPublica and the firm &#34;equivant&#34; over the COMPAS system?&#10;A) Corrections&#10;B) Transportation&#10;C) Health&#10;D) Education

Accepted Answer

is correct. The dispute centered on flawed algorithms which generated recidivism likelihood scores, leading to racial bias in law enforcement's use of such scores. The other answers are simply incorrect.

Question 10

Which of the following is UNTRUE? Or is &#34;D&#34; correct?&#10;A) Many instance have been found of algorithm-based discriminatory effect by race and gender.&#10;B) Many instances have been found of undermining U. S. democracy by bots and automated messaging.&#10;C) Many instance have been found of injustice due to algorithm-driven profiling and facial recognition software.&#10;D) All of the above are true.

Accepted Answer

is correct, meaning that A, B, and C are all correct. Regarding A and C, see Section 1.4.3. Regarding B, see section 1.4.5.

Deck 1: Using and Abusing Data Analytics in Social Science