Department of Sociology

Edward E. Brent
Professor

Edward Brent is a professor in computer science and sociology. He has been at the University of Missouri since 1976 after getting a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His specialty interests are in methodology, statistics and computing.

Research Interests

My research program has two primary themes: using computing technologies to practice research and reason sociologically; and the nature and mechanisms of social interaction. Social interaction was the focus of my first decade of research, computing technologies has been the focus of the second decade, and the future promises a convergence of the two with implications for both research and teaching.

How do people interact in various social circumstances? How does the process unfold over time? How are power and privilege exerted in face-to-face encounters? My dissertation research, a post- doctoral fellowship, and early work subsequent to the dissertation examined first police - civilian interaction and then patient - health practitioner interaction. That work focused on the process of social interaction as measured by systematic observation codes and modeled with stochastic discrete-state and discrete-time Markov models. Unfortunately, high-quality systematic observation is expensive, requiring well-funded studies. In a recent project funded by NIMH we addressed this issue by developing and testing computer programs using artificial intelligence strategies to automatically code transcripts of doctor-patient interactions. We had substantial success, coding some dimensions with over 80% accuracy and identified promising strategies for further increasing the validity of the automatic coding process. This work generated several recent paper presentations and an article in the Journal of Mathematical Sociology.

Most of my recent work has examined the use of computers for the design and conduct of research. A sabbatical in the early 80s and a second post-doctoral fellowships permitted me to become familiar with expert systems. Since then I have developed a coordinated set of eight expert systems to help researchers design and conduct research (the Meteorologist's Toolchest project--including most notably, Statistical Navigator, Ex-Sample, and more recently, the Peer Review Emulation program). Currently, we are integrating these programs into a coherent system for comprehensive help with the development and evaluation of research proposals.

In a related effort, l am working on a computer program to automate sociological reasoning. This program will help theorists develop, improve, and evaluate sociological theories--the AutoSoc project. A Research Board grant produced promising results, a forthcoming paper in Sociological Methods & Research, and the foundation for a proposal in the works to NSF to continue and expand this work. However, expert systems--like human experts- tend to be useful in only a narrow substantive domain. Sociology with its many competing theories of limited scope requires a broader approach to developing truly useful sociological reasoning. In an attempt to develop a broader base of sociological theories and concepts in a digitized format, my colleagues and I have developed a computerized knowledge base of sociological knowledge for introductory sociology--the HyperSoc program. Funding for this project from publishers (for specific versions to accompany their texts) is helping to build this broader knowledge base.

A related project just getting underway (the SocActor project) will develop a comprehensive simulation of adolescent behavior in a model that will model school performance, entry into the workforce, sexual behavior, alcohol and drug use, and family interactions. This program will use the reasoning strategies developed in the AutoSoc project and the broad substantive base of sociological knowledge developed in HyperSoc to simulate the adolescent experience. Other social actors will be simulated by intelligent agents whose behavior illustrates sociological concepts, theories, and empirical findings. Users will interact with these agents in a multimedia environment using digitized video, virtual reality, and expert systems to give them the feeling of interacting with other actors. The first version of this simulation is intended for teaching purposed and I am seeking funding from on-campus programs for instructional design and publishers. Later versions will provide a research base for simulating social interaction in a wide range of settings and will be the basis for proposals to NSF and NIMH.

Courses Taught

Expert Systems
Introduction to Sociology
Research Methodology
Seminar In Multivariate Analysis Techniques

Recent Publications

Brent, Edward. 1998. "Simulating Social Interaction in a Virtual Reality Setting:
      Problems and Prospects." Pp. 148-169 in Henry Millsom S. (Ed.),
      Informatio Technology in the Social Sciences." Oxford: Blackwell.

Brent Edward. 1999. "Computers in the Undergraduate Classroom: Lessons
      from the First 2,000 Students." Social Science Computer Review.
      (17)2:162-175.

Brent, Edward and Alan Thompson, Methodologist's Toolchest, Version 2.

Brent, Edward. Connections: Interactive Sociology, Version 2.

312 Middlebush Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211-6100
(573) 882-8331
Fax: (573) 884-6430