Ryan Burge

1 week ago | graphsaboutreligion.com | Ryan Burge

I’ve got two sons - one is thirteen and the other is ten. I remember when my wife and I were thinking about having children, we talked all the time about the best type of birthing plan (I distinctly remember becoming intimately aware of something called the ). Then it was breastfeeding versus bottle feeding and cloth diapers versus disposable diapers. It felt like it was consuming most of our conversations for a period of time.

1 week ago | religionunplugged.com | Ryan Burge

(ANALYSIS) There’s this very much overused saying in my line of work: “Data is the new oil.” When you hear someone giving a “hype” speech at a data science conference, that line usually comes up one way or another. The assumption here is that with the right kind of data, the right kind of analysis and the right kind of interpretation, it’s possible to make decisions that can save lives, lower carbon emissions, avert wars and make the world a better place.

1 week ago | religionunplugged.com | Ryan Burge

(ANALYSIS) What exactly happens at a religious service? That’s a really interesting and pertinent question for the kind of work we do as social scientists who study religion. There are a few resources that dig into that question like the National Congregations Study, but it’s very rare to see a more mainstream longitudinal instrument like the General Social Survey ask people what actually happens when they go to church.

2 weeks ago | graphsaboutreligion.com | Ryan Burge

There’s this huge disconnect between what religious people want and what social science can provide. It’s one of the biggest frustrations of the type of work I do. I get asked hundreds of questions a year that I totally understand the motivation behind - but I know that there’s just no way in the world to accurately answer such a query using anything resembling rigorous social science methods. I think there are two primary reasons for this.

2 weeks ago | graphsaboutreligion.com | Ryan Burge

There’s this very much overused saying in my line of work - data is the new oil. When you hear someone giving a ‘hype’ speech at a data science conference that line usually comes up one way or another. The assumption here is that with the right kind of data, the right kind of analysis, and the right kind of interpretation it’s possible to make decisions that can save lives, lower carbon emissions, avert wars, and make the world a better place.