David Monaghan
@dmonaghan.bsky.social
Sociologist & education researcher @ Shippensburg University. Higher ed, Ed policy, culture, institutionalism, epistemology & methods, social inequality, too many other interests.
It seems like how we are supposed to find papers for systematic reviews is designed to maximize sensitivity but minimize specificity. I suspect there is a better way. Anyone know of methodological developments in that direction?
October 29, 2025 at 12:40 PM
It seems like how we are supposed to find papers for systematic reviews is designed to maximize sensitivity but minimize specificity. I suspect there is a better way. Anyone know of methodological developments in that direction?
Progressives are going to need to rethink their concerns if they care about survival. The 2020 left is massively complicit in the election of Trump.
Opinion | Democrats Are in Crisis. Eat-the-Rich Populism Is the Only Answer.
www.nytimes.com
September 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Progressives are going to need to rethink their concerns if they care about survival. The 2020 left is massively complicit in the election of Trump.
Contemporary social justice advocates differ from earlier counterparts in making civil society their primary focus, rather than the state or large corporations. Even when focusing on organizations, they sought to change their internal civil societies. Ultimately this meant a focus on individuals.
June 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Contemporary social justice advocates differ from earlier counterparts in making civil society their primary focus, rather than the state or large corporations. Even when focusing on organizations, they sought to change their internal civil societies. Ultimately this meant a focus on individuals.
I think it is entirely evident that the left made catastrophic mistakes over the 2020-2024 period. And yet I see, on this platform, very little seeming awareness of this reality. Perhaps it is the social media effect of only wanting to say popular things.
June 4, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I think it is entirely evident that the left made catastrophic mistakes over the 2020-2024 period. And yet I see, on this platform, very little seeming awareness of this reality. Perhaps it is the social media effect of only wanting to say popular things.
I just finished Kevin Carey’s The End of College (always trying to
keep current!), and the juxtaposition with current events is jarring. This is probably paranoid, but do folks think the current assault on HE is partly Silicon Valley trying to strip it for parts?
keep current!), and the juxtaposition with current events is jarring. This is probably paranoid, but do folks think the current assault on HE is partly Silicon Valley trying to strip it for parts?
May 23, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I just finished Kevin Carey’s The End of College (always trying to
keep current!), and the juxtaposition with current events is jarring. This is probably paranoid, but do folks think the current assault on HE is partly Silicon Valley trying to strip it for parts?
keep current!), and the juxtaposition with current events is jarring. This is probably paranoid, but do folks think the current assault on HE is partly Silicon Valley trying to strip it for parts?
New paper on #EdWorkingPapers! A fantastic undergraduate and I provide the most detailed empirical examination to date of the makeup of local "Promise"/"Free college" programs in the USA. edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1169
What are Promises Made of? The Design of Local College Affordability Programs
U.S. postsecondary education is populated by hundreds of state and local affordability initiatives sometimes referred to as “Promise programs”, many of which claim to make college free or tuition-free...
edworkingpapers.com
April 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM
New paper on #EdWorkingPapers! A fantastic undergraduate and I provide the most detailed empirical examination to date of the makeup of local "Promise"/"Free college" programs in the USA. edworkingpapers.com/ai25-1169
Best way to boost educational attainment and reduce disparities in same: free college, or universal Pre-K?
February 24, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Best way to boost educational attainment and reduce disparities in same: free college, or universal Pre-K?
Reading McDonnell’s 2023 ARS article on cultural materiality. The lack of reference to Geertz, and the absence of engagement with anthropology in general, is deafening.
February 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reading McDonnell’s 2023 ARS article on cultural materiality. The lack of reference to Geertz, and the absence of engagement with anthropology in general, is deafening.
The most serious conceptual failing of cultural sociology is insisting that “action” and “meaning” are distinct.
February 21, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The most serious conceptual failing of cultural sociology is insisting that “action” and “meaning” are distinct.
Is there a good reason not to move to using the 12th grade NAEP as a college entrance exam?
February 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Is there a good reason not to move to using the 12th grade NAEP as a college entrance exam?
This would be funny if it wasn’t true. Or maybe it is still funny?
I swear to God I told my daughter this very week that this was coming: some GOP politician was going to propose that. There’s a race to the bottom in showing fealty — and there is no bottom.
We have reached North Korean levels of sycophantry.
From NY-24’s Claudia Tenney 👇
tenney.house.gov/media/press-...
From NY-24’s Claudia Tenney 👇
tenney.house.gov/media/press-...
February 16, 2025 at 5:15 PM
This would be funny if it wasn’t true. Or maybe it is still funny?
I am taking a risk by saying this. But this whole thing was foreseeable, and the Left broadly failed to counter it. You can argue about what the mistake was, but it was ours. Not theirs. They don’t care if they are right. We do care if we are dead. And being right don’t matter if you’re dead.
February 16, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I am taking a risk by saying this. But this whole thing was foreseeable, and the Left broadly failed to counter it. You can argue about what the mistake was, but it was ours. Not theirs. They don’t care if they are right. We do care if we are dead. And being right don’t matter if you’re dead.
