Papers by Isabelle Wilder
Sociology of Healthcare, Sociology 302
TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, Apr 26, 2010
Scientific Reports
Although chatbots such as ChatGPT can facilitate cost-effective text generation and editing, fact... more Although chatbots such as ChatGPT can facilitate cost-effective text generation and editing, factually incorrect responses (hallucinations) limit their utility. This study evaluates one particular type of hallucination: fabricated bibliographic citations that do not represent actual scholarly works. We used ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 to produce short literature reviews on 42 multidisciplinary topics, compiling data on the 636 bibliographic citations (references) found in the 84 papers. We then searched multiple databases and websites to determine the prevalence of fabricated citations, to identify errors in the citations to non-fabricated papers, and to evaluate adherence to APA citation format. Within this set of documents, 55% of the GPT-3.5 citations but just 18% of the GPT-4 citations are fabricated. Likewise, 43% of the real (non-fabricated) GPT-3.5 citations but just 24% of the real GPT-4 citations include substantive citation errors. Although GPT-4 is a major improvement over ...
Mentoring Faculty Through a Quantitative Reasoning Professional Development Program: Why Do Faculty Participate and What Do They Get Out of It?
The Journal of General Education, Dec 1, 2020
Although quantitative reasoning (QR) is central to general education, many college students lack ... more Although quantitative reasoning (QR) is central to general education, many college students lack fundamental numeracy skills. In response, The City University of New York established a QR faculty development program that trained instructors across the disciplines through teaching exercises, guided discussions, hands-on activities, the development of instructional/assessment materials, and feedback from mentors and peers. Ten cohorts, 2010–2019, responded to surveys that evaluated their motives for participating and the extent to which they felt their goals were met. Faculty joined the program due to factors including their concern for students, their commitment to QR instruction, and their desire to build professional networks. Program completers reported a better understanding of QR, a greater commitment to QR instruction, increased awareness of tools and techniques (e.g., progressive pedagogies, active learning and constructivist approaches), a clearer sense of students’ needs, a commitment to assessment, and strong engagement with CUNY’s multidisciplinary, multi-institutional QR community. Overall, the perceived benefits of the program match participants’ motives for joining. Respondents’ comments suggest that faculty development for general education requires motivated participants, opportunities for networking, thoughtful discussion of readings and videos, modeling of best practices, a student-centered curriculum, sensitivity to participants’ backgrounds, adequate incentives, effective mentorship, and institutional commitment.
New Data on the Publishing Productivity of American Sociologists
This data file, compiled from multiple online sources, presents 2013–2017 publication counts—arti... more This data file, compiled from multiple online sources, presents 2013–2017 publication counts—articles, articles in high-impact journals, books, and books from high-impact publishers—for 2,132 professors and associate professors in 426 U.S. departments of sociology. It also includes information on institutional characteristics (e.g., institution type, highest sociology degree offered, department size) and individual characteristics (e.g., academic rank, gender, PhD year, PhD institution). The data may be useful for investigations of scholarly productivity, the correlates of scholarly productivity, and the contributions of particular individuals and institutions. Complete population data are presented for the top 26 doctoral programs, doctoral institutions other than R1 universities, the top liberal arts colleges, and other bachelor's institutions. Sample data are presented for Carnegie R1 universities (other than the top 26) and master's institutions.
Jewish household income 1969 and 1989
The authors estimate the real and relative income of American Jewish households using data from t... more The authors estimate the real and relative income of American Jewish households using data from the National Jewish Population Surveys of 1970-1971 and 1990. The median real income of American Jewish households showed no significant change from 1969 to 1989. At the same time Jewish households with historically low incomes experienced dramatic real income growth. The Jewish income advantage declined however due to the rising incomes of other urban non-Hispanic White households. In both 1969 and 1989 the size of the Jewish income advantage varied considerably by ethnicity (parents heritage) and religious denomination. While the erosion of the Jewish income advantage might be expected to undermine ethnic solidarity by making Jews more similar to other urban Whites improvements in the economic standing of lower-income Jews may provide a basis for increased ethnic involvement. (authors)
Our Numeracy Infusion Course for Higher Education (NICHE) teaches best practices for effective Qu... more Our Numeracy Infusion Course for Higher Education (NICHE) teaches best practices for effective Quantitative Reasoning (QR) instruction to faculty in a wide range of disciplines. NICHE is a predominantly online course that consists of 8 separate units of relevance to the development of statistical literacy as well: (1) QR and Making Numbers Meaningful; (2) QR Learning Outcomes; (3) The Brain, Cognition and QR; (4) QR and Writing; (5) Discovery Methods; (6) Representations of Data; (7) QR Assessment; and (8) QR Stereotypes and Culture. This paper describes the key components of NICHE and shows how we employ the same strategies recognized as effective methods for teaching QR to our training of faculty as QR instructors. Examples from course activities, interactive discussions, and assessment data are presented.
