The U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) released their graduate program rankings for 2021, including “Best Sociology Programs,” this week. USNWR releases these rankings roughly every 3–4 years. Each time a new edition of the rankings comes out, there is quite a bit of chatter among academics.
One key topic — and rightfully so — always seems to be the methodology. “How appropriate is the five-point scale?” “What was the response rate this year?” “I wonder who chose to respond?” “Why didn’t X department move up after hiring scholars Y and Z?!”
The USNWR collected new data in the second…
S. Michael Gaddis
UCLA professor. Peeking into the interesting parts of the social world through data.