Reposted by David Monaghan
$900 Million in Institute of Education Sciences Contracts Axed
$900M in Institute of Education Sciences contracts axed
The National Center for Education Statistics has been hit hard while researchers say grant review panels have been halted.
www.insidehighered.com
February 12, 2025 at 1:43 PM
$900 Million in Institute of Education Sciences Contracts Axed
I wonder to what degree our disciplines, and leadership within them, has been impacted by social media. Has social media become a parallel means of building influence alongside standard processes (like publishing in top blind-review journals)?
February 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I wonder to what degree our disciplines, and leadership within them, has been impacted by social media. Has social media become a parallel means of building influence alongside standard processes (like publishing in top blind-review journals)?
I know that “superpopulations” let us use inferential tools with what are essentially big convenience samples (and even if you have one full population, it is a convenient sample relative to a larger population). Is this the only reason the concept has validity - because it lets us use our tools?
January 30, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I know that “superpopulations” let us use inferential tools with what are essentially big convenience samples (and even if you have one full population, it is a convenient sample relative to a larger population). Is this the only reason the concept has validity - because it lets us use our tools?
Martin Trow’s “Problems in the Transition from Elite to Mass Higher Education” remains a gold mine of essential and prescient insights. Every time I reread it I am impressed anew.
January 29, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Martin Trow’s “Problems in the Transition from Elite to Mass Higher Education” remains a gold mine of essential and prescient insights. Every time I reread it I am impressed anew.
Editors: if an article doesn’t have the proper section - lit review, methods, results, etc - DESK REJECT. It isn’t your or reviewers’ job to explain such things. It wastes everyone’s time, including the authors.
January 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Editors: if an article doesn’t have the proper section - lit review, methods, results, etc - DESK REJECT. It isn’t your or reviewers’ job to explain such things. It wastes everyone’s time, including the authors.
Reposted by David Monaghan
Firm-Specific Pay Premia and the Returns to Higher Education:Evidence from Community Colleges www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Completing an associate degree boosts earnings by 21%...Over a quarter of the returns to associate degrees stem from employment at higher-paying firms."
"Completing an associate degree boosts earnings by 21%...Over a quarter of the returns to associate degrees stem from employment at higher-paying firms."
Firm-Specific Pay Premia and the Returns to Higher Education:Evidence from Community Colleges
There is an increasing consensus that firm-specific premia are an important determinant of wages, but there is little evidence regarding their roles i…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 18, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Firm-Specific Pay Premia and the Returns to Higher Education:Evidence from Community Colleges www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Completing an associate degree boosts earnings by 21%...Over a quarter of the returns to associate degrees stem from employment at higher-paying firms."
"Completing an associate degree boosts earnings by 21%...Over a quarter of the returns to associate degrees stem from employment at higher-paying firms."
Chris Newfield’s The Great Mistake makes two interesting and provocative arguments. 1) there is a feedback loop between tuition hikes and state disinvestment, but tuition hikes are causally primary, and 2) rising tuition is driven by a “rising standard of care” in pubic research universities.
January 18, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Chris Newfield’s The Great Mistake makes two interesting and provocative arguments. 1) there is a feedback loop between tuition hikes and state disinvestment, but tuition hikes are causally primary, and 2) rising tuition is driven by a “rising standard of care” in pubic research universities.
If anyone is a sociologist on the board of a non-ASA journal, PLEASE advise switching to APA formatting, or at least APA citation. ASA is redundant.
January 15, 2025 at 3:07 PM
If anyone is a sociologist on the board of a non-ASA journal, PLEASE advise switching to APA formatting, or at least APA citation. ASA is redundant.
Reposted by David Monaghan
Reposted by David Monaghan
Getting a Foot in the Door: A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Audit Studies of Gender Bias in Hiring sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12...
Getting a Foot in the Door: A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Audit Studies of Gender Bias in Hiring
Article: Getting a Foot in the Door: A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Audit Studies of Gender Bias in Hiring | Sociological Science | Posted January 9, 2025
sociologicalscience.com
January 10, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Getting a Foot in the Door: A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Audit Studies of Gender Bias in Hiring sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12...
I’ve been reading Augustine’s City of God because I like to keep up on the latest research. Fascinating to be reminded that “heaven” at that time was literally the sky. There is a whole discussion about why resurrected bodies of saints wouldn’t fall to earth like other heavy bodies.
January 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
I’ve been reading Augustine’s City of God because I like to keep up on the latest research. Fascinating to be reminded that “heaven” at that time was literally the sky. There is a whole discussion about why resurrected bodies of saints wouldn’t fall to earth like other heavy bodies.
We need a new term for older-than-standard undergrads (24+ or 25+). “Adult students” is silly because nearly all undergrads are legal adults. “Nontraditional” isn’t sufficiently specific and is historically inaccurate (as there have always been older students at universities).
January 3, 2025 at 5:16 PM
We need a new term for older-than-standard undergrads (24+ or 25+). “Adult students” is silly because nearly all undergrads are legal adults. “Nontraditional” isn’t sufficiently specific and is historically inaccurate (as there have always been older students at universities).
Sociologists, can we PLEASE get rid of ASA citation style and just use APA?
January 2, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Sociologists, can we PLEASE get rid of ASA citation style and just use APA?