Scholars in the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) movement have repeatedly stressed the importance of m... more Scholars in the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) movement have repeatedly stressed the importance of multidisciplinary QR efforts. This paper describes how a QR faculty development workshop provided the foundation for a predominantly online Numeracy Infusion Course for Higher Education (NICHE) designed to train faculty in a wide range of disciplines. The workshop has led to the crystallization of several key components of NICHE. In particular, effective QR training must teach faculty how to (a) apply QR within a disciplinary context; (b) articulate QR learning goals/objectives; (c) identify and implement best practices for teaching QR: active learning, collaborative student learning, and writing with numerical information; (d) adapt and implement strategies for incorporating QR into course instruction; and (e) assess the effectiveness of QR initiatives, using the assessment results to further improve instruction. Successful QR initiatives must not only address students’ learning but redu...
Faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY) have developed a Numeracy Infusion Course for H... more Faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY) have developed a Numeracy Infusion Course for Higher Education (NICHE) that teaches best practices for effective Quantitative Reasoning (QR) instruction to faculty in a wide range of disciplines. NICHE is a predominantly online course that consists of 8 separate units: (1) QR and Making Numbers Meaningful; (2) QR Learning Outcomes; (3) The Brain, Cognition and QR; (4) QR and Writing; (5) Discovery Methods; (6) Representations of Data; (7) QR Assessment; and (8) QR Stereotypes and Culture. This paper describes the key components of NICHE and shows how the same strategies recognized as effective methods for teaching QR can be employed in training faculty as QR instructors. Course activities, interactive discussions, and faculty-developed instructional materials are also presented.
Scholarly Assessment Reports, 2021
Although large citation databases such as Web of Science and Scopus are widely used in bibliometr... more Although large citation databases such as Web of Science and Scopus are widely used in bibliometric research, they have several disadvantages, including limited availability, poor coverage of books and conference proceedings, and inadequate mechanisms for distinguishing among authors. We discuss these issues, then examine the comparative advantages and disadvantages of other bibliographic databases, with emphasis on (a) discipline-centered article databases such as EconLit, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and SocINDEX, and (b) book databases such as Amazon.com, Books in Print, Google Books, and OCLC WorldCat. Finally, we document the methods used to compile a freely available data set that includes five-year publication counts from SocINDEX and Amazon along with a range of individual and institutional characteristics for 2,132 faculty in 426 U.S. departments of sociology. Although our methods are timeconsuming, they can be readily adopted in other subject areas by investigators without access to Web of Science or Scopus (i.e., by faculty at institutions other than the top research universities). Data sets that combine bibliographic, individual, and institutional information may be especially useful for bibliometric studies grounded in disciplines such as labor economics and the sociology of professions. Policy highlights • While nearly all research universities provide access to Web of Science or Scopus, these databases are available at only a small minority of undergraduate colleges. Systematic restrictions on access may result in systematic biases in the literature of scholarly communication and assessment. • The limitations of the largest citation databases influence the kinds of research that can be most readily pursued. In particular, research problems that use exclusively bibliometric data may be preferred over those that draw on a wider range of information sources.
The Sociological Quarterly, 2020
Using data for a sample of 2,132 individuals, we examine the characteristics of the sociology fac... more Using data for a sample of 2,132 individuals, we examine the characteristics of the sociology faculty and departments that ranked highest on any of four measures of publishing productivity over the 2013-2017 period. While the most productive men tend to work at the top research universities, women with comparable publishing records are especially likely to be found among the most productive faculty at other types of institutions. This suggests that "striving institutions"-those that have faced the greatest competition to improve their standing relative to their peers-have benefited by hiring and retaining highly productive faculty without regard to their gender. Our results further reveal that prolific faculty are similar to other faculty in their publication outlets, although they do exhibit high levels of journal concentration. That is, they tend to publish in the same journals in which they previously published.
Sociological Perspectives, 2019
This study examines the 2013–2017 publishing productivity of sociology faculty at six types of co... more This study examines the 2013–2017 publishing productivity of sociology faculty at six types of colleges and universities (e.g., research universities, master’s institutions, and top liberal arts colleges) based on publication counts for articles, articles in high-impact journals, books, and books from high-impact publishers. We compare the productivity of groups based on institution type, gender, academic rank, years of experience, and reputation of PhD-granting institution. Our age-cohort data suggest that differentials in productivity among institution types have diminished in recent decades. The top universities are losing ground, in relative terms, while faculty at other types of institutions are more productive now than in the past. Our results for gender are unlike those reported in previous research, revealing (1) higher productivity for women than for men across most institution types and (2) the absence of any gender differential for all institution types combined. Our data...
Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 1997
While the median real income of American Jewish households did not change significantly from 1969... more While the median real income of American Jewish households did not change significantly from 1969 to 1989, lower-income Jewish households (those with no workers and those with predominantly older persons) experienced dramatic real income growth. At the same time, the average Jewish income advantage declined due to the rising incomes of other urban, non-Hispanic white households.
The American Sociologist, 2018
This paper identifies two contrasting approaches to the quantitative measurement of scholarly out... more This paper identifies two contrasting approaches to the quantitative measurement of scholarly output, emphasizing the distinction between contribution studies and productivity studies. Contribution studies are those in which the investigator starts with a welldefined list of publication outlets, recording all contributions to that literature by all authors, whomever they might be. In contrast, productivity studies are those in which the investigator starts with a well-defined list of contributors, recording all their scholarly output, wherever it might have appeared. We apply this conceptual model to sociology by examining the key characteristics of 25 relevant studies published since 1970. Nine are contribution studies, twelve are productivity studies, and four are too limited in scope to fall into either category. We conclude by discussing the implications of the contribution/productivity distinction for sociology and other disciplines-in particular, the problems that may arise when contribution studies are used to evaluate scholarly productivity.
Numeracy, 2015
Gerd Gigerenzer's technique of frequency representations for solving the medical diagnosis proble... more Gerd Gigerenzer's technique of frequency representations for solving the medical diagnosis problem, mammography problem, and other Bayesian reasoning problems is summarized in this paper. Such a method has been introduced to community college students in an elementary statistics course. With repeated practice, many community college students can acquire the skill and avoid reported judgment errors that are commonly committed by medical professionals. However, weaknesses in basic skills such as percentage calculations prevent some students from obtaining the correct probability.
Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2015
Scientometrics, 2014
This study identifies the top individual contributors to 31 LIS journals from 2007 to 2012, both ... more This study identifies the top individual contributors to 31 LIS journals from 2007 to 2012, both worldwide (all disciplines) and among four groups: LIS faculty in the US and Canada, LIS faculty in the UK, LIS faculty in other countries, and librarians worldwide. The distribution of authorship is highly skewed. Although more than 9,800 authors (86.4 %) each contributed no more than a single article over the six-year period, the top 50 authors (0.4 %) each contributed eight or more articles, with an average of 13.0. Together, the top 50 authors account for nearly 8 % of the LIS literature. Moreover, the most productive LIS faculty are concentrated in relatively few universities. Faculty in the natural sciences and LIS are more likely to be found among the top 50 authors than their overall contributions would suggest, while librarians, computer scientists and non-academic authors are underrepresented. Top authors are especially likely to publish in the Journal of Informetrics and Scientometrics. Among American LIS faculty, the list of the most prolific authors has changed substantially over time. Only three of the top 21 authors of the 1999-2004 period can be found on the current top-20 list.
Defining and Measuring the Socioeconomic Status of Jews
The Social Scientific Study of Jewry, 2014
Socioeconomic and Cultural Determinants of Abortion Among Jewish Women in Israel
This study uses data from the 1974-75 Israel Fertility Survey and the 1987-88 Study of Fertility ... more This study uses data from the 1974-75 Israel Fertility Survey and the 1987-88 Study of Fertility and Family Formation to examine the changing determinants of abortion among Jewish women in Israel. Over the course of socioeconomic development, some economic and cultural variables (e.g., education, employment, and ethnicity) lose their explanatory power whereas others become increasingly important for understanding variation in the practice of abortion. This article argues that the relationship between these variables and abortion is mediated by a variety of external and macro-level factors including social norms, the availability of contraceptive technology, and laws governing access to abortion.
Population Research and Policy Review, 2000
Using data from the 1987–1988 Study of Fertility and Family Formation,this study examines the fam... more Using data from the 1987–1988 Study of Fertility and Family Formation,this study examines the family planning practices of Jewish Israeli womenwho first had intercourse between 1962 and 1988. The overwhelming majorityof women reported using no contraception at first intercourse, and among those who did practice birth control approximately half relied on modern techniques. While the likelihood that Israeli women used
Ethics Column
Teaching Sociology, 2013
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Papers by Isabelle Wilder