Colloquia Sociologie

Extern colloquium by Prof. Grace Cruz from University of the Philippines Population Institute. Het colloquium vindt plaats op donderdag, 13 november van 11:00 tot 12:30.

Locatie: M.0074 (Noordamzaal, Muntinggebouw)

Abstract:  Prof. Grace Cruz proposes to deliver a presentation on Philippine demographics, with a particular focus on population ageing and related issues. This presentation will draw on findings from her ongoing project, the Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Health in the Philippines (LSAHP)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Presentation by Dr. Justin Weltz (Santa Fe Institute, Duke University). De presantie vindt plaats op dinsdag, 25 november van 15:00 - 17:00.

Locatie: B. 126 (Gadourekzaal, Boumangebouw)

Title: Studying the Social Networks of Hard-to-Reach Populations

Abstract: Across the social and behavioral sciences, there is interest in how relationships shape individual welfare. However, in many contexts, collecting data on social networks is difficult because the relevant population is inaccessible with conventional sampling methodologies. This talk will focus on two methods for studying the social networks of these “hidden” or “hard-to-reach” populations. First, we will discuss respondent-driven sampling (RDS), which is widely used to study marginalized or stigmatized populations by incentivizing study participants to recruit their social connections. The success and efficiency of RDS can depend critically on the nature of the incentives, including their number, value, call to action, etc. Standard RDS uses an incentive structure that is set a priori and held fixed throughout the study. Thus, it does not make use of accumulating information on which incentives are effective and for whom. We propose a reinforcement learning (RL) based adaptive RDS study design in which the incentives are tailored over time to maximize cumulative utility during the study. We show that these designs are more efficient, cost-effective, and can generate new insights into the social structure of hidden populations. Second, we will address hard-to-reach populations in community social network surveys. In many settings, only specific members of a household, such as the household head, can be accessed and queried about their social connections. This makes a complete census impossible and results in an incomplete sampling frame for the social network. To remedy this issue, we explore how questions that address household behavior, such as the exchange of household goods, can be leveraged to fill in missing information about community members who cannot be sampled.

Interne colloquia 2025 206

Tijdens elk colloquium zal één van de research clusters een update geven van het lopende onderzoek en plannen presenteren voor toekomstig onderzoek. Alle interne colloquia vinden in de Orangerie (G.026) van het Gadourekgebouw plaats. Na de colloquia volgen gezamenlijke lunches (BYO).

De colloquia zijn gepland op: