What is Pulse of the Polis?
Pulse of the Polis is a weekly newsletter rounding up and summarizing social science research projects I came across in the previous week. These are projects that I feel are interesting, on important topics, prominent, or simply worthy of amplifying and/or discussing. Some of them are brand-new, hot off the presses. Others could be 10 years old but, hey, it’s new to me and may be new to you too!
When it drops (I try my best!), it drops on Fridays.
Who am I?
My name is Peter Licari. I’m a social data scientist, survey research geek, and enthusiastic proselytizer of society-oriented research. I received my PhD specializing in American Politics and Research Methods from the University of Florida in 2020. Since then, I’ve worked professionally as a data scientist. More importantly, I’m a husband, father, long distance runner, and an unabashed earnest nerd.
In addition to Pulse of the Polis, I also run a YouTube channel called Professor Politics that dives deep into the social sciences. (It updates way less frequently—though I hope to update more to at least scratch out that “way” eventually).
Ok…but what’s the name mean?
The name comes from the Greek word “Polis” from which we derive the term “Political” and refers to the city states that were the subject of Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics. In addition to viewing surveys & polls as something like the heartbeat of a population, it reflects both my belief that the vast majority of what we measure in social sciences reflect signals in a snapshot of time (a “pulse”) as well as my love for theory. Though I have a stronger quantitative bent, I identify more like 60% quant, 20% qual, and 20% philosophy. This preference also reveals itself in this publication: Though most works are investigated quantitatively, you’ll also find qualitative and theoretical projects posted as well. You can’t ascertain capital-T Truth with just one mode of inquiry; numbers aren’t everything; the map is not the territory. I’m also just a sucker for alliterations (see “Professor Politics” above).
